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The Correlates of Prestige Across Graduate and Professional Schools

Kyle SweitzerData Resource Analyst

Michigan State University

Fred VolkweinProfessor and Senior Scientist

Center for the Study of Higher EducationPenn State University

Paper presented at the 48th Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research

Seattle, WA May 27, 2008

©2008 Kyle V. Sweitzer

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Why study reputation ratings?

Prospective graduate students use graduate program ratings to inform their application and admissions decisions.

Administrators use graduate program ratings to inform resource allocation decisions.

(Ehrenberg and Hurst, 1996)

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Existing studies on rankings/ratings

Most of the studies have examined institutions’ graduate programs as a whole, via aggregating individual program ratings (Volkwein, 1986; Grunig, 1997).

Few studies have examined graduate program ratings at the department or school level.

Even fewer have looked at the U.S. NewsU.S. News graduate school ratings (most have examined the NRC ratings).

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Research Questions

What variables relate to the U.S. NewsU.S. News peer assessment ratings of graduate programs in the professional school disciplines of business, education, engineering, law, and medicine?

Are there variables relating to prestige that are common across all of the disciplines in the study, and are there variables that are specific to certain disciplines?

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Conceptual Framework

See paper

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Population

Schools/Colleges appearing in the lists of “The Top Schools” in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine in the 2008 edition of U.S. News’ America’s Best America’s Best Graduate SchoolsGraduate Schools.

50 Schools of Business 52 Schools of Education 51 Schools of Engineering104 Schools of Law 51 Schools of Medicine

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Variables / Data Sources

DEPENDENT VARIABLE – Peer assessment survey of deans, faculty, program directors

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES – Data from U.S. NewsU.S. News

--standardized admissions tests

--program acceptance rates

--full-time graduate enrollment in the school

--non-resident tuition

--student/faculty ratio

--undergraduate GPA

--variables specific to a discipline

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Variables / Data Sources

Research activity is measured in terms of faculty publications per capita.

Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science

Science and Social Science Citation Indices

Search on “Subject Category” for journals specific to a discipline.

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Descriptive Statistics, Schools of Business

Variable Name Mean Std Dev• Peer assessment score 3.71 0.54• Average undergraduate GPA 3.37 0.10• Average GMAT 666 27.0• Acceptance rate for school 0.40 0.13• Avg starting salary of grads 93,160 13,167• Pct grads employed at graduation0.74 0.08• Non-resident tuition 32,692 6,338• FT graduate enrollment in school 449 369• FT faculty in school 156 65.6• S-F ratio for school 2.95 1.71• Total publications 2001-05 454 239• Pubs / full-time faculty 2001-05 3.15 1.51

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Descriptive Statistics, Schools of Education

Variable Name Mean Std Dev• Peer assessment score 3.68 0.41• Average GRE 1151 86.2• Doctoral acceptance rate for school 0.34 0.15• Doctoral degrees granted 2005-06 58.4 44.6• Pct students in doctoral program 0.41 0.13• Research expendit’s 2006 (millions) 15.37 7.75• Rsch exp / FT fac 2006 (thousands) 236.0 129.6• Non-resident tuition 21,732 5,772• FT graduate enrollment in school 516 338• FT faculty in school 75 40.4• S-F ratio for school 7.74 5.21• Total publications 2001-05 155 78.6• Pubs / full-time faculty 2001-05 2.53 1.41

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Descriptive Statistics, Schools of Engineering

Variable Name Mean Std Dev• Peer assessment score 3.72 0.54• Average quantitative GRE 760 11.6• Acceptance rate for school 0.28 0.11• Pct faculty in Natl Academy of Eng 0.06 0.04• Doctoral degrees granted 2005-06 99.9 66.1• Research expendit’s 2006 (millions) 88.77 53.31• Rsch exp / FT fac 2006 (thousands) 482.5 186.5• Non-resident tuition 24,309 6,593• FT graduate enrollment in school 1380 855• FT faculty in school 294 165• S-F ratio for school 3.77 0.88• Total publications 2001-05 1384 782• Pubs / full-time faculty 2001-05 5.16 2.61

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Descriptive Statistics, Schools of Law

Variable Name Mean Std Dev• Peer assessment score 3.09 0.77• Median undergraduate GPA 3.52 0.14• Median LSAT 162 4.20• Acceptance rate for school 0.24 0.07• Bar passage rate 0.86 0.08• Pct grads employed at graduation0.79 0.13• Non-resident tuition 29,005 6,032• FT enrollment for school 722 281• FT faculty for school 51 21.5• S-F ratio for school 14.29 2.68• Total publications 2001-05 59.9 65.3• Pubs / full-time faculty 2001-05 1.02 0.83

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Descriptive Statistics, Schools of Medicine

Variable Name Mean Std Dev• Peer assessment score 3.73 0.56• Average undergraduate GPA 3.70 0.07• Average MCAT 10.86 0.57• Acceptance rate for school 0.07 0.03• NIH rsch expendit’s 2006 (millions) 241.8 176.1• Rsch exp / FT fac 2006 (thousands) 163.2 65.3• Non-resident tuition 37,332 6,683• Total enrollment for school 581 177• FT faculty for school 1486 985• Faculty-student ratio 2.79 2.07• Total publications 2001-05 7244 4159• Pubs / full-time faculty 2001-05 5.27 2.39

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Regression Analysis

• Using the conceptual framework as a guide, we used the peer assessment score as the dependent variable and estimated a blocked (set-wise) regression model for each of the five separate graduate/professional school disciplines.

• In the first block, we entered the institutional characteristics, such as the size and wealth of the school. In the second block, we entered the faculty and student indicators. In the third block we entered the variables reflecting faculty and student outcomes.

• We avoided collinearity by picking the strongest indicator from each set of variables.

Regression Results, Schools of Business

• Standardized Betas of Significant Coefficients

• Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3• Full-time enrollment .624*** .407*** .267*• Non-resident tuition .330*** .228*• Student-faculty ratio ns• Avg GMAT score .388*** .253**• Pubs per faculty 2001-2005 ns• Starting salary of grads .596***•  • Adjusted R-Square .736 .807 .878• ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• *Significant at .05 level; **Significant at .01 level; ***Significant at .001 level.• ns = non-significant when entered into model

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Regression Results, Schools of Education

• Standardized Betas of Significant Coefficients

• Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3• Full-time enrollment .366** .354* .535**• Non-resident tuition .514***• Student-faculty ratio ns• Avg GRE score ns• Pubs per faculty 2001-2005 .421*•  • Adjusted R-Square .368 .377 .474• ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• *Significant at .05 level; **Significant at .01 level; ***Significant at .001 level.• ns = non-significant when entered into model

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Regression Results, Schools of Engineering

• Standardized Betas of Significant Coefficients

• Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3• Full-time enrollment .664*** .576*** .792***• Non-resident tuition .327**• Student-faculty ratio ns• Avg GRE score .443*** .226*• Pubs per faculty 2001-2005 .468***•  • Adjusted R-Square .447 .619 .721• -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• *Significant at .05 level; ***Significant at .001 level.• ns = non-significant when entered into model

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Regression Results, Schools of Law

• Standardized Betas of Significant Coefficients

• Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3• Full-time enrollment .213* .159* .163**• Non-resident tuition .508***• Student-faculty ratio – .207*** – .174***• Median LSAT score .712*** .530***• Pubs per faculty 2001-2005 .264***• Employment rate at graduation ns•  • Adjusted R-Square .397 .795 .849• -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• *Significant at .05 level; **Significant at .01 level; ***Significant at .001 level.• ns = non-significant when entered into model

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Regression Results, Schools of Medicine

• Standardized Betas of Significant Coefficients

• Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3• Full-time enrollment ns .224* .342***• Non-resident tuition ns• Faculty-student ratio ns .313**• Avg MCAT score .701*** .637***• Pubs per faculty 2001-2005 .374***•  • Adjusted R-Square .016 .540 .653• ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------• *Significant at .05 level; **Significant at .01 level; ***Significant at .001 level.• ns = non-significant when entered into model

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Summary of Results

Variables with the largest beta coefficient:

Business Starting salary of graduates

Education Enrollment size

Engineering Enrollment size

Law Admissions selectivity (LSAT)

Medicine Admissions selectivity (MCAT)

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Summary of ResultsThe SIZE variable (full-time enrollment) is

the only variable that remained significant in the final model for all 5 disciplines.

However, size has the greatest beta coefficient in only 2 of the 5 disciplines (education and engineering).

So for schools of education and engineering, enrollment size is the strongest predictor of reputation!

Summary of Results• ADMISSIONS SELECTIVITY (average

entering test score) remains significant in the final model for 4 of the 5 disciplines, and has the greatest beta coefficient for 2 of those 4 – Law schools and Med schools.

• So for Law schools and Med schools, the tested “quality” of the admitted students is the strongest predictor of reputation!

• Education is the one discipline for which the Admissions Test score is not signif. related to reputation.

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Summary of Results• FACULTY PRODUCTIVITY (pubs per

faculty) also remained significant in 4 of the 5 disciplines, and had the 2nd greatest beta coefficient in all 4.

• The 4 disciplines were: engineering, education, law, and medicine.

• Not surprising that faculty productivity is significant in explaining graduate reputation.

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Summary of Results• The business schools may be the most

surprising all around --- not only is it the one discipline in which faculty productivity does not influence reputation, but the factor with the greatest influence on reputation is the starting salary of the graduates …..a factor determined by external (market) forces!!

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Summary of Results

• TUITION (our only measure of wealth) did not remain significant in the final model for any of the 5 disciplines.

• Student-faculty ratio only remained significant in 2 of the 5 disciplines (Law and Med), and was one of the weaker predictors even for them.

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Implications

These results confirm prior studies on graduate reputation that analyzed the 1995 NRC ratings, as well as findings that analyze the correlates of institutional reputation at the UG level.

The question remains as to how well the

U.S. NewsU.S. News ratings measure the concept of quality.

Is the magazine really determining

“America’s BestBest Graduate Schools?”