Full-Time MBA Rankings

Full-Time MBA Rankings

When is the MBA ranking published?

The MBA ranking is published in late October or early November in even-numbered years.

How does BusinessWeek determine who is eligible for rankings?

We look at a number of different statistics, including but not limited to: age of the MBA program, enrollment, test scores, acceptance rates, and number of international and minority students. A program must be accredited to be considered for ranking.

If a school has never been ranked before, how can it be considered for ranking?

The school's representative should send a note to geoff_gloeckler@businessweek.com in January of the ranking year. We'll request some information about your program and determine eligibility based on that. The information requested is outlined above (see: "How does BusinessWeek determine who is eligible for rankings?") Please do not send requests for inclusion before Jan. 1 of the ranking year.

What sources of data does BusinessWeek use to rank MBA programs?

There are three main sources of data: a student survey, a survey of corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital rating.

When does each of the surveys get distributed? How long are they available for completion?

The student survey is distributed three weeks before graduation, usually in early May, and is available for three months. The recruiter survey is distributed in early July and is available for two months. The intellectual capital rating is not based on a survey.

A third survey, conducted by Businessweek.com, asks schools for statistical information about their programs, and is used to create online statistical profiles. That survey is distributed in early summer and is available for about three months.

How is the student survey conducted?

The student survey is conducted online. Using e-mail addresses supplied by the programs, BusinessWeek (with the help of Cambria Consulting) contacts students and directs them to a survey site where they can complete the survey. BusinessWeek will send out several reminders to ensure an adequate response rate.

The survey consists of about 45 questions that ask students to rate their programs on teaching quality, career services, alumni network, and recruiting efforts, among other things. Using the average answer for each of the questions and each question's standard deviation, we calculate a student survey score for each school.

How is the recruiter survey conducted?

The recruiter survey is also conducted online. Starting with e-mail addresses supplied by the programs,BusinessWeek creates a list of companies recruiting from the programs and identifies a single high-level recruiting contact at each company. This means that not every recruiter supplied by every school will be contacted. In some cases, such as when a company maintains a separate recruiting organization for Europe, more than one recruiting contact at the company will be asked to complete the survey.Then, with the help of Cambria Consulting, BusinessWeek contacts the company representatives and directs them to a survey site where they can complete the survey. BusinessWeek will send out several reminders or call recruiters to ensure an adequate response rate.

Every company tells us how many MBAs it hired in the previous two years and which schools it actively recruits from, and it ranks up to 20 top schools.

To calculate each school's recruiter score, we first use the rankings to determine each school's recruiter points, awarding 20 points for every No. 1 ranking, 19 points for every No. 2 mention, and so on. We then calculate a numerator, which consists of the sum of each school's points from each specific recruiter multiplied by the number of MBAs hired by that specific recruiter.

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