The guide gave the Marshall School s graduate programs in entrepreneurship and accounting special mention, ranking them sixth and eighth in the nation, respectively. The school s part-time and executive MBA programs were ranked 10th in the nation. In other tallies, the Law School was ranked 18th nationally, and the USC Rossier School of Education this year placed at 31st. The USC School of Medicine ranked in the top third of the 124 accredited medical schools in the United States, placing 36th, in a tie with University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Oregon Health Sciences University. All schools regardless of discipline are evaluated using objective data, plus two sets of reputational ratings.
Objective data includes research activity, student selectivity and faculty resources.
The reputational score, which counts for 40 percent of the ranking score, is measured by surveying school deans and senior faculty and, in a separate survey, residency program directors. For medical schools, research activity is determined by the amount of National Institutes of Health research grants awarded to the school and its affiliated hospitals. Rankings can help a student understand the various areas of strength in each medical school, said Erin Quinn, associate dean of admissions. However, what it doesn t provide is a sense of the educational experience, as ranked by the students, or the amount of exposure to clinical medicine early on, which are important factors for prospective students to consider. The Guide this year did not rank certain specialties in which USC has placed highly in previous years.