While Northwestern’s undergraduate program has fallen or stagnated in the rankings over the past five years, four of its graduate schools moved up in U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 rankings of graduate and professional schools.
The Kellogg School of Management is tied with two other schools for fourth place – Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago – one spot up from last year. The School of Law moved up three spots to No. 9 this year, tied with the University of Michigan and University of Virginia. Both the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and Feinberg School of Medicine, rose to No. 20 this year after being ranked 21st last year. The School of Education and Social Policy was the only graduate school to drop; it went from No. 7 to No. 12.
“We are actually supporters of rankings,” said Don Rebstock, associate dean of enrollment, career strategy and marketing at the School of Law. “It’s a good way for students to know more about law school and a good way to measure ourselves and how we’re progressing.”
The School of Law’s improvement has been an “overall transition over a number of years,” said Rebstock. It has employed strategies such as placing strong emphasis on applicants having previous work experience and seeking out feedback about the skill sets of graduated students from their employers, Rebstock said. NU’s law school is also the only school in the country that tries to interview every applicant, he added.
While Kellogg is ranked fourth in the nation, the ranks of its specialty areas vary. Kellogg is ranked No. 1 in marketing, third in general management and seventh in production/operations management.
“Kellogg has been pretty consistent throughout the years,” said Megan Washburn, Kellogg director of media relations. U.S. News & World Report has never ranked Kellogg lower than No.1 in marketing, she said.
Rankings might play into a prospective graduate student’s decision, but other factors, such as accomplished faculty and specific programs, are important for prospective graduate students, said Gina Myerson, an assistant dean in McCormick.
“By the time you get to graduate school, the search is much more narrow,” Myerson said. “You’re looking at a particular program or a particular faculty member.”
This past year, McCormick, which rose a spot in rankings, began its Segal Design Institute, a project funded by the co-founders of Crate & Barrel that coordinates all education on design at Northwestern. McCormick Dean Julio Ottino has been “very creative” in developing programs and attracting many new faculty members since he took office in 2005, Myerson said.
SESP dropped five places and is now tied at 11th with the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
“When you get up to the top schools, it’s really infinitesimal of a difference,” said Marilyn Sherman, SESP director of communication and outreach. “I think people need to take that into consideration.”
SESP had a score of 85, while the two schools tied for 10th earned an 86.
“Rankings were important, but I think I based my decision on the interviews and how I felt about the schools when I visited them,” said first-year Feinberg student Camellia Asgarian, who completed her undergraduate training at University of California, Berkeley. “Northwestern was just a completely different feel.”
