CU philosophy department rises in key rankings
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Philosophy has been ranked as among the best in America and in the English-speaking world, attaining the highest rankings in the department’s history.
Those are the results of the 2011-13 Blackwell Philosophical Gourmet rankings of philosophy graduate programs.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks CU-Boulder’s philosophy program as 24th among American programs and 29th among worldwide English-speaking programs. Further, CU’s philosophy program is ranked 11th among U.S. public universities.
Graeme Forbes, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, notes that the results are the highest to date for CU’s program and reflects a “significant improvement” from the 2004 ranking of 36th.
“What makes the Gourmet so influential is that it’s the primary resource for prospective graduate students in deciding where to apply to, because it makes up-to-date information about the composition and reputation of departments available to everyone,” Forbes said.
Before the Philosophical Gourmet, it was much harder to get such information and nearly impossible for those who weren't “networked,” Forbes added.
In addition to the overall rankings, the report ranks programs in philosophical specialties. The CU-Boulder program was placed in the top group for applied ethics, along with Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Oxford, Princeton and Rutgers.
CU-Boulder’s philosophy program also placed in the top group for feminist philosophy, along with MIT, Sheffield, and the University of Washington. In addition, it was strongly ranked in a wide range of other specialties, including metaphysics, ethics, and various areas in the history of philosophy, Graeme said.
“It's not entirely clear how applicants assign relative weight to overall department ranking and specialty ranking, but being ranked in the first group for applied ethics and feminist philosophy means that we should expect applications from many of the best students this year with interests in those fields,” Graeme said.
Graeme said the same is probably true, if to a little lesser extent, for the other areas in which CU-Boulder is well-ranked.
“And the increase in our overall ranking probably leads to an increase in the quality of the pool over and above the kick we get from the highly ranked specialties, since there are quite a few applicants who don't yet have firm views about which areas of philosophy they want to focus on.”
And as the rankings climb, as Graeme expects, “Boulder gets onto the radar of more and more of the best students out there.”
For more information on the Blackwell Philosophical Gourmet report, see http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com.
Those are the results of the 2011-13 Blackwell Philosophical Gourmet rankings of philosophy graduate programs.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks CU-Boulder’s philosophy program as 24th among American programs and 29th among worldwide English-speaking programs. Further, CU’s philosophy program is ranked 11th among U.S. public universities.
Graeme Forbes, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy
Graeme Forbes, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, notes that the results are the highest to date for CU’s program and reflects a “significant improvement” from the 2004 ranking of 36th.
“What makes the Gourmet so influential is that it’s the primary resource for prospective graduate students in deciding where to apply to, because it makes up-to-date information about the composition and reputation of departments available to everyone,” Forbes said.
Before the Philosophical Gourmet, it was much harder to get such information and nearly impossible for those who weren't “networked,” Forbes added.
In addition to the overall rankings, the report ranks programs in philosophical specialties. The CU-Boulder program was placed in the top group for applied ethics, along with Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Oxford, Princeton and Rutgers.
CU-Boulder’s philosophy program also placed in the top group for feminist philosophy, along with MIT, Sheffield, and the University of Washington. In addition, it was strongly ranked in a wide range of other specialties, including metaphysics, ethics, and various areas in the history of philosophy, Graeme said.
“It's not entirely clear how applicants assign relative weight to overall department ranking and specialty ranking, but being ranked in the first group for applied ethics and feminist philosophy means that we should expect applications from many of the best students this year with interests in those fields,” Graeme said.
Graeme said the same is probably true, if to a little lesser extent, for the other areas in which CU-Boulder is well-ranked.
“And the increase in our overall ranking probably leads to an increase in the quality of the pool over and above the kick we get from the highly ranked specialties, since there are quite a few applicants who don't yet have firm views about which areas of philosophy they want to focus on.”
And as the rankings climb, as Graeme expects, “Boulder gets onto the radar of more and more of the best students out there.”
For more information on the Blackwell Philosophical Gourmet report, see http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com.