Understanding Ranking & Choosing a School

[Business Week Rankings] [Financial Times Rankings] [US News Rankings]

There are various publications that rank business schools. We recommend using Business Week and the Financial Times, then cross referencing with current students/alumni and professionals in your desired industry of post-MBA employment.

A few points about the prestige of a school:

• Don't get swayed by the annual changes in school ranking. Rankings as perceived by recruiters do not change with time.

• Be cautious about the advice you receive from your professors, peers or relatives. A school that is prestigious to a Taiwanese, such as UIUC or Purdue, is not necessarily prestigious globally. It's important to remember that the world is a big place, so know what you are looking for in a school.

How we view schools:

We and, generally speaking, recruiters divide the US schools into three tiers:

I. HBS/Stanford/Wharton/Kellogg/Columbia/MIT/Chicago

II. Berkeley, Duke, Cornell, Yale, UCLA, Tuck, Michigan, NYU, Virginia

III CMU/UNC/Emory/USC/Austin/

On the bubble: Georgetown/Indiana/Olin

How to Choose a School?

Short Answer:

Get into the best school possible. A higher ranked school will give you more options and opportunities.

What about the importance of fit?

• We have yet to meet someone who had a bad experience studying abroad, so our view is that as an international student, you will generally view your experience in the US/abroad very positively, so we feel that the issue of “fit” is a bit overemphasized by the brochures.

• What we do find is that students often feel that there is a “disconnect” between their pre-MBA career expectations and their post-MBA/graduate school employment opportunities.

• Given that you are going to have a “great time” anyway, we recommend that you focus on the unique value proposition that an MBA offers—the professional opportunities associated with the degree.

• Our view is that attend the school that “fits” the best within the same tier.

Long Answer:

I. Define a Purpose: Why do you want an MBA? Why do you want to study abroad?

a) Switch to a new industry (for example, engineering to finance, accounting to consulting)

b) Use the MBA as an opportunity to immigrate

c) Amass wealth, e.g. to gain US$70,000, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, etc. salaries

d) Prestige

e) For the experience

We feel that not ALL answers are equally valid!!

II. Realize that you have to make trade-offs:

For example, it's highly unlikely that you will work in marketing in the U.S. if you are an international student. We suggest that you identify your primary reason for gaining an MBA.

III. Realize that this may not be the best time to get an MBA yet!

Note the difference between being “admissible” & “employable”

Compared to gaining employment at a top firm post-MBA, admissions to a top b school is actually the easy part.

“Admissible” is relatively easy: