Grad schools stay strong in rankings

Duke graduate and professional schools remained near the top of U.S. News and World Report's annual list of Best Graduate Schools, despite the slips of some of the University's prominent programs.

Although the School of Medicine rose two spots to sixth place, the School of Law, the Fuqua School of Business and the Pratt School of Engineering dropped from 10th to 12th, 12th to 14th and 30th to 35th on the 2008 list, respectively. The Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy's ranking held steady at 10th.

Provost Peter Lange said he was pleased the magazine had acknowledged the University's excellence in a wide range of academic disciplines but cautioned prospective students against basing their decisions solely on rankings.

"As always, we urge potential students to look at other factors besides the rankings when choosing the program that's right for them," he said.

Duke's professional schools performed particularly well among schools located below the Mason-Dixon Line: the School of Medicine and Fuqua bested all other Southern schools, and the School of Law was second only to the University of Virginia.

Harvard University maintained its perch atop all medical and business schools ranked, and the Yale School of Law took top honors again.

U.S. News and World Report also gave a nod to more specialized Duke programs.

The School of Medicine ranked third for geriatrics, fifth for internal medicine, eighth for AIDS research and ninth for family medicine. The School of Law placed fifth in environmental law and sixth for intellectual property law. Fuqua notched third in marketing, fourth for its executive MBA program, fifth in international business and eighth in management. Sanford ranked third in environmental policy and management, fifth in public policy analysis, sixth in health policy and management and eighth in social policy.