Business School Rankings Explained

The U.S. News & World Report is made of of both the objective and subjective figures. The magazine seeks “authority opinion about program value and statistical indicators that assess the excellence of a school’s faculty, academic research, and students.” Opinions are gathered from directors, deans, and senior faculty to quantitatively gauge the quality of each respective MBA school; in addition, recruiters for business schools present his or her judgment based on their interaction with graduates. The statistical figures combines measures of the qualities of the incoming students and as well as the faculty with measures of post graduate success as related to{his or her} degrees. 95% of the 402 business schools responded to the ranking inquiry. The formula used to rank the schools included quality assessment (40%), placement success (35%), and scholar selectivity (25%).

The Business Week rankings are published on even years in the month of October; these rankings are based on astudent evaluation, an appraisal by corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital rating. The studentsgenerally answer an online survey consisting of 45 questions. The recruiter survey quantifies the number of MBAs the recruiter’s company hired and from which school in the past two years. The intellectual capital aspect is based on a formula which compiles journal publications, books published, and professor to student ratio.

Forbes magazine calculated a 5-year ROI (return on investment from tuition) for 2002 graduates. Forbes surveyed a total of 18,500 graduates of 102 MBA programs and used their pre-enrollment and post-graduate business school salary data as a basis for comparing post-MBA compensation with the expense of attending the programs.

Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll was the outcome of an online survey of 4,125 recruiters betweenDecember 13, 2005 and March 16, 2006, based on their experiences at schools where they had recently recruited.It is important to note that the rankings were not based on academic quality, but the survey questions were centered on faculty and curriculum. Distinct from other ranking methodologies, the WSJ poll was based on attributes essential to the long-term success of a businessperson such as communication skills, teamwork skills, personal ethics, problem solving abilities, and work etic. The WSJ includesa national list, European list, as well as a regional list of rankings.

The Economist’s methodology utilizes 80% of the responses given by schools and 20% of the figures providedby students and graduates to formulate a ranking system. Some attributes included in these surveys areaverage GMAT scores, professor to student ratio, diversity among each class, job position rates from the school’s career center, 3 months post-graduation employment rates, salaries before and after the program, and alumni network. Some schools end up being left out of top 100 compared to other lists due to the way the details are sorted.

The Financial Times polled over 10,000 alumni of 155 MBA schools. The appraisal began in July 2006 and included accredited programs (all around the world) that are at least five years old. The survey had 3 categories divided into 20 areas. (40% of the weight is from alumni, 55% of the weight from schools, and 5% based on research conducted by FT. The FT also produced a comprehensive “standing of standings” which combines the lists from The Economist, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Financial Times.


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