An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
- Laurence J. Peter
When it comes to MBA school rankings, your options are plentiful.
With so many rankings out there, it can be confusing as to which rankings, if any, are useful in your MBA search.
Let's put things in perspective - rankings are provided by pubications such as magazines or newspapers.
For example, Business Week and US News & World Report have provided MBA rankings since 1988 and 1987 respectively.
Publications like Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and many others have provided various MBA rankings as well.
There is no doubt that providing rankings of business schools and MBA programs helps promote these ranking publications. However, rankings can be useful depending on the information you are after. Typically, there are four general categories of rankings as detailed below...
There needs to be a word here about methodologies of rankings. The methodoly refers to how the ranking was conducted and what information was used to determine the ranking. Even comparable rankings use different methodologies. So it is important to understand how the rankings were derived.
It is also helpful to understand the key details of the ranking...the total number being ranked (ex: top 30 vs. top 100), the location of the programs (ex: U.S. MBA vs Global MBA), how often the ranking takes place (ex: every year vs. every two years), etc.
MBA school rankings can be helpful if they assist you with your MBA pursuit. The best advice is to only follow those rankings that apply to your situation. If not applicable, don't even worry about the rankings.
An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
- Laurence J. Peter