Undergrad Business Program Rankings

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Do schools ever get dropped from the rankings? If so, why?

Yes. If a response rate for the student or recruiter survey falls below the minimum threshold, a school will be dropped. If one of the initial requirements for rankings consideration is not met—for example, if a school loses its accreditation or its enrollment falls below our threshold—then a school will be dropped. Schools may also be eliminated from the ranking if BusinessWeek determines that school officials improperly attempted to influence the outcome by coaching students on how to complete the survey.

Is there a minimum response rate for the student survey? How are the response rate and minimum response rate calculated?

The response rate for each school is calculated by dividing the number of replies by the total number of surveys sent. The minimum response rate is determined after a review of all school response rates with a goal of eliminating outliers.

What alternatives are there for schools that do not want to supply student e-mail addresses?

Schools have two alternatives. They can give students the opportunity to "opt out" of the survey, then supply BusinessWeek with the e-mail addresses for those who remain. A second alternative, known as the "opt-in" method, is permitted but strongly discouraged: schools send students an e-mail about the survey and give BusinessWeek a list of e-mail addresses for those who permit the release of that information.

In extremely limited cases, such as where state law prohibits the release of student e-mail addresses, BusinessWeek will—at its discretion—permit schools to distribute the survey to students on its behalf. Schools who use this method must agree to distribute the survey and three reminders to students on a timetable set by BusinessWeek.

How is the response rate calculated for schools that choose the "opt-out" method?

The response rate is calculated using the number of e-mail addresses supplied toBusinessWeek. If 500 students are given the opportunity to opt out and 100 do, the school would supply 400 e-mail addresses; if we survey those 400 students and 200 complete the survey, the response rate is 50%.

How is the response rate calculated for schools that choose the "opt-in" method?

BusinessWeek divides the number of responses by the number of students who received the "opt-in" e-mail. If 1,000 students receive the message and 500 opt in, 250 survey responses would give that school a response rate of 25%, not 50%. Schools with response rates that fall below the minimum will not be ranked.

What do you do when schools refuse to provide e-mail addresses for the student survey and decline to use the other alternatives available to them?

We attempt to obtain student e-mail addresses using other legal means. These means include, but are not limited to, sending an e-mail to individual students and asking them to forward it to their friends, and taking out ads in student newspapers directing students to the survey site. If BusinessWeek is unable to obtain sufficient e-mail addresses and an adequate response rate, such schools will not be ranked.

How do you prevent cheating?

Statisticians David Rindskopf and Alan Gross, professors of educational psychology at City University of New York Graduate Center, use a series of statistical analyses to test the responses for patterns that have a low probability of occurring if the students are answering the questions honestly. Questionable responses that might be the result of coaching by school officials or other forms of cheating are discarded, and may be grounds for elimination from the ranking.

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