University Ph.D. programs garner high rankings in U.S. News report

Several of Princeton's Ph.D. programs received top rankings in U.S. News and World Reports ratings of the nation's graduate schools and programs, released last week.

The University's history, mathematics, public affairs, physics, architecture and economics departments all received top-three rankings in the survey.

"I'm delighted," chair of the history department Philip Nord said of the history Ph.D. program's first-place ranking. "There are many good programs [in history] and we're one of them. We like to think we're the best."

If the U.S. News rankings are any indication, history is not the only exceptional graduate program the University has to offer. The Ph.D. programs in mathematics placed second, and the programs in physics, architecture and public affairs each placed third.

Dean of the Wilson School Michael Rothschild said he is not fully satisfied with the ranking the public affairs program received. "I think we are the best school," he said, adding that the ranking is not done on a level playing field. "We're somewhat different from the schools we are compared with."

Other top-10 Ph.D. programs at the University included economics, political science, biological science, English, computer science, psychology and sociology.

In addition, the University's engineering program placed 16th among 219 programs nationwide. The programs in chemistry and geology were also among the top 20.

"My impression was that we did fairly well," Director of Communications Justin Harmon '78 said. Addressing the engineering ranking in particular, he said, "It looked like a very solid rating."

Despite expressing contentment with the U.S. News rankings, University officials said they do not place too much weight on them.

"I have very mixed feelings about it. I think it's inaccurate and unfair, but I think there is much too little of this kind of information available," Rothschild said.

Harmon echoed these sentiments, saying, "I don't put much credence in general terms in these sort of numeric rankings."

The data used to establish the ratings, Harmon said, is not comparable from school to school. The system U.S. News uses to rank the schools is based 40 percent on reputation, 10 percent on student selectivity, 25 percent on faculty resources and 25 percent on research activity. Such a thing as "reputation," Harmon said, is difficult to measure.

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Nord added that the exact number of a program's ranking is not important. "The trick is really to appear in the top seven or eight, maybe the top 10."

Harmon said he has never liked the practice of ranking schools in this way. "U.S. News does it because they make the money," he said.