Program Rankings — Molecular Biology, University of Southern California

The survey-based quality measure is one of two estimates of overall program quality prepared by the NRC. Both measures use the same data on 20 key variables, but they use different methods to determine which variables are the most important predictors of program quality. For the survey-based measure, the relative weight of each variable is based on input from about 50 faculty members in each field. Each faculty member was asked to identify the most relevant variables in assessing program quality and to give each one a numeric value according to its importance. Learn more.

The chart shows a histogram of the results of the NRC's 500 simulated rankings. The horizontal axis shows the program's rank, and the vertical axis shows how many times the program had the given rank in the 500 simulations. Learn more

The 5th and 95th percentile rankings from the NRC's 500 simulated rankings.

The regression-based quality measure is one of two estimates of overall program quality prepared by the NRC. Both measures use the same data on 20 key variables, but they use different methods to determine which variables are the most important predictors of program quality. For the regression-based measure, the relative weight of each variable is derived input from about 50 faculty members in each field. The faculty assessed a random selection of graduate programs on a scale of 1 to 6 without specifying the their assessment criteria. Those variables that were most often associated with highly regarded programs received the most weight. Learn more.

The chart shows a histogram of the results of the NRC's 500 simulated rankings. The horizontal axis shows the program's rank, and the vertical axis shows how many times the program had the given rank in the 500 simulations. Learn more

The 5th and 95th percentile rankings from the NRC's 500 simulated rankings.

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is commonly required as part of the graduate school application process. The quantitative section of the test is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. Learn more.