Great questions!

I will change your order a bit.

1) Rankings
I am sure you have already been warned not to rely too much on rankings since they suffer from a number of shortcomings. Regardless, VA is clearly in the elite cluster in terms of general reputation. It has probably outranked every other elite school at least once (this does not include the ultraelite schools)

Its rank in BW has ranged from #5 to #14. Its best BW showing is better those of many other elite schools such as NYU, UCLA, Berkeley, and Yale. VA best showing tied that of Cornell and Duke. The worst ranking of Darden in BW tied Yale's best ranking. VA outranked Dartmouth in 2000 and 1996.

Recall that FT includes non-US schools in its main ranking. Note that Virginia's MBA program outranks many elite schools including Berkeley, Duke, UCLA, Michigan, and Cornell.

The Economist 2003 placed VA above UCB, NYU, Cornell, and UCLA.

2) Placements
Finance- VA appears to have placements that are consistent with its status as a school in the elite cluster. Lehman Brothers hired more students from VA than it did from Cornell, Michigan, Dartmouth, or Berkeley. Likewise, Citi hired more students from VA than from Duke, Michigan , Dartmouth, or Yale. [Note that no adjustments have been made for size of class]. Of course, NYU, another elite cluster school, had far more placements in finance.

Consulting- Again VA appears to have placements that are consistent with some other elite cluster schools but are less than spectacular. In one recent year, VA had at least as many placements as Berkeley at McKinsey, AT Kearney , and Booz Allen. However, it had far fewer placements at these firms than other elite schools such as Michigan.

Major Corporations- Once again, VA has placements that are similar to those of some other elite schools. Do you have any specific firms in mind?

Note that at least one elite school (Yale) has even fewer living alumni.

Hjort