Ranking of Astrophysics and Astronomy Graduate Schools

Item Descriptions

Rank

A range indicating how this program ranked in 500 simulated rankings based on your priorities. Programs are sorted by their median rank. Learn more.

NRC regression-based quality measure (Regres Quality)

The NRC's measurements of overall program quality are based on 20 key variables (19 in the humanities) such as GRE scores, student support and faculty publications. To calculate the regression-based quality measure, the relative importance, or weight, of a variable was set by the extent that it correlated with programs viewed most favorably by evaluators in each field. Learn more. Your weight = 3. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

NRC survey-based quality measure (Survey Quality)

The NRC's measurements of overall program quality are based on 20 key variables (19 in the humanities) such as GRE scores, student support and faculty publications. To calculate the survey-based quality measure, evaluators in each field identified the variables that they considered to be the most important indicators of program quality. Learn more. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Overall research productivity (Research Product)

This variable shows a composite measure of research productivity, based on publications per faculty member, citations per publication, percent of faculty holding grants, and awards per faculty member. The relative importance of these variables was determined by the direct assessments of some 50 faculty in each field. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Publications per faculty member (Pubs / Faculty)

This variable shows the average number of publications per faculty member per year. It equals the average number of articles per year for each faculty member in the period 2000-2006, divided by the number of faculty allocated to the program during that period. Publication data were obtained by matching faculty lists supplied by the programs to the list of publications maintained by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). This measure is specific to graduate programs outside the humanities. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Citations per paper (Cites / Paper)

This variable shows the average number of citations per year for papers published by program faculty. It equals the average number of citations per year in the period 2000-2006 for each faculty member allocated to the program. The citations in any given year (based on papers published between 1981-2006), are divided by the number of papers published to that point. For example, the number of citations for a faculty member in 2003 was found by taking the 2003 citations of all articles by that faculty member published between 1981 and 2003. These yearly counts were summed for the entire faculty in the program and divided by the total number of eligible publications. This measure was constructed with data from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

% faculty with grants (Faculty Grants)

This variable shows the percentage of faculty members in the program whose work was supported by external grants or contracts in 2006, based on data from a faculty questionnaire. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Faculty awards (Faculty Awards)

This variable shows the average number of awards per faculty member in the program, based on data from a review of 1,393 awards and honors given by various scholarly organizations. The committee identified awards as "Highly Prestigious" or "Prestigious", with the former given a weight of 5. Award recipients were matched to the faculty in all programs. For each program, the number of awards for an individual faculty member was the sum of the weighted awards times the faculty member's allocation to that program. The variable shown here equals the sum of these individual values divided by the number of faculty allocated to the program. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Student support and outcomes (Student Outcomes)

This variable is a composite of other measures of student support and outcomes, including 6-year or 8-year graduation rates (for non-humanities programs and humanities programs, respectively), time to degree, job placement within academia, percentage of first-year students with full financial support, and whether a program collects data about the employment outcomes of its graduates. The relative importance of these variables was determined by the direct assessments of some 50 faculty in each field. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

% graduating in 6 years (Grad 6 years)

This variable shows the percentage of students (full-time and part-time) receiving a doctorate within 6 years. It was constructed with data from the program questionnaire. Programs reported the number of graduate students who entered in different cohorts from 1996-1997 to 2005-2006. In each cohort, programs indicated the number of students who completed in 3 years or less, in their 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th years, and in 10 or more years. Males and females were reported separately. The completion rate equals the number of students in a given cohort who completed their doctorate in 6 years or less divided by the number of students in the cohort. This computation was made for each cohort from 1996-1997 to 2000-2001. Later cohorts were not considered because many students completed after 2005-2006, the final year in which data were collected. The average 6-year completion rate was calculated from 5 cohorts. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Years to Degree (Years to PhD)

This variable shows the median time to doctoral degree for full-time and part-time students in the program, based on data from the program questionnaire. Your weight = -5. Smaller values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Placement Rate (Jobs at Grad)

This variable shows the percentage of students with definite plans at graduation (either a job or a postdoctoral position), based on data from the student questionnaire. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: SED, 2000–2004)

Graduates with academic jobs (Academic Jobs)

This measure shows the percentage of doctorate recipients who are working at an educational institution after graduation. It was constructed using data from the National Science Foundation 2005 Doctorate Records File (DRF). The committee matched Specialty Fields of Study from the DRF with the taxonomic fields in the current study. When sorted by field and institution, the DRF data show the number of program graduates who have accepted or are negotiating employment or a postdoctoral fellowship at an educational institution, defined as a college, university, medical school, research institute, technical institute, community college or pre-college. The variable was calculated as the number of students who graduated in the period 2001-2005 and had an academic job, divided by the total number of program graduates in that period. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

% of students with outside funding (Outside Funding)

This variable shows the percentage of first-year students with externally funded fellowships, based on data from the program questionnaire. The variable equals the number of full-time, first-year students in 2005 supported wholly or in part by external fellowships, divided by the total number of first-year students in 2005. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Quantitative GRE (Quant GRE)

This measure shows the average score on the quantitative section of the GRE for students entering graduate programs outside the humanities. In a 2005 questionnaire, programs reported the average quantitative GRE and the number of individuals included in this average for academic years 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. The overall average was calculated by multiplying each year's average GRE by the number of individuals for that year, adding the three products, and dividing by the total number of individuals over the three-year period. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Diversity in the academic environment (Diversity)

This variable shows a composite measure of diversity generated by the National Research Council. It includes data on percent of faculty and students from underrepresented minorities, percent of female faculty and students, and percent of international faculty and students. The relative importance of these variables was determined by the direct assessments of some 50 faculty in each field. Not used in ranking (Source: NRC, 2010)

First Year Support (1st Yr Support)

This variable shows the percentage of first-year full-time doctoral students who were given full financial support. In a 2006 questionnaire, programs reported the type of support received by all full-time graduate students in fall 2005. Data for students in each year of enrollment were reported separately. The reported value was calculated as the number of first-year students who received full support (from any source), divided by the total number of first-year students. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Teaching assistantships (TAs)

This variable shows the percentage of full-time doctoral students in 2005 who were supported primarily by a teaching assistantship Your weight = -5. Smaller values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Research assistantships (RAs)

This variable shows the percentage of full-time doctoral students in 2005 who were supported primarily by a research assistantship. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Overall Support (Support)

This variable shows the percentage of students who reported in 2005 that their primary form of support was a source other than their own funds, such as a fellowship or assistantship. Your weight = 5. Larger values are better. (Source: SED, 2000–2004)

Total students (Students)

This variable shows the total number of doctoral students enrolled in the program in fall 2005 as reported in the program questionnaire. Your weight = 1. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Doctorates Granted per Year (PhDs / Year)

This variable shows the average number of doctorates granted per year between 2002 and 2006, based on responses from the program questionnaire. Any years with missing data were excluded from the average. Your weight = 1. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Total Faculty (Faculty)

This variable reports the total number of faculty participating in the program. Your weight = 1. Larger values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Grad Student / Faculty Ratio (Student / Faculty)

This variable shows the number of graduate students per faculty member in the program. Your weight = -1. Smaller values are better. (Source: NRC, 2010)

Undergraduate Acceptance Rate (Undrgrad Accept)

The percentage of applicants the institution accepts into its undergraduate programs Your weight = -2. Smaller values are better. (Source: IPEDS, 2009)

Math SAT Score (Math SAT)

As another measure of undergraduate selectivity, this variable shows math SAT scores for undergraduates at the institution. The value shown is the average of the 25th and 75th percentile scores for enrolled students. Your weight = 2. Larger values are better. (Source: IPEDS, 2009)

Verbal SAT Score (Verbal SAT)

As another measure of undergraduate selectivity, this variable shows verbal SAT scores for undergraduates at the institution. The value shown is the average of the 25th and 75th percentile scores for enrolled students. Your weight = 2. Larger values are better. (Source: IPEDS, 2009)

Data Sources

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

IPEDS is an annual, comprehensive set of surveys of all colleges and universities in the United States. The surveys are conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.   Learn more

National Research Council

The National Research Council conducts periodic assessments of doctoral programs in the United States. Our data comes from the most recent assessment in 2010.   Learn more

Survey of Earned Doctorates

The NSF/NIH/NEH/USED/USDA/NASA Survey of Earned Doctorates is an annual survey of all new recipients of doctorates from US universities at graduation. The average of the response rates for the 2000–2004 surveys was 92%.   Learn more

Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering

The Survey is an annual assessment of the number and characteristics of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in science, engineering, and health-related fields It is conducted by the National Science Foundation.   Learn more