Veritas Prep Blog » MBA Rankings

U.S. News Business School Rankings for 2014

VeritasPrep — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:41:16 +0000

U.S. News & World Report has just announced its 2014 business school rankings. While we never like to see applicants put too much emphasis on the rankings, it’s always a little exciting when U.S. News refreshes its rankings of the nation’s top MBA programs. Don’t solely decide to apply based on whether an editor at a magazine moved your target school down from 8th to 9th this year, but do take a look at the rankings — and, especially, the data associated with the rankings — to help you start to narrow down your list and get a feel for what kind of MBA program you have a shot of getting into.

Without further ado, here are the top 25 U.S. business schools according to U.S. News. Each school’s 2013 ranking (from 12 months ago) follows in parentheses:

2014 U.S. News MBA Rankings
1. Harvard (1)
1. Stanford (1)
3. Penn (Wharton) (3)
4. MIT (Sloan) (4)
4. Northwestern (Kellogg) (4)
6. Chicago (Booth) (4)
7. UC Berkeley (Haas) (7)
8. Columbia (8)
9. Dartmouth (Tuck) (9)
10. NYU (Stern) (11)
11. Duke (Fuqua) (12)
12. Virginia (Darden) (13)
13. Yale (10)
14. UCLA (Anderson) (15)
14. Michigan (Ross) (13)
16. Cornell (Johnson) (16)
17. Texas (McCombs) (17)
18. Emory (Goizueta) (19)
19. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) (18)
20. UNC (Kenan-Flagler) (19)
21. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) (22)
22. Indiana (Kelly) (23)
23. Minnesota – Twin Cities (Carlson) (30)
24. Washington (Foster) (35)
25. Georgetown (McDonough) (24)

What Changed?
Not a whole lot, at least not at the top of the rankings. The top five schools sit exactly where they sat last year, and the only change is that Booth, which had been in a three-way tie with Sloan and Kellogg for the #4 spot last year, dropped down to the 6th position. In the rest of the top ten, the biggest news is that Yale, which had been slowly marching up the rankings, dropped from #10 to #13. Elbowing its way into the top ten was Stern, which moved up one spot this year to #10.

There were a couple of big movers toward the bottom of the top 25: Take a look at the big jumps Carlson and Foster made this year, most likely the result of improved job placement statistics at those schools. Those are both great programs that don’t always get enough recognition outside of their local markets, so we’re glad to see them break into the top 25.

How Do the Business School Rankings Work?
The U.S. News rankings involve a blend of qualitative and quantitative ratings. 40% of a school’s overall score comes from assessments by business school leaders and by corporate recruiters. So, really, a large part of what they’re ranking is a school’s reputation, which can make the entire process a bit self-reinforcing. Even if a school makes dramatic improvements to every aspect of its program — from academics to job placement to alumni services — it can take years for these results to have a significant impact on these qualitative ratings. So, know that a large part of these rankings are essentially backward-looking… A school’s peer’s opinions of the program are shaped by what the schools have done over the past few decades (or more), not necessarily by what the school is doing right now.

Another 35% of an MBA program’s rating comes from more quantitative measures of the program’s success in placing job candidates, including mean starting salary and bonus data and the percentage of grads who have full-time jobs at graduation and three months after graduation. Once again, you should pay attention to what’s being ranked: A school that sends many more grads into investment banking will likely report a higher average starting salary than a school that sends many grads into the non-profit sector. That doesn’t invalidate the data, but keep this in mind as you look at these numbers.

The last 25% of a business school’s rating comes from other quantitative measures around the admissions process, including the mean GMAT score and undergraduate GPAs of the incoming class, and the school’s admissions rate. This is perhaps the most straightforward group of statistics, but keep in mind that schools are always trying to game the system and find ways to tweak these numbers to improve their rankings. (There have been a lot of these shenanigans lately, from Tulane’s MBA program to Claremont-McKenna’s undergraduate college.)

None of this means that the rankings aren’t useful. We all pay attention to them, and we will continue to do so as long as U.S. News, Bloomberg Businessweek, and other publications keep ranking graduate schools. But remember that they’re not the beginning and end of your business school research!

You can read more about the most competitive business schools in Veritas Prep’s Essential Guides, 14 in-depth guides to the most elite MBA programs, available on our site. If you’re ready to start building your own MBA candidacy, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter!

Financial Times Business School Rankings for 2013

VeritasPrep — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:26:21 +0000

Earlier this week The Financial Times released its new global MBA rankings for 2013. For the first time in eight years, Harvard Business School sits atop FT’s rankings, ousting last year’s #1, Stanford GSB. Harvard’s return to #1 marks the fourth time the school has topped the FT rankings since they were first launched in 1999. In fact only three other schools have ever topped the Financial Times rankings: Stanford, Wharton, and London Business School.

One driver of Harvard’s rise is its improvement in FT’s diversity measure, which rewards schools for having a greater percentage of female and international students. While 34% of Harvard’s Class of 2013 comes from overseas, 43% of the Class of 2014 are international. This surely is a reflection of Dean Nitin Nohria’s goal to boost Harvard’s international influence and outlook.

Without further ado, here are the Financial Times’ top 20 global MBA programs for 2013:

1. Harvard Business School
2. Stanford GSB
3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
4. London Business School
5. Columbia Business School
6. INSEAD
7. IESE Business School
8. Hong Kong UST
9. MIT Sloan
10. Chicago Booth
11. IE Business School
12. UC Berkeley (Haas)
13. Northwestern (Kellogg)
14. Yale SOM
15. CEIBS
16. Dartmouth (Tuck)
16. Cambridge (Judge)
18. Duke (Fuqua)
19. IMD
19. NYU (Stern)

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2012 Businessweek MBA Rankings

VeritasPrep — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:11:20 +0000

Bloomberg Businessweek has just released its business school rankings for 2012. Businessweek’s rankings aren’t the only game in town — the U.S. News business school rankings are also very influential, and others such as The Financial Times carry more clout in Europe — but the fact that Businessweek’s rankings only come out every two years always creates a little more buildup for this moment.

A word of caution before we proceed: When you look at any ranking system, remember that there’s no single “right” way to rank the schools. Each of the popular business school ranking systems below rely on a different set of criteria, including acceptance rates, average GMAT scores, and post-graduation salaries. Some also use more subjective criteria, such as peer ratings by administrators at other business schools, and how each school is rated by its current and former students. It’s therefore no surprise that no two ranking systems will completely agree with one another.

Without further ado, here are the top 25 U.S. business schools, according to Bloomberg Businessweek:

1. University of Chicago (Booth)
2. Harvard Business School
3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
4. Stanford Graduate School of Business
5. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
6. Duke University (Fuqua)
7. Cornell University (Johnson)
8. University of Michigan (Ross)
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
10. University of Virginia (Darden)
11. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
12. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
13. University of California at Berkeley (Haas)
14. Columbia Business School
15. University of Indiana (Kelley)
16. New York University (Stern)
17. University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
18. UCLA (Anderson)
19. University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
20. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
21. Yale School of Management
22. Emory University (Goizueta)
23. Georgia Tech (Scheller)
24. University of Maryland (Smith)
25. Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Major Moves This Year
The very top of the list didn’t change dramatically this year, but the top 25 did include a few significant movers. Cornell’s Johnson School jumped six spots, from 13th in 2010 to 7th this year. Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School jumped four spots, from 15th to 11th. Indiana’s Kelley School also jumped four spots, from 19th to 15th. Haas and Columbia suffered two of the largest drops, falling from 8th and 9th to 13th and 14th this year, respectively.

While each of these moves is nothing to get too excited about, it’s interesting to think about the underlying drivers. It’s not hard to imagine that, in Columbia’s case, continued softness in hiring by banks contributed to its own students only ranking Columbia 20th best among all schools. That’s just one example of knowing he “why” behind the rankings — and not just the rankings themselves — is critical as you research MBA programs

Want to get into one of these elite MBA programs? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter!

By Scott Shrum

U.S. News MBA Rankings for 2013

Scott — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:11:22 +0000

Today U.S. News & World Report unveiled its 2013 business school rankings. As we always say, it’s easy to get too caught up in the rankings and obsess over details such as a school “plunging” from 8th to 11th in the rankings or “shooting up” from 14th to 10th. Of course the rankings will have some impact on your school research, but using them as any more than a useful starting point can lead you to apply to schools which don’t fit you as well as they could.

Still, we all love rankings, whether we’re talking about education, fashion at the Oscars, or best bands of all time. And we can’t help but pay attention when U.S. News releases its influential rankings of grad schools.

Without further ado, here’s a look at the top 20 U.S. programs as defined by U.S. News. Each school’s 2012 ranking follows in parentheses:

2013 U.S. News Business School Rankings
1. Harvard (2)
1. Stanford (1)
3. Penn (Wharton) (3)
4. MIT (Sloan) (3)
4. Northwestern (Kellogg) (5)
4. Chicago (Booth) (5)
7. UC Berkeley (Haas) (7)
8. Columbia (9)
9. Dartmouth (Tuck) (7)
10. Yale (10)
11. NYU (Stern) (10)
12. Duke (Fuqua) (12)
13. Michigan (Ross) (14)
13. Virginia (Darden) (13)
15. UCLA (Anderson) (14)
16. Cornell (Johnson) (16)
17. Texas (McCombs) (17)
18. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) (18)
19. Emory (Goizueta) (23)
19. UNC (Kenan-Flagler) (19)

What’s Changed Since Last Year?
The biggest news starts at the top of the rankings, where Harvard moved into a tie with Stanford after being ranked #2 behind Stanford last year. Wharton, which had been tied with MIT Sloan for third place in the 2012 rankings, moved ahead of Sloan to take sole possession of the third spot this year. After that is a very tight cluster of schools, with Kellogg and Booth moving up from #5 to tie Sloan for fourth place.

The rest of the top ten looks quite similar to what it was last year, with some minor shuffling among Columbia, Tuck, and Stern (with Stern landing at #11 this year). Looking at the rest of the top 20 schools, the most notable move came from Emory, which managed to break into the top 20 after sitting at #23 last year. Falling out of the top 20 was Washington University in St. Louis (Olin), which landed at #22.

How Do These Rankings Work?
U.S. News relies on a mix of qualitative and quantitative ratings to compile its scores. 40% of a school’s overall score comes from assessments by business school leaders and by corporate recruiters. So, in a sense, a large part of what they’re ranking is a school’s reputation, which can make the entire process a bit self-reinforcing. Even if a school were to dramatically improve every aspect of its program — from academics to job placement to alumni services — it might take years for these results to have a significant impact on these qualitative ratings. Said another way, a large part of these rankings are essentially backward-looking… Their peer’s opinions of them are shaped by what the schools have done over the past few decades (or more), not necessarily by what the schools are doing right now.

Another 35% of a school’s rating comes from more quantitative measures of the program’s success in placing job candidates, including mean starting salary and bonus data and the percentage of grads who have full-time jobs at graduation and three months after graduation. Even here, be aware of what’s being ranked: A school that sends many more grads into investment banking will likely report a higher average starting salary than a school that sends many grads into the non-profit sector. That doesn’t invalidate the data, but keep this in mind as you look at these numbers.

The last 25% of an MBA program’s rating comes from other quantitative measures around the admissions process, including the mean GMAT score and undergraduate GPAs of the incoming class, and the school’s admissions rate. This is perhaps the most straightforward group of statistics, but keep in mind that schools are always trying to game the system and find ways to tweak these numbers to improve their rankings. (Example? Earlier this year a Claremont McKenna College official admitted to submitting fake SAT scores to U.S. News for years. Unfortunately, this is not very hard to do.)

None of this means that the rankings are bogus. We all pay attention to them, and we will continue to do so as long as U.S. News and other publications keep ranking graduate schools. But remember that they’re not perfect!

You can read about the world’s top business school in Veritas Prep’s Essential Guides, 15 in-depth guides to the world’s most competitive MBA programs, available on our site. If you’re ready to start building your own MBA candidacy, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter!

Financial Times MBA Rankings for 2011

Scott — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:11:24 +0000

The Financial Times has just released its new global MBA rankings for 2011. London Business School hangs on to the top spot, but Wharton has moved back into a tie for #1 after falling to #2 behind LBS last year.

Accompanying the rankings, FT release an update of its article called How to Choose a Programme, in which we’re quoted. As is always the case, we strongly advise that applicants don’t just go by the rankings when selecting their target business schools.

“Begin with the end in mind,” advises Scott Shrum, director of MBA admissions research at Veritas Prep in California. “Where have other students landed jobs? Call the careers office to find out which companies recruit at the school. If you’re an international student, find out how many of the recruiters are generally willing to sponsor work visas.”

As you whittle down your list of prospective schools, be sure to leave time for campus visits. Take a tour, sit in on a class, eat lunch in the dining hall, meet the professors and talk to students and alumni. “The best way to figure out whether a school is a good fit is to visit it,” says Shrum. “Most people know within the first hour whether they love a school or whether it’s just not clicking for them. The culture of the school is going to dictate how happy you are.”

Without further ado, here are the Financial Times’ top ten MBA programs for 2011:

1. London Business School
1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
3. Harvard Business School
4. INSEAD
4. Stanford GSB
6. Hong Kong UST Business School
7. Columbia Business School
8. IE Business School
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
9. IESE Business School

Thinking about applying to the world’s top business schools, law schools, or medical schools this year? Be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!