The Thayer School of Engineering was ranked the 50th best engineering school out of 194 considered institutions. Dartmouth Medical School received rankings of 32nd and 67th for best research institution and best primary care, respectively.
Tuck Dean Paul Danos said the outcome of the U.S. News and World Report was not surprising, as Tuck typically places in the top five or top 10 of national rankings.
"It's pretty much a standard group of top schools that are listed," Danos said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "We placed around where we place each year, and we have very good company."
Danos attributed Tuck's ranking to the methodology used by U.S. News and World Report, which considers a variety of factors based on responses submitted by each participating institution. If the methodology was changed to exclusively consider quantitative measures, Tuck would have been given a better ranking, according to Danos.
"If they only pulled specific indicators on a quantitative level, Tuck would be first, second, or third," Danos said.
U.S. News and World Report placed Tuck sixth in the management category, although Tuck ranked fifth in management in the 2010 compilation of school rankings.
Despite this drop in the management category, Danos said Tuck continues to perform well in other categories.
"Tuck was highly ranked in some very important areas," Danos said. "Tuck was highest in employment last year and very high in terms of specific quantitative measurements like GMAT scores, board scores, and the average GPA of the incoming class."
Danos said that Tuck's approach to education will not change at all despite these revised rankings.
"Tuck in particular strictly adheres to our core values, giving students the best exposure to the best faculty we can muster," Danos said. "The rankings are merely a byproduct of that. We don't manage to the rankings at all."
U.S. News and World Report surveyed 437 master's programs in business and analyzed the data of its 142 respondents. For the medical school research and primary care categories, 123 institutions responded and provided data needed to calculate rankings, according to the report.
In U.S. News and World Report's 2009 rankings, Tuck ranked eighth, Thayer ranked 54th and DMS ranked 22nd for primary care and 35th for research.
