Rankings rankings rankings....

We have a collection of all of them here: 2011-mba-rankings-99812.html

I second jordanhendrix's comment on US News.

But honestly, everyone who's "in" the business (consulting, banking fields) as well as any of the applicants themselves will know the rankings. The deviations between the different agencies (US News, Forbes, Economist, etc) are moot points when we have a set of mentality ingrained in us already. For example, no matter who publishes what, in our mind Chicago Booth is not going to be #1 b-school in the nation (not trying to knock on any Booth people here). No matter what, the majority of the people WILL say and agree that Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton takes the top 3, with Harvard being #1 simply because of its name and reputation. So with that said, for those who are going through the process, who went through the process, and who are recruiting at schools will know the rankings that's really just ingrained in anyone. For me, the ranking is really just a way to show layperson where schools stands in comparison to their peer schools. That's really all. I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who will think that South Methodist University's Cox School of Business is truly ranked 12th in the country as published by BW (again, not trying to say Cox is a bad school).

thanks for the responses. But, what about when we travel below the top-top tier? Excluding top 5-top10 schools, I'm still left completely confused about the rankings. Is Ohio State (one of the biggest universities in the WORLD) really a better MBA program than Georgetown and Vanderbilt? Is Penn State really a better program than Wake Forest??? These just seem impossible to me, unless the rankings are giving significant weight to the cost of the degree.

I just can't imagine that OSU is better than Vandy, and that PennState is better than Wake Forest in terms of career opportunities.

I don't think you can discount large public schools like that. Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia, and Texas area all large public schools with world-renowned programs, and all better than Vandy and WF.

I think when it gets down to below top 20, the schools are very regional. The opportunities are regional as well. It really doesn't matter that much. Recruiters aren't going to put a OSU and Vandy candidate together for comparison. This isn't true of the top 15ish schools. It's pretty common for companies recruit at #15 (whichever ranking you use) and #1.

I second Asimov. Also generally consider that almost all companies recruit at several target schools aren't always rankings focus, some are region focused or function focused. So it's important to target what location or function such as the Finance block (Chicago, Wharton, Columbia, NYU) or Midwest Block (Kellogg, Chicago, Michigan, Notre Dame, Minnesota)

I was at one interview where the company (major healthcare company) had half the group from H/W and the rest were Midwest schools Michigan, Minnesota, and Olin

Don't let undergraduate rankings obscure your view of MBA program rankings. For instance, Yale's MBA program is ranked below plenty of large public schools, yet Yale is always in the top 3-5 for undergrad rankings. Same deal for comparing Vandy to OSU or Wake Forest to PSU. Georgetown and Cornell have strong name recognition for undergrad but not quite the same status for their MBA programs.

You all have great points, and I thank you. I guess I was really letting general public perception impact my value judgment concerning the programs.

Yea..they all shared some great points to consider.