When U.S. News & World Report publishes its rankings of university audiology programs on April 3, there will be little change from 2008, when its previous ratings came out.
According to a preview on the publication’s web site, for the third time in a row, Vanderbilt University holds the top spot, followed by the University of Iowa.
The number three ratings are slightly changed from four years ago. This year, the University of Washington-Seattle, which was alone at number 3 in 2008, shares that ranking with three other schools: the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, which moved up from sixth; the University of Texas—Dallas, previously fourth; and Washington University in St. Louis, fifth four years ago.
Rounding out the top ten on the list are the University of Florida, seventh; Northwestern University and the University of Pittsburgh, both ranked eighth; and Rush University Medical Center and the University of Kansas, which share the number ten position.
For the most part, the new ratings by U.S. News do not differ greatly from the prior ones. However, a few programs moved up considerably from 2008. The University of Pittsburgh rose from 16th to 8th. And Ohio State University, which had been 19th four years ago, and the University of South Florida, which had not been in the top 25, share the 12th spot this year (along with Purdue University, the University of Arizona-Tucson, and the University of Memphis).
The scores assigned by U.S. News to its top-rated schools vary by only a small margin. For example, Vanderbilt had the highest score, 4.5; number two Iowa scored 4.2; while the four programs ranked third all had 4.0 scores.
All told, U.S. News ranked 68 audiology programs, all in the United States. The lowest score assigned was 2.0. Other programs, which fell below that score, were not ranked.
METHODOLOGY
According to the publication, its audiology rankings are based solely on the results of peer-assessment surveys sent last fall to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs in audiology. The surveys went to all 78 audiology programs accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). They were instructed to select “don’t know” if they did not have enough knowledge to rate a program.
