U.S. News Ranks BYU's Law and Business Schools in Top 50

PROVO, Utah — Mar 28, 2008 — Brigham Young University's business and law schools are among the top 50 in the United States, reports U.S.News & World Report in its "America's Best Graduate Schools" issue, on sale Monday, March 31. Other BYU graduate programs and specialties rank in the top 100 in their categories.

The Marriott School of Management is ranked 29th, tying its highest ranking ever from U.S. News, while the J. Reuben Clark Law School is ranked 46th.

"While the best measure of our success is our graduate's impact on society, we are grateful for the recognition of academic excellence and the fine quality of our students," said Ned C. Hill, dean of the Marriott School.

The Marriott School was ranked 41st in last year's rankings and the law school was ranked 44th. This year's rankings come from data from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and nearly 14,000 academics and other professionals conducted in fall 2007.

"The jump in this year's rankings is in part due to the superb efforts of our placement office," Hill says. "They helped find good positions within three months of graduation for nearly all of our MBA students seeking employment."

The Marriott School's graduate accounting program is also ranked eighth in the 2009 rankings, up from 10th last year, while the law school is ranked 22nd in the legal writing specialty.

"For more than a decade the J. Reuben Clark Law School has been ranked in the top quarter of law schools in the United States," said Kevin J. Worthen, dean of the law school. "We are pleased to have been so recognized again this year."

U.S. News ranks graduate programs in the areas of public management, business, education, engineering, law and medicine. These rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. The magazine also ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and many other areas based solely on the ratings of academic experts.

The following are the other BYU graduate programs and specialties ranked in the new issue:

Romney Institute of Public Management51st, top public affairs programs

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology66th, mechanical engineering specialty

School of Social Work82nd, top social work programs

David O. McKay School of Education83rd, top education programs

Since the nursing schools are not newly ranked in this edition, BYU's College of Nursing maintains its previous ranking of 72nd.

Full ranking reports are available in the newsstand book (2009 edition) "America's Best Graduate Schools" and online at USNews.com.