The GW Law School rose two places in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of graduate school institutions, claiming the 20th position overall.

Director of Data Research for U.S. News and World Report, Bob Morse, attributes the school’s ranking to “small improvements in a number of categories” measured to come up with the report. Morse said improvements in job placement, student-to-teacher ratio and bar passage rate performance all account for the school’s improved ranking.

Individual programs in the school also received rankings in the report. The intellectual property program ranked second and the environmental and international law programs ranked 7th and 8th, respectively, in the nation. Both the environmental and international law programs took a minor fall from their standings of 6th place in last year’s report.

Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid of the Law School Robert Stanek said he thinks the school’s new ranking will be “advantageous,” for admissions.

“It means that we will get a large portion of the applicant pool applying,” Stanek said.

Stanek added he was pleased about the school’s ranking of 19th on the reports “Law of Diversity” survey. The ranking “assures a certain comfort level for those who attend,” he said.

Rankings are determined by a formula which considers peer assessments, assessments by lawyers and judges, undergraduate GPA and LSAT scores of the entering class, acceptance rate, student/faculty ratio, employment rates after graduation, and bar exam passage rates.

When questioned at an open house for the school Friday, many prospective students said the new ranking will not play a part in their decision to attend the Law School, when questioned at an open house for the school Friday.

“I’ve heard those rankings, but they don’t matter much,” Erin Murphy, of Boston, said.

“It’s good to say it’s a top 20 school, but it’s not the deciding factor,” said Melissa Scheeren, from the University of Florida. “The deciding factor is the environment – how people treat one another.”

A few students, however, said the top 20 ranking would factor into their decision to attend the school.

“(The ranking) puts GW back on the table with other schools I’m considering,” said Eric Rothman of the University of Pennsylvania.

Several other GW graduate schools were also ranked among the top 50 on the report.

GW’s new School of Public Policy and Public Administration was ranked 10th by U.S. News, out of 153 master’s programs in public affairs surveyed. The school jumped nine spots since its ranking in 2001.

Kathryn Newcomer, director of the Law School, is “very happy” with the ranking, but said the measurement is mostly based on “reputation,” which makes for a “very flat gradient” among the schools.

Newcomer said she does not think a higher ranking means vast improvements in the school have been made.

The school has five programs ranked in the top 20. Health policy and management is ranked 6th, public management administration 11th, public finance and budgeting 14th, public policy analysis 16th and social policy 18th.

The Graduate School of Education and Human Development was also ranked in the report, tying for 24th out of 189 schools surveyed.

Specialty programs which are in the report’s top 50 list include the physician assistant program, which is third, the speech-language pathology program, which is 39th, and theinternational business program, which is 20th.

U.S. News has been publishing America’s Best Graduate Schools annually since 1990.

“I think prospective students do look at it,” Newcomer said. “I think it will help (admissions).”

– Ryan Holeywell contributed to this report.