The Importance of MBA Graduate Schools Rankings
How important the MBA rankings are and the impact they have both on your career projection and on how top graduate schools are regarded is not something many people stop to think about. So, which factors come into play every year prior to Business Week, Financial Times, and other ranking bodies publishing their MBA ranking lists? In broad terms, the following are the most important factors taken into account:
1.Analysis of tendencies and propensities across top business colleges
2.School activities and position in the community
3.Economical, social, and cultural impact of the school’s MBA program
Business School or just Business?
The first thing we need to consider here is that top business schools are more a business than a school.
If we look at the figures of dollars spent on research activity, staff involved in research, staff involved in degree programs, teaching staff on tenure, or improvement of the curiculae, we will see that they have decreased over the past ten years. The reason behind this is simple: More and more resources are spent in public relations and marketing promotion as to make the school a high ranking institution. Trends, position in the community, and the social & economic impact of the school’s programs all have to be properly promoted in front of the ranking bodies.
Shall I do the MBA or not?
So granted! business schools are all about business nowadays. Nonetheless, anyway you look at it, going to a top ranking MBA graduate school is an excellent business decision on your part. The best MBA programs will get your career sky rocketted. No doubt about that one.
You are doing good intelligent business when enrolling in a top MBA school. Why? Because high ranking institutions are perceived by companies as the most effecient top managers factories. The impact of a school’s high ranked position has a direct impact on your future salary increase, your entire career progress, and your overall top-jobs market placement success. In fact, these are just some of the factors measured closely by ranking bodies before assigning the MBA ranking positions.
Here is a more detailed list of what is taken into account when ranking top business schools and MBA colleges:
The three heavy weights:
-Weighted salary: Weighted Salary Increase (WSI) accounts for one-fifth of the overall weighting of the survey and is defined as the percentage increase in salary from the final salary before coming to business school to the salary as at the time of the survey, which is three years after graduation. *
*(Definition taken from Business Week MBA rankings)
-Salary percentage increase: The percentage increase in average alumni salary from before the MBA to today as a percentage of the pre-MBA salary. This figure includes data for the current year and the one or two preceding years where available. *
*(Definition taken from Financial Times MBA rankings)
-Value for money : Is it worth my money? How fast is the return on investment and how large is the return over my investment?
The rest:
-Salary of graduates at the time of audit
-Career progress
-Aims achieved
-Placement success percentage
-Employed at three months (%)
-Alumni recommend
-Women faculty (%)
-Women students (%)
-Women board (%)
-International faculty (%)
-International students (%)
-Internation board (%)
-International mobility
-International experience
-Languages
-Faculty with doctorates (%)
-FT research
In conclusion, top MBA ranked programs translate into more money and career progression for you. Even though the best busines schools allocate more resources to being ranked as high as possible than to anything else, the practical result for the student is an important professional progression and salary increase.
Check the rankings, make your choice of schools, and go for it.
