Blog Archive MBA News Financial Times Rankings Released

Blog Archive MBA News Financial Times Rankings Released Every MBA candidate loves a ranking and, unlike Business Week, the Financial Times offers candidates their fix on a yearly (instead of bi-yearly) basis. The FT’s annual Global MBA Ranking, the most extensive ranking of American and international MBA programs, was released today and there were winners and losers. Among the winners, MIT, IE Business School and Cambridge all vaulted into the top ten. Meanwhile, NYU and Dartmouth fell from the top-ten and Kellogg fell from the top twenty. Of course, with every ranking that displays such volatility, we always question the relevance of rankings. How can it be that in one year, an organization that has virtually identical administration and academics (and 50% of the same students), can suddenly rise or fall several places? Do the students who were in first year last year and are now in second year notice any appreciable difference in the quality of their education? Of course not. Nonetheless, the rankings will continue because they sell advertising and candidates can’t help but take notice of them.   Share ThisTweet Blogroll News Blog Archive MBA News Financial Times Rankings Released We always advise candidates to take rankings not with a grain of salt, but with a pound of it. Today, the Financial Times released its annual ranking of top global MBA programs and London Business School came out on top, with Wharton, HBS, Stanford, INSEAD and many others following, of course. So, why should one view these rankings with skepticism? For one thing, the schools are not measured consistently â€" some of the schools on the list have not been “audited” since 2006. However, even if we can get over the lack of consistent data â€" and we should be able to because generally business schools don’t change dramatically from year to year â€" you have to look at the data that is being measured. Is average salary driving your decision? Is faculty research important to you? Would you consider a high number of faculty with PHDs to be a positive (clearly well educated individuals) or a negative (fewer practitioners)? We do believe that rankings have a place in your decision, but we also suggest that you critically evaluate the rankings themselves  and determine what is being measured and if it is relevant to you. Rankings come and go, but your relationship with your target school should endure Share ThisTweet Berkeley-Haas Columbia University (Columbia Business School) Cornell University (Johnson) Dartmouth College (Tuck) Duke University (Fuqua) Harvard University (Harvard Business School) INSEAD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) New York University (Stern) News Northwestern University (Kellogg) Stanford University (Stanford Graduate School of Business) University of California Los Angeles (Anderson) University of Chicago (Booth) University of London (London Business School) University of Michigan (Ross) University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) University of Virginia (Darden) Yale University (School of Management)