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Duke Graduate Programs Remain High in U.S. News Rankings

Numerous doctoral and specialty programs also cited for excellence

Duke University's School of Medicine, School of Law, Fuqua School of Business, Pratt School of Engineering and Sanford Institute of Public Policy all rank among the top institutions in their disciplines, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best graduate and professional schools in the country.

The medical school tied for sixth for research and tied for 41st in primary care. The Sanford Institute tied for 10th for public affairs, the law school tied for 12th, the business school tied for 14th and the Pratt School of Engineering tied for 35th.

Provost Peter Lange, the university's top academic officer, said the U.S. News & World Report rankings "recognize the high quality of Duke's graduate and professional programs across a range of disciplines. As always, we urge potential students to look at other factors besides the rankings when choosing the program that's right for them."

Among medical specialties, Duke was acknowledged in geriatrics (third), internal medicine (fifth), AIDS (eighth) and family medicine (tied for ninth). In new rankings for health disciplines, Duke tied for ninth in clinical psychology and tied for 13th for physical therapy.

Within the law school, Duke was tied for fifth in environmental law and placed sixth for intellectual property law. Within the business school, Duke was ranked fourth for its executive MBA program, third in marketing, fifth in international and eighth in management. Within engineering, Duke ranked fourth for biomedical and bioengineering. Within public affairs, Duke was cited in four categories -- environmental policy and management (third), public policy analysis (fifth), health policy and management (tied for sixth) and social policy (eighth).

In updated rankings for doctoral programs in the sciences, Duke tied for 20th in computer science, tied for 21st in mathematics and tied for 29th in physics. It also tied for sixth in statistics. In addition, the magazine republished older rankings for numerous other doctoral programs and health fields.

According to U.S. News, the magazine's methodology is based on two types of data: "expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students." The magazine said its data came from surveys of "more than 1,200 programs and some 14,000 academics and professionals that were conducted in fall 2007."