BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School and Marriott School of Management recently received national nods of approval by landing spots in the country’s top 50 business and law schools. U.S. News & World Report, in its Best Graduate Schools issue,ranked the law school 34th and the business school 39th.
“It’s a substantial compliment to the law school to be ranked with the best schools,” says H. Reese Hansen, former dean of the law school. “Our faculty are among the very best in the country and academically our students rank with those at the most selective law schools.”
Adds Ned C. Hill, ’70, dean of the Marriott School, “It’s awfully nice to be in the top 50, and we’re in very good company. This just really shows that we have great students who are highly valued by the marketplace, and we have good faculty who are preparing students well to go out into the field.”
U.S. News, which also ranks graduate programs in education, engineering, and medicine, bases its rankings on both statistical measures and expert opinions of school quality. For this report, U.S. News surveyed more than 1,000 programs across the country.
One factor not considered in the rankings that Hill says further sets BYU students apart from their peers is the strong emphasis BYU places on character and values. “When people hire our students, they know they have very strong values, and I think that puts them ahead of students at many other programs with similar professional training.”
Also placing in the report’s top 100 were the College of Nursing, which landed a number-58 ranking, and the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology, which received its first-ever ranking at 81.
“To make the list of graduate-school rankings when we are primarily an undergraduate program is very exciting,” says engineering dean Douglas M. Chabries. “For the first time, U.S. News is starting to recognize some of the things we do very well, and we expect that recognition to continue and increase.”
