VOL. 23, NO. 16	FEBRUARY 27, 1998

he controversial annual rankings of graduate and professional schools by a national news magazine were released last week. Though most academics are skeptical of the value of such rankings by U.S. News & World Report, note of the results is often taken nonetheless:

• the Business School jumped to third in the nation, from seventh, behind Harvard and Stanford;

• the Law School moved up to a tie for fourth (with Chicago), from fifth;

• the College of Physicians and Surgeons advanced to seventh, from eighth,

• and Teachers College remains first, this year tied with U.C.–Berkeley.

  Several of the Ph.D. programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences also were ranked in the top ten, including English, tied for seventh, and history, tied for sixth.

  The programs in sociology, political science, economics and biological sciences all placed in the top 20.

  The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science placed 29th and the program in public affairs in the School of International and Public Affairs was ranked 18th.

  In the same week the rankings were released, the Association of American Law Schools and more than 150 law schools endorsed by the American Bar Association released a critical report of the ranking process used by U.S. News &World Report. The participating law schools—which included Columbia—endorsed a letter sent to 93,000 current law school applicants warning that the magazine rankings were unreliable.