Where Can I Get Economics Department Rankings?

[Q]: I was wondering whether you would have information about how to choose a good PhD programme in Economics both in the US and in international locations. For starters, do you have any information on rankings, aside from the US News rankings.

[A]: Thanks for your e-mail! The first articles I would look at if you're interested in doing graduate work in Economics are a few on this site. If you haven't already, you should check out:

• "Choosing A Graduate School in Economics"

• "Consider Lifestyle When Choosing An Economics Graduate Department"

• "Books to Study Before Going to Graduate School in Economics"

• "More Books to Study Before Going to Graduate School in Economics"

There are quite a few links in those articles as well, so you can get alternate opinions about what to consider when deciding which graduate schools to apply to and what you should know before you get there. About also has a Graduate School site. Most of the information isn't specific to any field, but most of it will be useful to economics majors.

Graduate School and Economic Department Rankings

In "Choosing A Graduate School in Economics" I give the following advice:

"Don't apply to just the highest ranked schools. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If you're interested in studying time-series econometrics, apply to schools which have active researchers in that area. What's the point of going to a great theory school if you're not a theorist?"

I stand by that advice, but it is often worthwhile to know where a particular school ranks relative to others to which you're thinking of applying. The US News rankings that you mentioned are somewhat limitied, but they're interesting to look at. The most comprehensive set of rankings available are on Tom Coupé's World Wide Ranking of Economics Departments page. Not only does it have rankings of departments, it also ranks individual economists. It's nice to know how prolific an economist is if you're trying to decide who you would like to have as your advisor. Keep in mind that the rankings tend to be for periods such as 1990-2000 and past performance is an imperfect indication of the future performance of an economist or economics department.

There's a few other rankings pages you may want to check out:

• Econometrics Journal - Econometrics Rankings is a useful resource if you're considering doing graduate work in Econometrics.

• Ranking of German Speaking Economics Departments

• Aykut Kibritçioglu has links to many lists on his Rankings in Economics page. Included are rankings of European and Turkish departments.

Once again, while these rankings are interesting, please consider other factors when considering which graduate schools in economics to apply to.

If you have a question you'd like answered about graduate school or any other economics topic, please use the feedback form.