Rankings Chat Highlights

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RMF: Which schools were eliminated because of low survey response?

GeoffBW: There are 36 of them. If you want to shoot me an e-mail after the chat, I'll let you know.

KateMcConnell: When surveying employers, do you contact the regional recruiters or just the central headquarters?

GeoffBW: Hi Kate. For this ranking, we survey regional recruiters, because we learned (the hard way) that many of the recruiters at central headquarters aren't involved in the hiring process at most schools. For the MBA ranking, we use central recruiters. This means for the undergraduate ranking, we may be surveying 5 to 10 recruiters at each company.

blutions: What caused Babson to join the Top 25 schools?

LouisBW: Academic quality. Of all 101 schools in the ranking, Babson's ranked No. 12.

bkshelto: What schools made the biggest moves outside the Top 50?

LouisBW: George Washington University in St. Louis fell from 51 to 65. Marquette went from 53 to 64. Those seem to be the biggest changes but don't hold me to it.

tennisgirl: Will you tell us the list of schools by recruiter rankings?

GeoffBW: O.K., top 10…

1. Brigham Young

2. University of California at Berkeley

3. University of Texas at Austin

4. Miami University of Ohio

5. University of Southern California

6. Michigan State

7. University of Illinois

8. University of Michigan

9. Penn State

10. Washington University in St. Louis

tjones : How did both University of Tennessee at Knoxville and UT-Chattanooga drop out this year?

GeoffBW: Knoxville chose not to participate. Chattanooga is ranked 82nd.

aan253: When a school falls seven places in one year, doesn't that say something about your ranking methodology? Can a school really get that much worse in one year?

LouisBW: Yes, it can, relative to 100 other schools. What people forget sometimes is that every school is ranked relative to every other school. If School A doesn't change and Schools B, C, and D get a lot better, School A will not fare well in the ranking.

alqoh: How close is Michigan to an elite program, possibly taking the No. 1 ranking in years to come?

GeoffBW: It's close. Check out the index numbers on the table, and you'll see.

Hugg4: In 2009, the recruiter survey accounts for 30%, instead of 20%, as in years past, right?

GeoffBW: The weights haven't changed.