Top Schools
No. 1: Stanford University
When Sherrie Gong Taguchi was earning an M.B.A. at Stanford in the late '80s, she would change clothes in the lavatory before interviews because the placement office lacked dressing rooms. Today, as Stanford's career-management director, the former corporate recruiter oversees a refurbished center that, needless to say, includes an area where students can comfortably change into interview attire.
But a place to change is the least of what the center offers. There M.B.A.'s-to-be can take part in mock interviews to prepare for the real thing, listen to corporate insiders describe what recruiters want, and take a battery of self-assessment tests. Says Taguchi: "We admit the best and brightest, and whatever their skills are, we can make those better."
To help students with job searches, the center works with campus clubs to host career fairs. Last year, 125 companies turned out for a high-tech fair. Small companies that can't come to campus are encouraged to post openings or converse with students through the career center's new Web page, which contains a system for students to sign up for interview slots. Students also are able to search the center's extensive database and alumni lists.
Taguchi, now 36, had been a human-resources manager for the Dole Food Co. before coming to Stanford three years ago. There she has worked assiduously to build relationships with employers. To obtain leads on new firms, she peruses such magazines as Wired and Red Herring and taps professors and alumni for contacts. Stanford also sets up job fairs in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and, now, Hong Kong and Brussels. Next year, Buenos Aires is on the list.
The payoff shows up in Stanford's placement statistics. Last year's class had an average of three job offers per student, and some received as many as 25. The average starting salary was $82,000. But Taguchi advises Stanford students to pursue their passions, not just a paycheck. Says Taguchi: "Think with your heart as well as your mind."
BUSINESS Specialties Programs ranked best by business school deans and M.B.A. program heads in the U.S. News reputational survey
ACCOUNTING 1. Stanford University (CA) 2. University of Chicago 3. Univ. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign 4. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 5. University of Texas-Austin
ENTREPRENEURSHIP 1. Babson College (MA) 2. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 3. Harvard University (MA) 4. Stanford University (CA) 5. Univ. of California-Los Angeles (Anderson)
FINANCE 1. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 2. University of Chicago 3. Stanford University (CA) 4. New York University 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
GENERAL MANAGEMENT 1. Harvard University (MA) 2. Stanford University (CA) 3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 4. Northwestern Univ. (Kellogg) (IL) 5. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 1. American Grad. Sch. of Intl. Mgmt. (Thunderbird) (AZ) 2. University of South Carolina 3. Columbia University (NY) 4. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 5. Harvard University (MA)
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 2. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 3. Univ. of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Carlson) 4. University of Arizona (Eller) 5. University of Texas-Austin
MARKETING 1. Northwestern Univ. (Kellogg) (IL) 2. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 3. Stanford University (CA) 4. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 5. Harvard University (MA)
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS 1. Yale University (CT) 2. Harvard University (MA) 2. Stanford University (CA) 4. Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL) 5. Univ. of California-Los Angeles (Anderson)
PRODUCTION/OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 2. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 3. Purdue University (Krannert) (IN) 4. Harvard University (MA) 4. Stanford University (CA)
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 2. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 3. University of Chicago 4. Stanford University (CA) 4. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
REAL ESTATE 1. Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 2. University of California-Berkeley (Haas) 3. University of Wisconsin-Madison 4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 5. Ohio State University (Fisher)
Schools of Business: The top 25
A Overall score
B Reputation rank by academics
C Reputation rank by recruiters
D Student selectivity rank
E Placement success rate
F Average '96 GMAT score
G '96 average undergrad GPA
H '96 acceptance rate
I '96 median starting salary
J Employed 3 mos. after graduation
K '96 out-of-state tuition
Rank/School A B C D E F G H I J K
1 Stanford Univ (CA) 100 1 3 1 1 711 3.60 7.4 $82,000 98.9 $23,100
2 Harvard Univ (MA) 99.5 1 2 2 4 670 *3.50 12.8 $80,000 96.4 $23,840
3 U of Penn (Whrtn) 99.1 1 4 7 2 662 3.41 14.7 $79,000 100.0 $24,956
4 Mass Inst of
Tech (Sloan) 98.7 1 4 9 3 650 3.50 15.1 $78,000 98.8 $23,900
5 Univ of Chicago 98.1 1 8 3 10 680 3.40 25.0 $65,000 98.4 $23,930
6 Northwestern Univ
(Kellogg) (IL) 97.8 1 1 8 11 660 3.40 16.0 $70,000 93.6 $23,025
7 Columbia Univ (NY) 97.5 9 10 6 5 660 3.45 14.8 $83,000 96.2 $23,830
8 Dartmouth Coll
(Tuck) (NH) 97.1 2 11 4 6 670 3.40 12.6 $70,000 98.3 $23,700
9 Duke U (Fuqua) (NC) 96.5 9 7 13 8 646 3.33 20.5 $67,509 98.5 $24,380
10 Univ of Calif-
Berkeley (Haas) 96.0 7 12 11 12 652 3.42 13.3 $70,000 93.7 $18,788
11 Univ of VA (Darden) 95.1 2 9 15 9 660 3.10 18.9 $66,000 98.1 $19,627
12 U of Mich-Ann Arbor 95.5 7 6 16 14 645 3.30 28.0 $65,000 99.1 $23,178
13 New York U (Stern) 94.1 6 19 14 7 646 3.30 20.9 $70,580 97.0 $23,554
14 Carnegie Mel U (PA) 93.1 2 18 22 13 640 3.20 30.8 $67,209 96.6 $22,200
15 Yale Univ (CT) 93.1 8 17 5 22 675 3.39 23.5 $65,000 91.5 $23,220
16 U of N.C.-Chapel
Hill (Kenan-Flagler)93.1 6 16 19 16 630 3.30 19.8 $60,000 96.8 $14,333
17 Univ of CA-
Los Angeles (CA) 91.8 9 13 10 38 651 3.50 17.5 $65,000 82.2 $19,431
18 U of Texas-Austin 91.1 8 13 21 24 630 3.29 27.3 $60,000 97.3 $11,614
19 Indiana U-Blmngtn 91 1 8 20 33 17 630 3.20 44.7 $61,509 95.2 $15,613
20 Cornell Univ
(Johnson) (NY) 90.1 2 15 18 36 637 3.30 25.4 $64,000 85.1 $23,151
20 Univ of Rochester
(Simon) (NY) 90.1 8 29 26 20 630 3.25 36.0 $58,509 97.4 $21,420
22 Ohio St U (Fisher) 89.2 4 29 31 18 611 3.30 23.2 $61,000 97.8 $13,191
23 Emory Univ
(Goizueta) (GA) 89.3 5 28 25 19 626 3.30 33.0 $60,000 96.7 $21,440
24 Purdue Univ
(Krannert) (IN) 89.2 2 21 40 21 603 3.20 20.7 $63,709 93.6 $13,136
25 U of MD-College
Park 87.3 5 53 12 27 640 3.41 18.9 $53,000 95.0 $12,235
The next 25
A Overall score
B Reputation rank by academics
C Reputation rank by recruiters
D Average '96 GMAT score
E '96 median starting salary
F Employed 3 mos. after graduation
Rank/School A B C D E F
26 Michigan State Univ (Broad) 87.0 35 34 610 $54,500 95.2
27 Vanderbilt Univ (Owen) (TN) 86.5 29 24 615 $60,000 93.2
28 Tulane Univ (Freeman) (LA) 86.0 46 37 621 $52,000 96.0
29 Univ of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Carlson) 85.9 24 43 610 $54,750 93.4
30 Penn State Univ (Smeal) 85.2 29 27 616 $53,000 88.2
31 Wash Univ (Olin) (MO) 84.9 24 31 606 $56,509 90.7
32 Case Western Reserve Un (Weatherhead) (OH) 84.8 29 37 603 $53,000 95.7
33 Georgetown Univ (DC) 84.7 35 23 634 $60,000 79.4
34 Univ of Southern California 84.5 24 31 630 $60,000 86.9
35 Univ of Arizona (Eller) 83.1 29 46 610 $50,000 88.5
36 Georgia Inst of Tech 82.7 46 45 632 $51,800 89.3
37 Wake Forest Univ (Babcock) (NC) 82.2 53 36 609 $52,509 87.3
38 Univ of Florida 81.9 35 47 600 $46,199 81.9
38 Univ of Notre Dame (IN) 81.9 53 25 611 $54,500 90.9
40 Univ of Georgia (Terry) 81.8 46 61 630 $45,000 92.6
41 Coll of William and Mary (VA) 81.7 62 41 605 $53,000 96.3
42 Univ of Pittsburgh (Katz) 81.4 29 43 610* $54,000 91.3
43 Arizona State Univ-Main Campus 81.2 35 56 611 $54,800 87.0
44 Univ of Calif-Davis 80.8 53 73 654 $52,000 91.7
45 Texas A&M Univ-College Station 79.5 41 49 608 $44,500 91.4
46 Brigham Young Univ 79.2 53 35 623 $50,000 78.9
46 Univ of Calif-Irvine 79.2 53 86 616 $50,000 97.5
48 Univ of Illinois-Urban-Champaign 78.3 22 33 605 $47,000 82.9
49 Univ of Tennessee-Knoxville 77.7 46 66 600 $50,000 89.6
50 Univ of Wash 77.8 29 39 632 $51,300 75.6
Sources: U.S. News and the schools. Reputational surveys conducted by Market Facts Inc. Response rates to reputational surveys: academics, 56 percent; corporate recruiters, 34 percent.
*signifies a U.S. News estimate.
Methodology
Here's how U.S. News determined rankings for the nation's 300 accredited M.B.A. programs. There were four criteria: student selectivity, placement success, and two measures of reputation.
Student selectivity was based on three indicators for full-time M.B.A.'s entering in the fall of 1996: average scores on the Graduate Management Admission Test (accounting for 65 percent of the total), undergraduate grade point average (30 percent), and the proportion of applicants accepted by the school (5 percent).
Placement success was based on four indicators for the full-time M.B.A. class that graduated in 1996: the proportion employed at graduation, including students continuing on for other graduate degrees (20 percent); the proportion employed thremonths after graduation, including students continuing on for other graduate degrees and one quarter of those whose status was not known but excluding M.B.A. graduates not seeking employment (35 percent); their median starting base salaries excluding sign-up or other performance
bonuses and any additional benefits such as relocation assistance and tuition reimbursements (40 percent);
and the ratio of the number of last year's on-campus M.B.A. recruiters to the number of 1996 graduates (5
percent).
Reputation was determined by two U.S. News surveys conducted in fall 1996. In the first, surveys were sent to the business school deans and directors of each accredited M.B.A. program. They were asked to rank each program by quartiles. In the second, 781 corporate recruiters representing a nationwide random sample of U.S. corporations who hired M.B.A.'s from U.S. News's top-ranked business schools in last year's survey of graduate schools of business were asked to select the 25 top graduate business schools in the country based on a program's reputation for academic excellence and its ability to produce top business leaders, effective managers, consultants and analysts, and successful entrepreneurs.
Overall rank was determined by assigning a value of 100 percent to the highest score achieved by the top school in each attribute-or subattribute. The scores for all the other schools were converted to percentages of the score achieved by the No. 1 school. These scores were then number-ranked in descending order. The scores for the measures of placement success and student selectivity-made up of the subattributes listed above-were determined by totaling the weighted percentages of these attributes. Next, the number ranks of the four indicators were weighted: The corporate recruiters' reputational survey accounted for 15 percent of the final score; the academics' reputational survey and student selectivity, for 25 percent each; and placement success, for 35 percent. The final rankings were then determined by totaling the four weighted number-ranked scores. The weighted score for the top school was given a value of 100 percent. The scores for all the others were then determined by figuring their totals as percentages of the score achieved by the No. 1 school.
This story appears in the March 10, 1997 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.