Health and nursing program rankings attempt to measure the caliber of individual nursing schools through comparisons based on numerous factors. There are two primary sets of rankings for nursing schools in the U.S.: U.S. News & World Report and NIH Research Funding. Each ranking provides basic information on programs that can guide you to more selective searches as you find nursing schools. Other rankings have been included below.
Methodology: US News' medical rankings are based solely on the ratings of academic experts. This year they updated their rankings of Ph.D. programs in computer science, mathematics, and physics to correct a problem with 2006's survey that left some programs off the survey instrument. They produced new rankings of graduate health programs in audiology, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, and speech-language pathology. We've also done new rankings for master's of public affairs and public policy and master's of fine arts. In addition to these new rankings, they republished older rankings that are based solely on peer ratings in various graduate level health fields, Ph.D. programs in sciences, Ph.D. programs in social sciences and humanities, and master's of library and information studies. The lists within these rankings are numerous.
Methodology: All the health rankings were based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a 5-point scale, and they were instructed to select "don't know" if they did not have enough knowledge to rate a program. Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked. Those schools with the highest average scores appear in the rankings. Nursing specialty rankings are based solely on ratings by educators at peer schools. Nursing educators nominated up to 10 schools for excellence in each area.
Methodology: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) rankings are based solely upon the total amount of research grant money allocated to individual nursing schools. Grants from NIH fund numerous areas of study; including research projects, postdoctoral/predoctoral research and fellowships. NIH rankings are valued by research institutions that believe the results signify the high quality of school researchers whose initiatives must be approved by a peer-review panel of experts. The guidelines for NIH grants are complex and vary depending upon the type of award desired; to investigate research opportunities at your chosen schools, it is best to contact them individually. You can learn more about the nursing schools chosen AllNursingSchools' Spotlight Schools.
Methodology: The Princeton Review ranks nursing, veterinarian, biomedical, physical therapy programs and more through a methodology based upon student surveys. For the ranking lists in the 2009 edition, published July 2008, The Princeton Review surveyed just over 120,000 students at the 368 schools in the book (not at all schools nationwide). On the 80-question survey, students were asked to rate their own schools on various topics and report on their campus experiences at them.
Methodology: The rankings offered by CCW are compiled using only one set of metrics - the total number of degrees awarded by each college. Top 100 analysis examines degree and certificates awarded and collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set, or IPEDS, completions survey. These rankings, although simple, are important in that they uniquely focus on associate degrees and they break down numbers according to gender, which may be of great importance so some students. You also can gain access to the PDF for the 2008 Top 50 Associate Degrees in Nursing 2008. Both rankings were compiled in the same manner.
Methodology: This list represents the world's top universities in live sciences and biomedicine worldwide, based on responses to an academic peer review. The Academic Peer Review is the centerpiece of the Times Higher - QS World University Rankings carrying a weighting of 40 percent. The results are based on the responses to a survey distributed worldwide both to previous respondents and subscribers to two key databases: The World Scientific, from which 180,000 email addresses are drawn and the International Book Information Service (IBIS) a service from Mardev. In 2008, the questions respondents are asked regarding universities inside their own country and outside were separated. These are recombined after the responses are in using methods designed to reduce any response bias by country.
Methodology: The National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the Department of Education collected data from a number of outside sources, including: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), National Research Council (NRC), Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) and Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSPD) for this list of master's and doctoral nursing programs. Unlike other ranking systems, PhDs.org does not use a fixed set of criteria and weights for computing rankings. Instead, you choose a set of criteria of interest and indicate how important each criterion is to you. They then use your weights to rank a set of programs according to your priorities. You also might search for related public health programs.
