April 15, 2010

University of Colorado grad programs remain among the best in the nation

DENVER – Thirteen graduate programs across the University of Colorado’s campuses remain among the best in the United States, and are ranked in the top 10 in their fields, according to the 2011 edition of the U.S. News & World Report’sAmerica’s Best Graduate Schools, which was released today.

Eight professional school categories at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and five at the University of Colorado at Boulder are listed in the top 10 in their fields nationally, and another 14 are among the top 50.

U.S. News & World Report cited a CU campus 30 times in the 2011 edition of its rankings of public and private graduate schools, programs and specialties across the nation. A complete list of the rankings can be viewed at www.USNews.com.

The magazine’s annual rankings of 1,200 programs nationwide are based on objective data such as how well incoming students score on tests, research quality and total research dollars awarded, as well as more subjective data culled from surveys filled out by 12,400 deans, senior faculty and other academic experts on college campuses who are asked to rate their peers. The publication’s goal is to help guide students and parents as they compare college programs at accredited public and private U.S. universities.

Highlights from CU’s 2011 rankings include:

CU-Boulder

  • No. 1: CU-Boulder’s atomic/molecular/optical physics program remains No. 1 in the nation, tied in first place this year with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Top 10: Other CU-Boulder programs ranked in the top 10 nationally are environmental sciences, fifth; quantum physics, fifth; environmental law, sixth; and physical chemistry, eighth.
  • Top 50: Many CU-Boulder graduate programs are ranked among the top 50 in the nation. To see a complete list, go to www.colorado.edu/news.

Anschutz Medical Campus

CU School of Medicine

  • Top Five: The CU School of Medicine is ranked fifth in the country for primary care.
  • Top 10: The School of Medicine’s specialties of pediatrics and family medicine are both ranked in ninth place nationally.
  • Top 30: The CU School of Medicine is ranked 22nd in internal medicine, and 27th overall for research.

Anschutz Medical Campus

CU College of Nursing and Other Health Care Programs

  • Top 10: Five health care programs at the CU College of Nursing are ranked in the top 10 nationwide, and the college is ranked in 15th place overall among nearly 100 programs. In the nurse practitioner category, the college’s pediatric nursing specialty is ranked in third place; family nursing, fifth; and adult nursing, fourth. In the clinical nurse specialist category, the adult medical-surgical nursing specialty is ranked sixth.
  • Top 10: CU’s physician’s assistant program is ranked eighth overall.

University of Colorado Denver

  • Top 50: CU’s public affairs program, based at both UC Denver and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, ranks 32nd nationally.

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

  • UCCS’ nursing program is ranked 72nd in the nation.

U.S. News & World Report will post all of its rankings at www.USNews.com on Thursday, April 15. The magazine’sAmerica’s Best Graduate Schools guidebook will be available on April 20, and its complete 2010 graduate school report card will appear in its May issue, which will be available on newsstands on April 27.

The University of Colorado is a premier public research university with four campuses: the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. More than 56,000 students are pursuing academic degrees at CU. The National Science Foundation ranks CU seventh among public institutions in federal research expenditures in engineering and science. Academic prestige is marked by the university’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows, 18 alumni astronauts and 19 Rhodes Scholars. For more information about the entire CU system, and to access campus resources, go to www.cu.edu.