In no particular order within the cluster . . . MIT Columbia Penn Stanford Chicago Harvard Northwestern Please see the Elite Cluster as well: https://gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewforum.php ... e0ee494861 Please note that these clusters contain only schools located within the United States. This should not be construed as an assertion that all schools located outside of the United States are "inferior" schools. However, it is difficult to obtain information that is directly comparable on some international programs. I welcome constructive comments on this issue.

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Ultra Elite List

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branson

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25 Apr 2008, 05:44

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That's easy: Tuck is better than Columbia.

sorry. I had to. CLASS of 2010!

kidderek

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25 Apr 2008, 05:49

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Interesting catch terp. Columbia has been much maligned these days. It's still the best school in NYC and a finance powerhouse. I still view it as an UE.

cougarblue

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25 Apr 2008, 15:34

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That is interesting. I've thought all along that Tuck should be in the U/E as well as the traditional "M7". Columbia does so well in the most competitive finance recruiting, e.g. PE/HF, comparing favorably to all other U/E schools except H/S/W, that I don't think it should be downgraded to Elite status.

riverripper

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27 Apr 2008, 13:05

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Guys you need to remember its a wiki so people can edit the info. This is not the official position of GMATclub or Hjort.

Toploader is the one who changed it so PM and ask why. I dont think he should have changed that but maybe he did it by accident. Wiki editing can be tricky.

perfectexamscore

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15 Jul 2008, 22:21

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what about Dartmouth

Monstruo

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16 Apr 2009, 08:24

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If anything Haas should be added to the Ultra-Elite page, specially if the leaked US News rankings hold true.

kryzak

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26 Apr 2009, 17:28

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I'll have to second that one... Columbia is great in finance, but lately it's been hurting in that industry. With the way Tuck and Haas have been performing in the last few years, both should be considered for the UE status (even if it's the lower sub-clusters).

bipolarbear

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21 May 2009, 11:57

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i can't believe that one can even question whether columbia is part of the ultra elite... they are clearly one of the best universities in the world, located in new york city, and a major finance recruiter.

a lot of the bashing in this thread comes from berkeley and tuck grads... chill out guys!

Pathfinder

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21 May 2009, 12:41

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bipolarbear

Ha ha ha, you should spend some time on BW forums, with all those lovely people overthere

Then you would have seen what bashing is... And it seems they especialy hate Columbia and Yale SOM.

Now seriously, Columbia is a great school, part of an excellent university. I don't see the reason that anybody glorifies his/her school by desputing all others. Haas, Tuck, Cornell, Yale SOM... Exellent schools, regardless the fact whether they are in some M7, A8, Top 10, Top 5... I just don't care.

kryzak

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22 May 2009, 02:57

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then again, the whole "Ultra Elite" (or "Elite" and all the other terms) criteria is pretty hard to pin down. Like people said, many of these are great schools, what makes one "better" than the other to be considered UE or E?

Pathfinder

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22 May 2009, 07:47

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While I can see some point in rankings, I realy don't understand b-school clusterings. Certainly, there are some criteria which distinguish Kellogg from Tuck, that's the reason why there is couple of positions in rankings between those two schools. But saying that Tuck and Kellogg are in different leagues is somehow immature and more like "BW style" posting.

What is my point? Well, there are greater differences between the schools within the same cluster than between the schools belonging to different clusters. For example, majority of the the members of this forum will agree that Stanford is >>> MIT, and they are in the same, ultra elite group. On the other hand, what is the difference between, say, MIT and Haas? MIT > Haas? Or MIT = Haas? Probably there is plenty valid arguments that could justufy one or another, but it is obvious that there is no such a large gap between MIT and Haas like between Stanford GSB and MIT. Certain applicant, lucky enough to get accepted both to Haas and MIT, would have to carefully determine pros and cons of each school and than make the choice based, most probably, on "fit" criteria and personal reasons.

unhedged

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22 May 2009, 19:22

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Pathfinder_77

I think that the point of the clustering is just as you stated: to show that there are no large gaps between schools, whereas rankings perpetuate the idea that being ranked 5th vs. 8th means the 5th ranked school is the better school, when in reality what made it ranked higher may be irrelevant to you. I think the concept is better crystallized by a comparison often repeated in the elite category. What school is better: Ross vs. Darden? Can one really argue one way or another? Or can it be said that they are (relatively) equal and that fit/personal reasons will be the deciding factor.

But you are right that at what are the perceived edges of the cluster, there will be a blurring into the next cluster. I think that is something that, if recognized properly, is a flaw worth living with.

GMAT888

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25 Sep 2009, 11:16

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Why's that u dont have any international BSs here?

bsd_lover

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25 Sep 2009, 15:07

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The clustering of international b-schools are available here :
ranks-and-clusterings-of-various-international-b-schools-78320.html

arammug

Why's that u dont have any international BSs here?

simplygood

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27 Sep 2009, 12:53

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agold

I just noticed on the main homepage of gmatclub that Tuck and Columbia were switched. Tuck is now an Ultra Elite and Columbia is an Elite.

Can someone explain the rationale behind this?

Is that the case? I am curious. Hjort please comment...

EMBAMCI

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22 Jun 2010, 01:01

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it's good

superdude

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06 Jul 2010, 14:51

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Have there been any changes to the UE in since the original post? I'm curious what people think of the schools now. I imagine Chicago is probably rising pretty quickly within the top group.

trunksli

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04 Aug 2010, 20:29

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Thanks for this, I used this to help narrow my list down. I didn't know they were only 7, I thought it was top ten.

Also, within this list, I would say Harvard/Stanford are Ultra ultra elite as a subcategory in terms of difficulty in getting in, would you guys agree?

method

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07 Oct 2010, 14:40

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Based upon what I see across the spectrum of rankings, the present-day top 9 is broken down into two very tight packs:

Harvard
Stanford
Booth
Wharton

Sloan
Kellogg
Tuck
Columbia
Haas

The Poets & Quants composite ranking is very close to my own. However, I choose to apply weights to more respected rankings. For example, Forbes doesn't receive the same weight as US News.