RISING IN THE RANKS From video game design to medicine, U programs receive high national rankings

With the newly published college rankings on U.S. News and Princeton Review, the U found several of its undergraduate and graduate programs have high national ranks.
The U ranked No. 1 in the top undergraduate schools for video game design, according to the Princeton Review, and No. 2 in the top graduate video game design programs, with the University of Southern California as No. 1. USC has been in the No. 1 spot for both undergraduate and graduate programs in past years.
Other significant rankings at the U include the School of Medicine, ranking 48 in best research and 29 for best primary care. The S.J. Quinney College of Law ranked 41 out of the best law schools in the country, rising four spots on the nation-wide list from last year, and the Department of Psychology ranked 67, according to the U.S. News 2014 “Best Graduate Schools” rankings.
Even with the high rankings, Hiram Chodosh, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law, said the rankings are an imperfect reflection of achievement at any school. The rankings fail to mention other important things, such as the low levels of debt per student, the ratio of that debt to the average first-year salary after graduation or the “rich opportunities” that give students real experience.
“The world uses their rankings as an imperfect proxy for value,” Chodosh said. “To that extent, it gives peers and professionals and future applicants a very rough and imperfect sense.”
The College of Law has risen 16 spots in the rankings in the last six years, according to Chodosh. But he said whether they are high or low in the rankings, the college keeps an even approach by knowing the ranking is imperfect.
The U’s College of Engineering was ranked No. 51 in the nation and also had high rankings in specific areas such as biomedical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering.
The David Eccles School of Business also ranked 61 in the best business schools in the nation, as published by the U.S News.
Taylor Randall, dean of the College of Business, said the college has focused specifically on improving career management services in the past few years.
“We are very excited about the improvements that are being made at the School of Business,” Randall said. “In this case, I think the improvement in rankings begins to reflect the effort students, faculty and staff make in improving education and educational outcomes for our community.”
But Randall also said the efforts in the School of Business are often shown through imperfect rankings.