U.S.News: The Business School Rankings Methodology

pansy

By Robert Morse , Sam Flanigan
Posted April 15, 2010
All 433 master's programs in business accredited by AACSB International were surveyed in fall 2009 and early 2010 (378 responded, of which 129 provided the data needed to calculate rankings based on a weighted average of the indicators described below). All 433 schools appear in the online directory.

Quality Assessment (weighted by .40)

Peer Assessment Score (.25) In the fall of 2009, business school deans and directors of accredited master's programs in business were asked to rate programs on a scale from "marginal" (1) to "outstanding" (5). Those individuals who did not know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark "don't know." A school's score is the average of all the respondents who rated it. Responses of "don't know" counted neither for nor against a school. About 44 percent of those surveyed responded.

Recruiter Assessment Score (.15) In the fall of 2009, corporate recruiters and company contacts from M.B.A. programs previously ranked by U.S. News were asked to rate all full-time programs on a scale from "marginal" (1) to "outstanding" (5). Those individuals who did not know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark "don't know." A school's score is the average of all the respondents who rated it. Responses of "don't know" counted neither for nor against a school. About 28 percent of those surveyed responded. For the purpose of calculating this year's rankings, the two most recent years' recruiters' survey results were averaged and are weighed by .15.

pansy

Placement Success (weighted by .35)

Mean Starting Salary and Bonus (.14) The average starting salary and bonus of 2009 graduates of a full-time master's program in business. Salary figures are based on the number of graduates who reported data. The mean signing bonus is weighted by the proportion of those graduates who reported a bonus, because not everyone who reported a base salary figure reported a signing bonus.

Employment Rates for Full-time Master's Program in Business Graduates The employment rate for 2009 graduates of a full-time master's program in business. Those not seeking jobs or for whom no job-seeking information is available are excluded. If the proportions of graduates for whom no job-seeking information is available and who are not seeking jobs are high, then the information is not used in calculating the rankings. Employment rates at graduation (.07) and three months after graduation (.14) are used in the ranking model.

pansy

Student Selectivity (weighted by .25)

Mean GMAT Scores (.1625) The average Graduate Management Admission Test score of students entering the full-time program in fall 2009. Scores on the test range from 200 to 800.

Mean Undergraduate GPA (.075) The average undergraduate grade-point average of those students entering the full-time program in fall 2009.

Acceptance Rate (.0125) The percent of applicants to the full-time program in fall 2009 who were accepted.

Overall Rank: Data were standardized about their means, and standardized scores were weighted, totaled, and rescaled so that the top school received 100; others received their percentage of the top score. In order to be ranked, a full-time M.B.A. program had to have 20 or more graduates who were seeking employment in 2009. For a school to have its employment data considered in the ranking model, at least 50 percent of its 2009 full-time M.B.A. graduates needed to be seeking work.

pansy

Specialty Rankings: These rankings, including executive M.B.A., are based solely on ratings by business school deans and directors of accredited master's programs from the list of schools surveyed. They were asked to nominate up to 10 programs for excellence in each of the areas listed. The schools receiving the most votes in each specialty appear here.
RNP or Rank Not Published means that U.S.News did calculate a numerical ranking for that school/program, but decided for editorial reasons that since the school/program ranked below the U.S. News cutoff that U.S. News would not publish the ranking for that school/program on usnews.com. U.S. News will supply schools/programs marked with RNP with their numerical rankings, if they submit a request following the procedures listed in the Information for School Officials in the About the Rankings section. Schools/programs marked as RNP are listed alphabetically.
Unranked means that U.S.News did not calculate a numerical ranking for that school or program. The school or program did not supply U.S. News enough key statistical data to be numerically ranked by U.S. News. Schools or programs marked as Unranked are listed alphabetically and are listed below those marked as RNP or Rank Not Published.

pansy

Part-Time M.B.A. Program rankings

Part-time M.B.A. programs play a vital role in business education, especially for working people who can't go full time because of family or financial reasons. U.S. News's new part-time M.B.A. ranking are based solely on a fall 2009 peer assessment survey that asked business school deans and M.B.A. program directors at each of the nation's 314 part-time M.B.A. programs to rate all the other part-time programs on a 5-point scale, with 1 marginal and 5 outstanding. Forty-four percent of those surveyed responded. Programs were ranked based on their average score among those who rated them. U.S. News defines a part-time M.B.A. program as being at an AACSB-accredited school with at least 20 students enrolled part-time in fall 2008. In the part-time M.B.A. program rankings, programs with an average peer assessment score of equal to or greater than 2.0 are numerically ranked.

Sources: U.S. News and the schools. Assessment data collected by Synovate. The M.B.A. part-time program data listed for fall 2009 admissions and enrollment are for information purposes only and are not used in the computation of the M.B.A. part-time rankings. N/A = Data were not provided by school.