I asked the dean about how the schools are ranked at my interview, he told me that surveys are sent to the department heads, and that's it. US News is where the rankings come from. They also do med school rankings, but have a much more comprehensive and indepth method of ranking schools, so it should be considered much more legit. I've been accepted to Arcadia, attended the campus for a tour, and was not impressed. It's ranked number 7 out of 200+ according to that list. Temple is 10,000 dollars a year in tuition more (35,000 versus roughly 25,000) than many other schools, but also did not stand out to me during my interview. That said, the dean said that USC, Pittsburgh, and Washington St. Louis deserve their rankings. He said they cost more, but the faculty is outstanding at those three locations. Otherwise, I'd suggest that you don't put much (if any) weight into the rankings. Good luck with your application process, I hope this helps.
