Quality of the Graduate Programs

The graduate programs in the School of Biological Sciences rank very highly among the approximately 100 biology programs in the 2011 National Research Council (NRC) rankings (determined by quantitative assessments of faculty productivity and student outcomes). The NRC scores placed two of our departmental doctoral programs in the top 10 percent of comparable programs in the country and the other two within the top 20 percent.

These rankings indicate that all Biological Sciences departmental programs scored highly in the following areas: research activities, degree completion and time to degree, diversity measures for both faculty and students, and student financial support. A short synopsis of the NRC results for each department follows:

  • The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior is one of the most highly ranked programs on the Irvine campus and in the UC system and easily in the top five percent of Neuroscience programs.
  • The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is one of the most highly ranked programs on the Irvine campus, and is in the top 10 percent of comparable programs in the country.
  • The Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry ranks highly among other programs in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, placing in the top 15 percent of programs in this expertise.
  • The Department of Developmental and Cell Biology ranks highly among other programs in Cell and Developmental Biology, ranking among the top 20 percent comparable programs.
  • The graduate programs of the School of Biological Sciences have an especially high rate of successful doctoral degree completion, a metric that UCOP considers to be “among the key indicators of doctoral program effectiveness and student success.”