Sorry, but your question cries out for this pun. Ranking departments is usually a matter of reputation and nothing else. Reputation is rarely related to student learning outcomes and what you will get in class.

If you are interested in some place to study you should look at what you think will be important like: Do they have the tools? Do they have new and cool tools? Do they have a good collection? Do they have new and cool faculty? What are the opportunities for field work? What have the faculty written? What are the faculty interests? How much do faculty teach, or is it all taught by grad students?