What's the point of ranking programs lol

[Jarrodmac10]

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I always see others post that they got into a highly ranked program, but what determines a good program from a bad one?? I applied to 7 schools and all of them have a 100% graduation rate, employment rate, and pass the NPTE first attempt. But none of them are ranked lol. When choosing a school is "rank" even a reliable determinant?

 

[PT547]

Yes.

 

[adw253]

Actually, the PT school rankings from the US News & World Report are petty meaningless if you ask the faculty members at many of those programs. The way that programs are ranked by the US News and World Report are simply based upon how each PT program views the others. According to the program director at Columbia, and faculty at Emory, Arcadia, and Regis how the ranking works is that two individuals at each institution (the director and 1 full time professor) are given a form with the names of all of the registered PT programs, and then they rank them on a scale of 1-5 based upon how well they view each program. The scale is based upon their general opinion of each program, not the actual stats, facilities, quality/depth of the program, etc. It was also mentioned that some programs receive a higher ranking because they have a well known researcher on their staff, but that does not mean that you will ever be taught by them. Also, due to this ranking system, which has been described as a popularity contest, smaller lesser known programs will probably never receive a high ranking.

 

[jblil]

I agree with adw253. The Head of UNC's DPT said exactly the same thing on my interview day - it's simply a popularity contest and not based on any objective, quantifiable criteria.

That said, I do believe that some programs are way better than others, just like anything else in life. They are more demanding, the faculty is more involved, the facilities are better, etc. It's up to potential students to find out all those details by researching the programs, visiting the campus, talking to current students - think of it as doing your homework before you plunk down anywhere from 20K to 100K+ just for tuition!

 

[runnermouse]

At the end of the day, you should end up a licensed pt. The product you are getting from any pt school is the same. It's how you get there that is important. I was steered clear of a pt school in my area because of what the PTs I was shadowing with had to say about the caliber of students that graduate from it.
I found that the physical therapists I volunteered with were extremely helpful in steering me clear of some less than spectacular schools and pointing me in the dirrection of some I might really like.
About the rankings, even the faculty at some of the top ten ranked schools I interviewed at said the rankings were kind of bogus ( okay, this is my wording, not theirs). It would be nice if we knew exactly what metric US News uses, but we don't. I just made a list of things I wanted most from grad school and tried to find the right fit on my own.
Good Luck!

 

[NewTestament]

Actually, the PT school rankings from the US News & World Report are petty meaningless if you ask the faculty members at many of those programs. The way that programs are ranked by the US News and World Report are simply based upon how each PT program views the others. According to the program director at Columbia, and faculty at Emory, Arcadia, and Regis how the ranking works is that two individuals at each institution (the director and 1 full time professor) are given a form with the names of all of the registered PT programs, and then they rank them on a scale of 1-5 based upon how well they view each program. The scale is based upon their general opinion of each program, not the actual stats, facilities, quality/depth of the program, etc. It was also mentioned that some programs receive a higher ranking because they have a well known researcher on their staff, but that does not mean that you will ever be taught by them. Also, due to this ranking system, which has been described as a popularity contest, smaller lesser known programs will probably never receive a high ranking.

Dr. Binder-Macleod at University of Delaware said the same thing. Even though UD is in the top ten, he discounted the value of the rankings and doesn't seem to value them much. It's a popularity contest.

Kevin