Economist MBA Rankings for 2010

Recently The Economist released the 2010 edition of its global business school rankings. As the editors of The Economist noted in their introduction to this year's rankings, "Usually, schools move up or down just a few places year on year. This time around, however, swings have been wilder."

Why the big changes? Blame the global economy. Digging deeper into The Economist's rankings methodology, you'll see that the "Open new career opportunities" and "Increase salary" categories together make up more than half of the overall score a school earns. Naturally, as the rough economy meant that some schools had an especially hard time placing grads in high-paying jobs (or, in some cases, in any jobs at all), those programs took a hit in the rankings.

Without further ado, here are the top 20 schools in the rankings:

The Economist Business School Rankings - 2010

1. University of Chicago - Booth School of Business


2. Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business


3. University of California at Berkeley - Haas School of Business


4. Harvard Business School


5. IESE Business School - University of Navarra


6. IMD - International Institute for Management Development


7. Stanford Graduate School of Business


8. University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School


9. HEC School of Management, Paris


10. York University - Schulich School of Business


11. University of Virginia - Darden Graduate School of Business


12. Columbia Business School


13. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management


14. New York University - Leonard N Stern School of Business


15. Cranfield School of Management


16. Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management


17. Henley Business School


18. University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business


19. London Business School


20. ESADE Business School

How to Use These Rankings
When you start researching your target MBA programs, of course it make sense to pay to the rankings. Simply by existing, the rankings influence other applicants, employers, faculty members, and other key people. However, trying to discern which is better of two programs when one program is ranked higher by U.S. News and the other ranks higher in The Economist's rankings... Well, that's not really the point. Use the rankings to help yourself get a feel for the "lay of the land," to determine what level of program competitiveness you might have a shot at, and to spot programs with specific strengths you might otherwise have missed. Then, do your own research (our free Annual Reports can help you a great deal here) and decide what programs fit you best.

Plan on applying to a top MBA program this year? Veritas Prep gives you the ability to start working with an admissions consultant today and pay over time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

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U.S. News MBA Rankings Survey to Gather GRE Data This Year

Score one more point for Educational Testing Service (ETS) in its effort to take market share from the GMAT as the preferred test for business school admissions. On his Morse Code Blog, U.S. News Director of Data Research Robert Morse announced that this fall's U.S. News survey will ask admissions offices detailed questions on GRE test scores and the number and the percentage Class of 2012 students who submitted them.

Morse stopped short of promising that U.S. News's 2012 MBA rankings (which will be published next spring) will contain GRE data, but said that U.S. News "is considering changing its ranking methodology for the 2012 edition of the America's Best Business Schools rankings... to include both the GMAT and GRE test scores of all M.B.A. students entering in fall 2010."

In his blog post Morse points out that nearly 27% of the graduate business schools that U.S. News last surveyed are currently accepting GRE scores for admissions. Assuming that U.S. News does eventually decide to include GRE data in its rankings, it will be interesting to see how it manages it given that the majority of top schools still do not accept the GRE. Will it blend GRE and GMAT data by looking just at percentile scores? Will they only include GRE numbers when school report them, and ignore them otherwise? Could some schools have an incentive to include or exclude GRE data to manipulate their rankings, similar to what law schools have been doing with their employment data? It will be interesting to see.

While we still believe that the GMAT is the best predictor of how someone will do in business school, there's no denying that ETS has made impressive strides this past year in promoting the GRE as an alternative to the GMAT. If you're an applicant, the question to ask is, "What do I want?" If you're considering a variety of graduate program options (including business school), then the GRE may make sense. If you're certain you really want to pursue an MBA, though, it's still difficult to justify choosing the GRE over the GMAT. We've written about this decision at length, and still feel the same way.

Thinking about taking the GMAT? Visit our site for a GMAT course overview to see why thousands of applicants choose Veritas Prep every year. And, as always, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow Veritas Prep on Twitter so that you don't miss a beat in the worlds of GMAT prep and MBA admissions!

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U.S. News MBA Rankings for 2011

Last Week U.S. News & Word Report released its annual business school rankings for 2011. As we wrote about the law school rankings the other day, it's easy to get too caught up in the rankings and let the tail wag the proverbial dog in choosing which schools to apply to or attend. (Heck, we have one client right now who's not sure he wants to attend Cornell -- on a full ride! -- because it "plunged" from 17 to 18 in the rankings this year! We pointed him to this post.)

Having said that, it's too much fun NOT to pick apart the new business school rankings a little. Without further ado, here's our look at this year's results:

U.S. News Business School Rankings for 2011
Last year's rankings are in parentheses.

1. Harvard (1)
1. Stanford (2)
3. MIT (Sloan) (5)
4. Northwestern (Kellogg) (3)
5. U. of Chicago (Booth) (5)
5. U. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) (3)
7. Dartmouth (Tuck) (8)
7. UC Berkeley (Haas) (7)
9. Columbia (9)
9. NYU (Stern) (11)
11. Yale (10)
12. U. of Michigan (Ross) (13)
13. U. of Virginia (Darden) (15)
14. Duke (Fuqua) (12)
15. UCLA (Anderson) (14)
16. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) (15)
16. UT Austin (McCombs) (18)
18. Cornell (Johnson) (17)
19. Washington U. in St. Louis (Olin)
20. USC (Marshall) (20)

What Changed in This Year's MBA Rankings?
Among top-10 and top-20 business schools, you won't see a lot of dramatic changes. While Harvard hangs in to the top slot, it now shares it with Stanford. MIT Sloan nabbed the #3 spot (passing Kellogg and Wharton) after sharing the fifth slot with Booth last year. Wharton can't be happy about falling from #3 to #5, although we're sure their answer would be (as it is for all top schools), "We don't pay attention to the rankings."

One of the more interesting stories that's played out over the past few years is NYU Stern's steady march up the rankings, to the point where it's now tied with Columbia in the race to be New York City's highest-ranked business school. What matters far more is the substance of each program, of course, but we've long considered Stern to be the more innovative of these two schools, and that view is somewhat confirmed by these results. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years... Will Stern finally overtake Columbia? Will its push to diversify away from being so finance-heavy allow it to boost its placement numbers and leapfrog its uptown competitor, or will that prove to be is undoing?

Rounding out the list, kudos to Wash. U. and USC for making it into the top 20 (bumping out Georgetown and UNC in the process). Around the office the other day we marveled at how Wash. U. has top-20 ranked undergraduate, business, law, and medicine programs... It's a wonder that people don't talk about this school more often.

Well, only 51 weeks to go until U.S. News' 2012 business school rankings come out! While you're waiting, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. We have specialized services built just for helping waitlisted applicants get admitted to business school. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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Applicationomics: Admissions Committee Incentives

People respond to incentives. Such is the main takeaway from the bestselling book Freakonomics (and its soon-to-premiere documentary and follow-up book SuperFreakonomics), and a major competitive advantage worth embracing as you plan your MBA applications. Admissions committees are people, too, and they respond to incentives. To become a better MBA applicant, you should better understand the incentive structure for MBA admissions committees, and give them what they want.

MBA programs are ranked among multiple dimensions, among the most popular:

1) GMAT Score
There's no way around it: your GMAT score is a significant component of your application, as it matters greatly to MBA programs. Even independent of the fact the GMAT is a quite valid measure of your candidacy, it's a major factor for the schools even as a standalone number. In our ever-quantitative society - the very fact that there are numerical business school rankings should prove this point - numbers can instantly create an image of success, and a school with a 700+ average GMAT score is going to look quite a bit more prestigious than one with something in the 600s.

In the rankings and perception of b-schools, a high average GMAT score is the best way for a school to indicate that it is selective, and has a top-notch student body. Schools simply have to care about how that number looks to the rankings services, to prospective applicants, and to corporate recruiters. Accordingly, you're well served to post a score that is at or above the average score of your target schools. If you're below that average, the school has to want you enough to pull down that average a bit by taking you; if you're above, you get to be that "balancing score" for someone else, which is a huge advantage. Just being "in the range" is a tricky proposition.

2) Employment rates
People go to business school to get jobs and increase their salaries. As much as applicants and schools talk about leadership, teamwork, global economies and sustainable enterprise, everyone knows that the primary objective of MBA students is to further their careers with a higher-paying job when they finish than they had when they started. Schools, in turn, know that they will be judged on their ability to provide those jobs, and necessarily have to concern themselves with statistics such as:

- % employed after graduation
- average starting salary

Because schools know that you'll consider these factors when you determine where to apply, they have a vested interest in making those numbers as high as possible. And what better way to do that than to "stack the deck" with students who are quite likely to find jobs?

In your application, you need to demonstrate "employability," or your ability to find a job:

1. Show that you've been valued at previous jobs by listing promotions and commendations and by including positive letters of recommendations from supervisors


2. Demonstrate your ability to succeed in an interview with engaging essays and a strong interview with the school


3. "Stand out" somehow by being interesting; many corporate interviewers employ a variation of the "airport test" when they choose between qualified candidates: "If I were on a project with this person and we were stranded in an airport with a canceled flight, would I enjoy passing the time with him?" Interviewers typically choose applicants with whom they'll work regularly, and want to surround themselves with engaging, as well as talented, people, so give the schools an indication that you'll be a desirable coworker.

3) Yield Percentage
If the average GMAT score tells the world how selective a school is in choosing candidates, the yield percentage - the percentage of admitted students who ultimately matriculate - indicates how selective students view the school. A high yield percentage - something nearing 90% - shows that the school is a no-brainer to attend: if you get in, you go. A lower yield percentage - say, in the 30s - shows that many students use the school as a backup plan, but don't view it as a destination. "I'd love to go to Harvard, but I'll probably just end up at ___________."

No school wants to be seen as that "probably just end up at" fallback option, so admissions committees will search your application for indicators that you have specific interest in their MBA and not just any MBA. Have you visited campus? Do you list specific clubs/classes/professors/opportunities as reasons that you're excited about the program? Do the schools philosophies, emphases, and culture fit with your application story?

If the school can't find reasons that you would choose it, it will have a hard time choosing you, no matter how excellent you may be as an applicant. Your admission may just prove to be too much of a risk, as, perhaps, is your lack of perceived enthusiasm. B-school moves fast; if you don't have a plan of attack for getting involved in organizations, taking specific classes, and soaking up the experience, you won't likely get everything out of the program that your classmates will. Which also leads to...

4) Alumni Involvement
Business schools are, in many ways, like fraternities. Once you're in, you're family, and have access to a vast alumni network of potential employers, business partners, investors, etc. Schools know that applicants want to have access to successful, wide-reaching alumni bases, and to that end set up active alumni clubs and events around the world. But an alumni base is only as active and successful as the alumni themselves, and so schools like to see indications in your application that you have enthusiasm for what the school has to offer, and a history of involvement in organizations and activities that will translate to involvement in the alumni community.

As alumni bases are made up of people, so are admissions committees, and people respond to incentives. If you understand these incentives of the people in the admissions committees, you can better anticipate the response that you want -- you're accepted!

For more MBA admissions advice, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with a Veritas Prep admissions expert. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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Financial Times MBA Rankings for 2010

The Financial Times has just released its 2010 business school rankings, with London Business School remaining in the #1 spot. This comes after LBS and Wharton actually shared the #1 position in last year's rankings.

Accompanying the rankings, FT release an article called How to Choose a Programme, in which our own Director of MBA Admissions Research, Scott Shrum, is quoted. As is always the case, we strongly advise applicants to focus on many other things besides just the rankings when selecting a business school"

"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."

The FT's top ten programs in 2010 are:

1. London Business School


2. Wharton


3. Harvard Business School


4. Stanford GSB


5. INSEAD


6. Columbia Business School


7. IE Business School


8. MIT Sloan


9. Chicago Booth


10. Hong Kong UST

Big gainers vs. last year include Booth (which cracked the top ten), HKUST, Indian School of Business, and HEC Paris. Meanwhile, CEIBS, NYU Stern (which dropped out of the top ten), and Cambridge saw the biggest declines among the top MBA programs.

For a deeper comparison of how the programs performed in this year's rankings vs. the previous year's, FT.com offers this handy downloadable document.

To get a feel for your chances of admission to a top MBA program, try Veritas Prep's Business School Selector, an absolutely free resource for all MBA applicants. If you're ready to start planning your candidacy, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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2010 U.S. News MBA Rankings Leaked... We Think

While the U.S. News 2010 Business School Rankings won't come out until later this week, online communities have been buzzing with the possibility that U.S. News accidentally leaked its rankings in a short online video. U.S. News released a short video giving an overview of grad school trends, and in the video you can see the magazines business school rankings. While the image was small, it only took hours for eagle-eyed MBA applicants to analyze the image and determine what the new rankings are.

(UPDATE: U.S. news released the official rankings on April 23, and the rankings below do indeed appear to be correct.)

While this list is very unofficial and have not yet been confirmed by U.S. News, here are the top 20 schools in the alleged 2010 U.S. News MBA rankings:

Current rank [Previous rank] School Name (Rating) [Previous Rating]
1 [1] Harvard (100) [100]
2 [1] Stanford (99) [100]
3 [4] Northwestern (93) [93]
3 [3] Penn (93) [95]
5 [4] MIT (92) [93]
6 [4] Chicago (91) [93]
7 [7] Berkeley (88) [89]
8 [7] Dartmouth (87) [89]
9 [9] Columbia (86) [88]
10 [13] Yale (85) [80]
11 [10] NYU (83) [84]
12 [14] Duke (82) [79]
13 [12] Michigan (81) [82]
14 [11] UCLA (80) [83]
15 [17] Carnegie Mellon (79) [77]
15 [14] UVA (79) [79]
17 [14] Cornell (76) [79]
18 [18] Texas-Austin (74) [74]
19 [22] Georgetown (73) [69]
20 [19] UNC (70) [72]
20 [21] USC (70) [70]

You can see the full video here. The image that we captured here (taken from that U.S. New video) shows up 52 seconds into the clip.

While the allegedly leaked MBA rankings represent the most sensational part of the video, it's also worth watching to learn about U.S. News' first annual part-time law school rankings, which are dominated by schools in the Northwest (especially Washington, D.C.).

It will be interesting to see if these turn out to be the real rankings, but if so, then the online community deserves some kudos for some good detective work!

For more information about applying to top business schools, take a look at Veritas Prep's MBA admissions consultants and GMAT prep resources, and follow us on Twitter.

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