Everyone makes a lot of fuss about b-school rankings. I think it's just human nature. Everybody loves rankings and talking endlessly about them. It's just that deep down everybody feels an intrinsic need to share their own opinions, to have their voices heard, to have their OWN rankings.
And so, here are mine. Some disclaimers first. I don't have any formal methodology to my rankings (apologies to rankingsgod1 from the Businessweek forums) but I have done my fair amount of research. Before the actual rankings, let me list down a few things which I believe in, and which in turn have greatly influenced TheLadiesChoice's MBA rankings:
1. I'm a marketing guy. And so I firmly believe in the power of prestige, branding and brand names (no matter how subjective or unquantifiable).
2. From all the official and published rankings, the only ones which I trust are Businessweek and USNews. I think that WSJ, Forbes, and FT vary too much from year to year to make them credible.
3. The school stereotypes (Kellogg for marketing, Sloan for techies, Columbia for finance) are true, but only to a certain extent. The top schools especially the so-called M7 reputedly can open almost any door to whichever industry one chooses (provided the hard work is put in.)
4. I do believe in determining that elusive "fit" when applying to b-school. Thus I encourage all applicants to do their research and come up with their own rankings. The most useful sites I've found are the discussion forums in Businessweek and College Confidential. Just learn to be wary of the trolls that lurk.
So here goes. TheLadiesChoice's B-school Rankings:
1. Harvard (brand name without par)
2. Stanford (most selective, great location)
3. Wharton (exceptional academic program, strong brand especially for finance)
4. Kellogg (marketing powerhouse, overcomes 'weak' NW name to still be top tier MBA program )
5. MIT-Sloan (MIT name and strong ties to the engineering school)
6. Chicago (reputedly the strongest academic program, starting to shed it's uptight image)
7. Columbia (finance in the finance capital of the world)
8. Tuck (most active alumni network, great community)
9. Haas (leverages on Berkeley name and proximity to Silicon Valley)
10. Duke (Go Blue Devils!)
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2 comments:
People should work with their own perceptions of ranking anyway. Congratulations on 5 admits, have you decided where you want to go?
Hi Asiangal...how'd you find my site? Your blog was actually one of the sites I've been visiting regularly. Great posts by the way!And congratulations on the W admit!
I have my heart set going somewhere cold in Chicago!
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