Yale, Harvard top annual grad school rankings

NEW YORK, March 12 (UPI) -- Yale remained the top-ranked U.S. law school and Harvard the No. 1 medical school, U.S. News & World Report said in rankings released Tuesday.

The business schools at Harvard and Stanford tied for the top spot for another year. The magazine rated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley as the top three graduate programs in engineering for another year.

The Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University continued to be the top-ranked education program.

"A graduate degree can be the ticket to a six-figure salary for some students, but leave others drowning in debt," the magazine said. "Several factors determine which camp a grad student will fall into, including degree choice, graduate school savings, and the school itself."

U.S. News said the method it uses to rank graduate programs varies somewhat by discipline. But the factors involved include how selective the program is, expert opinions on quality and success at placing students in jobs with a new emphasis not just on whether students are employed but on what kinds of jobs they get.

The magazine also ranks part-time programs in fields where they are available. Berkeley's Hass School of Business was the top part-time program in that field, while Georgetown and George Washington were ranked first and second among part-time law schools.