Hi everyone,
Plenty of times, we all end up in dilemmas about which schools are our favorite, and in the worst of cases, some egos get a bit bruised as schools get compared.
I'd like to contribute one more metric to the discussion. I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE IF PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY DISCUSSED THIS.
Per capita endowment by alumni for FT programsWe regularly see data on earning power for alumni, endowment figures, and alumni loyalty commentary. I think there's one way to capture all of them, albeit imperfectly, but amusingly.
What is the per capita contribution to the endowment from full-time alumni? This will partially negate the difference between size (Harvard, with what, 900 students, vs Tuck with around 200 students per year?), and provides a number figure that captures a) the earnings potential for the alumni as a group and b) the extent to which they attribute those earnings to their alma mater, or simply have positively-inclined emotions towards their school (which to me is a legitimate proxy for alumni loyalty).
So here go! (note, I have taken the total endowments from the latest publicly-available figures, but I have only used the total number of FT MBA alumni, excluding PhD, and when possible, PT. However, this has been difficult to do, so I've noted what data was available for each. Of course this metric has imperfections, as there are plenty of donors who are NOT alumni, and it assumes equal asset management performance on behalf of endowment fund managers).
Rankings according to this metric (which can be improved in terms of methodology and information available, but is a crude and fun proxy nevertheless)
1) Stanford GSB
2) HBS*
3) MIT Sloan**
4) Dartmouth Tuck *
5) Chicago Booth**
6) Kellogg**
7) Columbia**
8) Wharton**
9) Berkeley Haas**
10) NYU Stern**
* Number looks higher because it was possible to isolate full-time MBAs, or other data was available to shorten the alumni list, such as living-only
** Number looks lower because it was harder to isolate full-time MBAs, Berkeley is particularly punished
Harvard and Stanford are ahead of the pack, but MIT Sloan, Dartmouth Tuck and Chicago Booth are in a very strong second cluster, and it's not that far behind the first two. Kellogg is slightly ahead in a significantly smaller cluster that includes Columbia and Wharton (I've heard some noise about Wharton's asset management being extremely conservative, so I don't know how much that impacts the story). Berkeley and NYU complete the Top 10 and are way behind the others, but their data is hurt the most by the myriad of part-time and PhD types that are running around.
Harvard Business SchoolTotal endowment $2.117 billion
Total full-time alumni 56,689 (living alumni circa 41,000, chosen MBA-only, no PhD)
End figure: $37,344
Stanford GSBTotal endowment $755 million
Total full-time alumni 18,599 (degrees awarded, including deceased, living alumni circa 16,000)
End figure: $40,593
WhartonTotal endowment $656 million
Total full-time alumni 81,000 (including PhD, MBA-only figures not immediately available)
End figure: $8,098
Chicago BoothTotal endowment $800 million
Total full-time alumni 39,000 (total alumni, including PT and PhD, could not segment immediately)
End figure: $20,512
Columbia Business SchoolTotal endowment $356,206,536 (based on Business Week 2009 data)
Total full-time alumni 38,000 (all degrees)
End figure: $9,373.86
Dartmouth TuckTotal endowment $256.4 million (2007 figure)
Total full-time alumni 8,400 (living)
End figure: $30,523
Berkeley HaasTotal endowment $159.3 million
Total full-time alumni 36,000 (I am assuming these include all degrees, of which there are numerous)
End figure: $4,425
MIT SloanTotal endowment $657 million
Total full-time alumni 20,000 (all degrees)
End figure: $32,850
Northwestern KelloggTotal endowment $556 million (June 2009)
Total full-time alumni 50,000 (all degrees)
End figure: $11,120
NYU SternTotal endowment $223 million (Summer 2009)
Total full-time alumni 80,000 (all degrees)
End figure: $2,787.5
Guys, anyone who has better data is welcome to submit. I also probably made lots of mistakes, I'm hungry and want to eat lunch (anyone who knows me knows that I can't think when I'm hungry).