International program highest among public institutions nationwide
USC’s Darla Moore School of Business has topped the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to reclaim its ranking as the No. 2 graduate international business program in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.
The publication, which released its 2012 graduate school rankings Tuesday, also bumped the school’s International Master of Business Administration program ranking up to No. 54 from No. 62 last year, and listed the school among its “business schools on the rise.”
The school’s part-time Professional Master of Business Administration program also rose five spots to No. 36 in the nation.
As No. 1 school in the graduate international business specialty ranking — the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz. — is a private institution, the Moore School remains the highest-ranked public business school in the category.
Christine LaCola, the assistant dean and director of the graduate division of the Moore School, said the rare structure of the school’s faculty contributes to the school’s continued success.
“For over 30 years strong, international business has been at the core strategy of the Moore School,” LaCola said. “We have a department of international business faculty that spans different business functions but they all stay together within a singular department. That is very, very different from other business school structures.”
Other USC schools and programs ranked in the Top 100 include public affairs, No. 72, and the master’s program in nursing, No. 79.
The USC School of Law barely missed making the Top 100; it came in at No. 104. Last year, the troubled law school dropped into the unranked third tier and Dean Walter “Jack” Pratt stepped down in response. Currently, USC is searching for a replacement.
Other USC graduate schools and programs that missed the Top 100 include the engineering school at No. 102 and the College of Education at No. 112.
The Report’s specialty rankings, such as that for international business, are based solely on top ten ratings by business school deans and directors of accredited master’s programs from the 142 schools that responded to the survey with sufficient data.
The overall M.B.A. rankings were based on administrator and recruiter assessments, graduate mean starting salaries, graduate employment rates, mean GMAT scores, mean undergraduate GPAs and acceptance rates.