Posts Tagged ‘MBA Rankings’

MBA Rankings: A loser’s uh-oh upsets conventional wisdom …

March 28, 2012

In a prior post, we looked at changes in Business Week’s rankings of MBA program in the 10-year period from from 2000 to 2010.

The key observations:

  • 13 MBA programs (e.g. HBS, Wharton, Kellogg) held their top 30 positions – plus or minus a spot or two – between 2000 and 2010
  • 6 MBA programs were in the 2000 Top 30 and improved their position by 6 or more spots between 2000 and 2010
  • University of Chicago  jumped 9 spots to take over the #1 ranking
  • 6 MBA programs that weren’t in the Top 30 in 2000 broke into the 2010 Top 10
  • 5 MBA programs dropped a whopping 15 places or more from 2000 to 2010 (more on that later, too)
  • Another 6 MBA programs dropped 5 spots or between 2000 to 2010

Also in a prior post, we observed that among the 6 MBA programs that weren’t in the Top 30 in 2000 and broke into the 2010 Top 10, SMU is the shining star.

SMU came out of nowhere – unranked as late as 2006 – and soared to #12 in 2010.

They did it with A+ Teaching and A+ Career Services … that earned them a #6 ranking with Corporate Recruiters and a #12 ranking overall.overall.

While SMU’s formula reflects mucho common sense, it’s not exactly conventional approach.

More often, MBA programs try to boost their rankings through intensified faculty research.

The logic: publish in academic journals, get recognized as thought-leaders, attract better students and recruiting companies … and a virtuous cycle becomes unstoppable.  Makes dense.

Our neighbor, the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business tried that approach … with some disappointing results.

In 2000, Maryland was  at #27.

image

Given its relatively low #33 rating in Intellectual Capital, Maryland turned up the research jets.

Successful?

Well, Maryland’s ranking in Intellectual Capital skyrocketed to #2 … trailing only Duke – a perennial research giant.

What happened to it’s overall ranking?

Maryland dropped 15 spots … out of the Top 30 … to #42.

Ouch.

image
Source: Business Week – 2000 & 2010 MBA Rankings

* * * * *

BTW: The #3 program in Intellectual Capital is Wake Forest.

Its overall rank?

According to Business Week … #47.

>> Latest Posts

Tags:
Posted in Academics - Research, MBA Degree, MBAs | 1 Comment »

MBA Rankings: A big winner’s keys to success …

March 27, 2012

In a prior post, we looked at changes in Business Week’s rankings of MBA program in the 10-year period from from 2000 to 2010.

The key observations:

  • 13 MBA programs (e.g. HBS, Wharton, Kellogg) held their top 30 positions – plus or minus a spot or two – between 2000 and 2010
  • 6 MBA programs were in the 2000 Top 30 and improved their position by 6 or more spots between 2000 and 2010
  • University of Chicago  jumped 9 spots to take over the #1 ranking
  • 6 MBA programs that weren’t in the Top 30 in 2000 broke into the 2010 Top 10 (more on that later)
  • 5 MBA programs dropped a whopping 15 places or more from 2000 to 2010 (more on that later, too)
  • Another 6 MBA programs dropped 5 spots or more between 2000 to 2010

Among the 6 MBA programs that weren’t in the Top 30 in 2000 and broke into the 2010 Top 10, SMU is the shining star.

SMU came out of nowhere – unranked as late as 2006 – and soared to #12 in 2010.

How did they do it?

Here are the details that support the SMU ranking in 2008 – SMU’s first time in the Top 30:

image

Answer: heavy emphasis on Teaching (A+) and Career Services (A) yielded a #17 ranking among Corporate Recruiters … and a number #18 overall ranking.

Not bad! But, apparently, not good enough for SMU.

Things got even better in 2010.

SMU kept Teaching at an A+ level and boosted Career Services from a plain old A to an A+ … the result: up to #6 with Corporate Recruiters and #12 overall.

image  
Source: Business Week – 2000 & 2010 MBA Rankings

* * * * *

Bottom line: Get good students, teach them a lot, help them find jobs …. and, BINGO, MBA program success.

You’d think that’s common sense, right?  No surprise.

Well, tomorrow we’ll look at one of the biggest losers … with a twist that may surprise some of you.

>> Latest Posts

Tags:
Posted in Academics - Research, MBA Degree, MBAs | 1 Comment »

MBA Rankings: A 10 year perspective … and, some surprises.

March 26, 2012

There has been a lot of talk around here about the MBA school rankings.

Typically, the conversation revolves around the changes – up or down – from the last rankings.

I got curious … wanted to see the landscape change over a longer-term … and picked a 10-year time horizon of the Business Week rankings – 2000 to 2010.

My going-in hypothesis was that there would be heavy inertia … that the top slots would be occupied by the usual suspects.

And, I expected schools to show relatively little movement up or down.

Here’s what I found …

* * * * *

13 MBA programs held their top 30 positions – plus or minus a spot or two – in 2000 and 2010:

image

* * * * *

6 MBA programs that were in the 2000 Top 30  improved their position by 6 or more spots between 2000 and 2010:

  • UC Berkeley had the sharpest rise … 10 spots to #8
  • Univ. of Chicago (my alma mater) had the most impressive gain … “only” 9 spots since they couldn’t do better than taking over the #1 ranking
  • Stanford cracked the Top 10 by moving up 6 spots.

image

* * * * *

Surprising (to me), there are 6 MBA programs that weren’t in the Top 30 in 2000 and that broke into the 2010 Top 10 … 5 just made it into the Top 30 … a proud accomplishment, but one that pales in comparison with SMU … SMU came out of nowhere – unranked as late as 2004 – and soared to #12 in 2010.

image

* * * * *

Of course, if there are winners, there must be losers.

5 MBA programs dropped a whopping 15 places or more from 2000 to 2010.

image

* * * * * *

Another 6 MBA programs dropped 5 spots between 2000 to 2010.

  • 5 of the programs stayed in the Top 30 despite their skids
  • Cornell and MIT-Sloan dropped out of the Top 10
  • Unfortunately, my beloved Georgetown’s slip was enough to lose Top 30 status.  (Don’t worry, we’ll be back …)

image

Source: Business Week – 2000 & 2010 MBA Rankings

* * * * *

In subsequent posts we’ll drill down to “why?” and “so what?”

Stay tuned.

>> Latest Posts

 

Tags:
Posted in Academics - Research, MBA Degree, MBAs | Leave a Comment »