Ratings War in Wake of Ranking of Ph.D. Programs

A new ranking of doctoral programs spurs a flurry of departmental damage control

By Denise K. Magner

Physicists at the State University of New York at Stony Brook thought their doctoral program was among the top 12 in the field. When a national ranking of Ph.D. programs this fall rated the department 22nd, they were stunned.

What had happened? Were they not quite as good as they thought?

Ever since the National Research Council issued its latest assessment of graduate education in September, some doctoral programs have been celebrating. Others are scrambling to explain their