By April 14, 2006
U.S. News & World Report just released its annual rankings of graduate programs nationwide, with Cornell’s professional programs ranking 16th in business, 13th in law, 39th in education, 11th in engineering and 15th in medicine this year. The rankings are based on expert opinions and statistical data gathered in the fall of 2005.
Cornell’s Johnson School of Management ranked 16th among business programs nationwide, down from its 15th rank last year, tying with Carnegie Mellon. Academic officials at peer schools gave the program a 4.1 out of a possible 5.0 points.
Amanda Soule Shaw, senior project manager and financial analyst with the MBA program at the Johnson School, said that the business school is taking these rankings seriously.
“We are looking at these results to see what we should be doing in addition to our current initiatives to improve the quality and reputation of the school.”
In the end, said Shaw, “the Johnson School remains a top business school in the minds of prospective students because it provides unique opportunities for hands-on learning and exposure to all the resources of Cornell in an intense and collaborative community.”
Cornell’s graduate program in education also made the list ranking 39th, tying with the University of Delaware and the University of Missouri-Columbia, and up from a 45th ranking last year. The ranking was based on a weighted average of 12 quality measures surveyed at 276 schools across the country, including student selectivity, faculty resources and quality assessments by education school deans.
The graduate program in engineering at Cornell came in at 11th on the U.S. News’ rankings, up from ranking 12th last year, with a 4.3 overall peer assessment score. Among specialized engineering graduate programs Cornell ranked eighth among industrial/manufacturing programs and ninth for electrical, civil and computer engineering. The rankings were calculated after U.S. News gathered data from 187 schools from a survey of department heads from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Cornell’s Weill Medical School in New York City ranked 15th in the survey, down from 14th last year. The results for this ranking were calculated from the responses of 126 medical schools.
Cornell’s law school also appeared in the rankings, coming in 13th nationwide. For their law school rankings, U.S. News took into consideration the success of each school in job placement for its graduates. Cornell’s law school also placed on the list of “The Most Diverse Schools,” a diversity index based on 2005-2006 student populations.
Cornell’s graduate programs in the sciences also appeared in the rankings, coming in ninth for chemistry and 15th for the earth sciences. Among schools offering specialized computer science programs, Cornell’s artificial intelligence program ranked 10th while its programming language program came in fifth overall. For computer science theory, Cornell ranked fourth. In the field of mathematics, Cornell tied with the University of California-Los Angeles for a 12th place ranking. The program also made the top ten in the specialized fields logic, statistics, and topology (seventh, sixth and 10th, respectively). Cornell’s physics program ranked seventh in the nation.
By April 14, 2006
The women’s lacrosse team will look to notch another Ivy League victory this weekend as it travels to face Brown tomorrow. No. 12 Cornell (7-2, 3-1 Ivy) currently sits in second place in the conference as it tries to stay in the hunt for an Ivy League title. A victory over the Bears (4-6, 1-1) this weekend would secure a winning league record for the Red for the sixth time in seven seasons.
“This game is huge for us in getting another important Ivy win,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “It will be a challenge for us to play a team with their scrappy and feisty style.”
Last weekend, the Red defeated then-No. 15 Dartmouth, 13-8, behind a commanding game in net from senior goaltender Maggie Fava (11 saves) and an offensive outpouring from sophomore Courtney Farrell. Farrell’s four goals and three assists earned her a second Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award on the season. The victory was just the fifth all-time for the Red against the Green, a perennial Ancient Eight powerhouse.
Brown bounced back from an agonizing defeat at the hands of Dartmouth two weeks ago by pulling out a nail-biting victory against Columbia last weekend. After Columbia tied the game with 39 seconds remaining, Brown got the go-ahead goal just 19 seconds later and held on for the victory.
The Bears’ offensive attack centers on a quartet of 20-point scorers. The team is lead by Amie Biros, whose 21 goals and eight assists are both tops on the squad. Three other players have scored at least 16 goals on the season as well, as the Red will have to contend with Kate Staley (16 goals, seven assists), Bethany Buzzell (17 goals, three assists) and Mimi DeTolla (16 goals, four assists).
“They have very athletic and very fearless attackers,” Graap said. “Brown’s style is to challenge the cage, so we are working hard on defense to be ready for that.”
In goal, Melissa King has seen the majority of the playing time, recording a 10.70 goals against average and .510 save percentage, placing her in the top-20 nationally in the latter category.
All season long, Cornell has been tough on both sides of the field. Its potent offense is ranked 13th nationally with 12.89 goals scored per game, while its stingy defense is second in the country, allowing a mere 7.11 goals per game. This is due in large part to the play of its core defensemen – junior Anne Riordan, and sophomores Jessica Dwinell and Ashleigh Smith, who will be primarily responsible for containing Brown’s offensive attack. Fava’s game last weekend against Dartmouth was just one of her many strong performances on the season. Fava ranks 12th in the country in save percentage with a .522 mark.
Offensively, Farrell has been on a tear recently, leading the team with 34 points on 23 goals and 11 assists. Junior tri-captain Margaux Viola is second on the team with 28 points on 23 goals and five assists.
The Red currently owns a six-game winning streak against the Bears. However, according to Graap, Brown has historically been a tough opponent.
“We’ve had more close games with them than not, so we need to continue to be well-balanced on the offensive end and continue to slide over on defense and not foul them,” she said.