A great example....

Question

of how to some people rankings do not matter. 

I was speaking with a fellow soon to be Owl (Rice's mascot). She decided to attend Rice over Michigan. I cannot disclose the reasoning yet but I will soon....just though I would like to take an extreme poll and see who would choose the same choice.

johnnyx9 · Answer

In my experience (which is just that, my limited experience) there are two types of people that care about rankings:

1. Employers in elite industries, PE, banking, MC, etc...
2. Business school applicants

I think for many people, rankings, or at least awareness of schools' reputations, are handy benchmarks in certain situations. But I don't think these people view schools with the rigidity that the above two groups of people do.

GMATT73 · Answer

Ask anybody who isn't directly involved in the active business world which MBA schools they have heard of and you will most likely get two answers: Harvard and Stanford. 

Seriously, 99% of the educated people I come in contact with (in Japan and in the States) on a day to day basis have never even heard of Wharton. Wharton, for crying out loud! They may know that U.Penn/Michigan/UCLA/Chicago... etc have business schools, but they just don't know them for their business schools.

Without a doubt Michigan is an exceptionally great school, but if she wants to stay in Texas, with that scholarship package, then it's pretty much a no brainer.

johnnyx9 · Answer

Plus, the opportunity to dress up like a giant owl is hard to pass up.

GMATT73 · Answer

Who doesn't like HOOTERS?

Ozmba · Answer

Well said Johnny, apart from the MC/IB crowd no one cares about Rankings

MoonShine · Answer

Staying in TX.. Full schol + stipend...I'd say Rice. The rankings don't justify them. It's a very legitimate program that is highly regarded in TX.

GMATT73 · Answer

Throughout the southwest for that matter. A couple of my high school cronies in Colorado busted their asses to get in (undergrad).

squali83 · Answer

Well, well I am very impressed! I thought that the reply would have been overwhelmingly biased towards Ross! Good to hear and yes the Owl is a big draw! I am going to try to become the mascot next year! :-D

polobrute · Answer

rice definately has some cool traditions... they call their marching band the MOB (for Marching Owl Band)... and their unis are zoot suits

johnnyx9 · Answer

I expected everyone would vote for Ross as well.

I met w/ the CEO of my company a while back to discuss b-school (he's an HBS grad) and he told me that I seemed to concerned with brand names, he said that even though the healthcare industry is full of MBA's, people are not as aware of rankings and prestige as they would be in super-lucrative industries. He said something along the lines of, "If I got a resume on my desk with an MIT MBA, and another resume with a Babson MBA, the only difference in my impression would be to think that the MIT person might have more technology or quantitative expertise, but if these people were both applying for a managerial role I wouldn't really draw a distinction between the two just based on where they went to school."

Yes I realize healthcare is very different than a lot of industries people are targetting on these boards, but for someone who knows they want to stick to a certain region like Texas or wherever, a solid regional school may be all they need if they're interested in industry finance or something like that.

pelihu · Answer

I think we need to remember that for a lot of people, finding a way to pay for business school is a major concern. I think that gets lost in the shuffle when we have these debates sometimes. That full scholarship + stipend looks very enticing and the financial benefits mean more to some than others.

Obviously, Michigan can offer some enhanced job opportunities and connections in more cities. If the person faced with the choice is satisfied with working in areas where Rice is strong, both in terms of physical location and practice areas, then taking the money would be a good deal.

I think it also depends on whether this person plans to build a career in a single field, or if they are concerned with changing jobs in the future. I think the current stat is that new grads these days will take 10 different jobs in 5 different industries before they retire. If faced with a future job search - especially if it is in a different industry or different part of the country or world, the Michigan brand would be something nice to carry with you.

Also, if there is an economic downturn, jobs will tend to go to those with the best names on their resumes. On the other hand, if the economy sucks, it would be nice to be debt-free. Tough choice.

3underscore · Answer

I think this is being very complimentary to Stanford, to be honest.

GMATT73 · Answer

The Stanford "stink" lingers dude, a very long way...

squali83 · Answer

I can second that. Anytime my parents education comes up and I mention my father doing his Masters/PhD work at Stanford people automaticaly assume he is some sort of genious! It is actually amusing how people assume there are no normal smart people that attend top schools.

lepium · Answer

Sorry to bring in the bad news, but PhD at Stanford is not normal. Period. :lol:

squali83 · Answer

Yeah, well I do share his genes so I try to convince myself that he is normal. It just makes me feel better. :wink:

c00624 · Answer

You might get different results if you posted this on the business week boards...
I would assume that international students rely on the rankings more just because that is probably all they have to go off of in some cases. I definitely fall into the non-rankings obsessed category. I am actually targeting schools where I might be able to get a scholarship (but still in the top 30).

A great example....

Where would you choose?

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