U.S. News & World Report

Overview: U.S. News & World Report ranks full-time MBA programs for its annual America’s Best Graduate Schools edition. The publication also ranks schools by specialty, including executive MBA, part-time MBA, and 10 fields within business. Specialty rankings are based solely on reputation among deans and program directors.

Web site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/mba/mbaindex_brief.php

Summary of Methodology:

For it’s ranking, U.S. News & World Report calculates a weighted average of indicators organized in three broad categories: quality assessment (40 percent); placement success (35 percent); and student selectivity (25 percent). The quality assessment category includes peer (25 percent) and recruiter (15 percent) assessment scores, which are based on ratings of programs by deans and directors and recruiters, respectively. The placement success category includes average starting salary and bonus (14 percent) and employment rates for full-time master’s program graduates (21 percent). Student selectivity includes average GMAT scores and undergraduate GPA’s, as well as the percent of applicants offered admission. Data are standardized about their means. Standardized scores are weighted, totaled, and rescaled so that the top school receives 100.

Specialty rankings by U.S. News & World Report are based solely on rating by deans and directors, who are asked to nominate up to 10 programs for excellence in each of the areas. Rankings are based on the number of votes received. More …