2009 USNews MBA Rankings

yeah, I know of him =) (that was a joke about skipping b-school over the rankings change!)

Yeah, I have been surprised by some people's reactions to the newest rankings. I can understand some annoyance or frustration associated with seeing your school drop a bit in the rankings, but I cannot understand seriously considering not attending. It's the same school as it was the day before the rankings.

Also, I would seriously question whether businesses even take a look at these rankings to decide where they are going to recruit. Most recruiting is done at the same schools companies have always frequented because they have some kind of connection or history with the school. For example, GE will still recruit students at Notre Dame whether they are 25th (a general idea of where they would have been last year, had they submitted the correct data) or 34th (this year).

I think the most honest comment most of us can make about the rankings is something like this:
1)They do matter to us. After all, basically no one here is applying to an unranked school.
2)They are quite fallible.
3)A school ranked at #4 isn't necessarily better than one ranked at #7 for an individual's goals, or even in general
4)A school ranked at #4 will in *most cases* be "better" (in that it will open more doors, higher salaries, etc) than a school ranked #40
5)The statement above is NOT ALWAYS true, but a safe assumption for the average case
6)The ratings creators have incentive to move them (aka "jiggle") them yearly to sell more copies of their publications
7)When our favorite school jiggles up by a couple of rankings, we "honestly believe" it is a meaningful move and that the school is now better than those it passed
8)When our favorite school jiggles down by a couple of rankings, we "honestly believe" it is just statistical fluff brought on by #6 above, and really not meaningful


Personally I think someone should put the part-time mba at CSU-Stanislaus (https://www.extendeded.com/emba/) as the #1 program- ahead of all the full time programs at stanford/harvard etc. due to their strength in "cow tipping management". THAT would sell magazines.
(I grew up in modesto, and CSUS was our closest 4-year uni. Yes, people DO go cow tipping there. No, that is not actually an MBA specialty)

Just saw this in their emba site - as if it applies to their program:
"According to a recent survey published by the Financial Times, EMBA graduates reported up to a 70% increase in their salaries and more significantly, those increased salaries typically applied to the same employers."

I agree with whoever said that the BW forums pose a bad taste in your mouth of what the general MBA student body will be like whichever school you go. I mean, imagine dealing with attitudes like that for 2 years! Group projects will suck.

Sometimes, I wish to I applied to a MS in economics program instead, where you might be able to avoid people like this.

fixed it for you

kudos westsider for a very funny and informative post!

and who is this rankingsgod guy, this guy lurks and lurks and just comes out blastin with tirade after tirade. Don't these people work?

Rumor has it rankingsgod is a chicago gsb alum. There is a classmate of his who has called him out, I think they figured it out via ip address. I guess he was a slimeball at school too.

LOL! Brilliant! At least we get it over in one fell swoop instead of months of protracted pain every year.

BTW, Haas is RIGHT on the Hayward Fault, which is due to go off any time now (average intervals, 140 years. The last major earthquake, you guessed it, 140 years ago this October). Lovely...

It was good knowing y'all here...

BTW, someone choke rankingsgod for me, please...

Congrats to all going to Haas by the way. I went there for undergrad but the MBA's always seemed to be having much more fun. For Friday afternoon happy hours, the Bear's Lair is the best! Head straight over there after class!

I agree with a lot of your thoughts West. For me the 'perceived' rankings are much more important than the US News, FT, or WSJ rankings. Pretty much anyone you talk to thinks HBS is #1, Stanford #2, Wharton #3, etc... The perception that HBS is #1 is all that matters. Plus, IMHO, it takes 10, 15, 20 years or more for a school to really change its perception. If they jump to number 2 this year, I want to see it repeated for 15 years and then maybe people will step back and say...ok, ok, school X really is an ultrelite school.

My other favorite ranking is the 'wow' factor ranking. For instance, I meet this incredibly hot girl that I have been dating's parents for the first time...I tell them I went to Harvard or some other 'wow' school (read M7)...and the girl's father is like, WOW!!! that's so great, here, take the keys to my daughter’s chastity belt!!! I'm thinking, Score!, but why do you still have the keys?

Life is good...

Glad I didn't go to an 'elite' school, the guy might have just kicked me in the junk

Just joking about the 'elite' school thing of course

It looks like we "fixed" what broke to cause the corresponding drop last year. The career center went through some major improvements.

good work socalconsult! I'm very glad to see the jump in rankings for UCLA. It's a great school with great people.

its funny that most forums or most people I talk to keep saying that at the end of the day the rankings really dont matter that much. Well if it is so then why is it the most contentious thing. Why does it generate so much interest for so many of us. I mean on every forum, the thread which has something to do with rankings is the most active. That tells me something:
Although we would like to believe that rankings dont really matter, we know that deep down, for most of us it does matter!!!

I noticed that current students care a lot less about rankings than applicants like us do. I think once you get into a school and are attending there, you have a lot more to worry about than the rankings.