国际顶尖MBA申请交流平台--TOPWAY MBA

Chicago definitely has the momentum advantage on Wharton right now (actually, they probably have the momentum advantage over every top 20 program). That said, however, changing a perceived brand value of a school is a hard and long process. Given Wharton's huge alumni advantage (something like double the alumni base), it will take a while for Booth to pass up Wharton from a brand perspective.

That said, in 5 years, I expect Booth to make some serious headway on closing the already small gap between the two schools. In this time frame, I don't expect Booth to pass up Wharton, but it wouldn't suprise me if they're considered more equal than they are today (actually, I think they're pretty equal, but enough people claim a huge difference - i expect the numbers preaching the huge difference to decrease in the next 5 years). Even if Booth doesn't catch up entirely to Wharton, I fully expect Booth to have successfully pulled away from Kellogg/MIT/Columbia.

If Chicago can keep up the momentum for a decade, or so, that's when things get interesting, as you'll have enough new alumni to start to make a very profound impact on the brand...

Wharton's bigger and better known in a wider variety of circles. Chicago is also a super premium "brand", but doesn't have as wide an appeal. In certain elite financial circles (hedge funds, quantitative asset management, academia), Chicago's brand is arguably superior, but to the general question of brand Wharton's is so established that I don't see the situation changing that much in 5 years. Who knows though, stranger things have happened.

Probably the usual....Booth tied with Kellogg and MIT at #4. US News is loath to let their rankings change much.

A lot of people are fond of saying Chicago is making such a big move. However, even if they receive the entire $300M gift (and they may not because the gift was made through the combination of an up-front payment, an income stream from stock, and equity interest) they still are only pulling roughly even with Kellogg's endowment as it currently stands. Realistically, what is Chicago going to do that will displace H/S/W or allow them to pull away from MIT/K? You better believe all of those schools are also going to engage in major fund raising campaigns to get their already large endowments even larger (thus pulling away again from Chicago).

Having a new name is nice. But, Chicago really is not going to be able to poach from the schools above it (in terms of professors) on a large scale. Therefore, you can assume the top five-six programs will remain rather constant in the foreseeable future (IMO).

What exactly do you see as the big differentiator that will catapult them past Wharton? The facts bear out that it certainly will not be the recent gift. They'll need a couple more of those big gifts to possess an advantage in terms of economic capital. Booth is experiencing a bit of a "halo effect" due to the new branding and the gift that created it. Mind you, I believe Booth is a great school. But, its new brand has not come close to even starting to permanently reposition the school amongst the top B-School brands. The only people touting such a repositioning are those from Booth itself. None of the schools traditionally ranked above it have even bothered to acknowledge the gift as a significant B-School "ecosystem" concern.

Visited both schools. Both are good programs, but I think Chicago attracts a more academic crowd. I preferred Chicago, and I think it is the stronger school. HOWEVER, I can’t see the Chicago brand becoming as strong as the Wharton brand in the near future….at least to most prospective MBA candidates. The Wharton brand is better marketed globally. The Wharton name has been entrenched in most people’s minds as one of the best programs in the world. Frankly, I thought it was better than Chicago until I visited both and did serious research on them.