Wharton Again Tops U.S. News Ranking

Wharton Again Tops U.S. News Ranking by: John A. Byrne on September 09, 2015 | 1 Comment Comments 6,962 Views September 9, 2015WhartonThe University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School again topped U.S. News World Reports ranking of the best undergraduate business programs in the U.S. In fact, the top six business schools all maintained their rankings from last year. MIT Sloan and UC-Berkeleys Haas School of Business both came in tied for second place. The University of Michigans Ross School of Business held onto its fourth spot, while New York Universitys Stern School and the University of Virginias McIntire School of Commerce retained fifth and sixth place, respectively.Despite the stability at the top, the new 2016 (the magazine puts a year earlier date on its rankings so they dont appear perishable to parents and would-be students) U.S. News rankingpublished today (Sept. 9) has its share of winners and losers. Some 10 schools among the top 113 undergraduate business programs ex perienced double-digit increases or decreases. This years biggest winners include St. Josephs University Haub School and Gonzaga, both up 20 places from last year to finish 93rd. The undergraduate business programs at Texas Christian University and Clemson University jumped 18 spots each to rank 61st. Georgia Tech climbed 14 places to rank 15th, while UC-San Diegos Rady School rose 12 positions to finish 50th.And the losers? George Mason Universitys undergraduate business program suffered the biggest drop of any top 100 program, falling 18 places to finish 80th this year. St. Louis Universitys Cook School declined 14 spots to finish 93rd. The University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska both dropped 10 places to rank 61st. The University of Georgias Terry School slipped eight positions to finish 29th.HOW SERIOUSLY SHOULD ANYONE TAKE THIS RANKING? NOT VERYHow seriously should one take this ranking? Not very. First off, the ranking is entirely based on nothing more than the opi nions of business school deans and senior faculty who bothered to fill out the survey. They are asked to rate the quality of business programs with which they are familiar on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). The highest score, a 4.8, was obtained by Wharton.U.S. News then combined two years worth of these opinion surveys to produce this years ranking. The magazine says that its latest survey, conducted in the spring of 2015, had a response rate of 37%. Thats not bad as response rates go, but the problem is that few deans or senior faculty know whats going on in their own schools; never mind what is happening at other institutions far away.The result of that lack of knowledge makes the ranking more a reinforcement of existing brand perception than it is a true measure of the quality of the undergraduate business school experience. After all, there are no measurements in this ranking of incoming student quality, no attempt to evaluate what happens to students once they a re in the program, and no data on such easily measured outcomes such as starting salaries and employment. All of those factors are far more important than a survey of unknowledgeable deans and faculty.SOME 21 SCHOOLS ARE TIED FOR A RANK OF 93RD PLACEThe actual results of the ranking, moreover, lend credence to the popular view that most deans and faculty fill out this survey by taking out U.S. News previous ranking and just following the earlier consensus. Consider this: Only six of the top 113 schools ranked 93rd or higher have their own specific rank. Thats because the survey results are so close to each other than most programs are tied for a numerical rank. There are 21 schools with undergraduate business programs ranked 93rd, 19 programs tied at a rank of 61, 13 tied at 80, 11 with the rank of 50.All told, U.S. News ranks 190 undergraduate business programs, assigning a numerical rank to all of them. The highest rank, however, is 156, for which 35 different business schools are tied. In other words, less-than-credible data is being sliced so thin that even U.S. News has to acknowledge there is little difference among most of the programs it is rankingor at least the magazines severely flawed methodology cant discern major differences.In fact, the survey results are so thin that schools can go up or down the ranking by as many as 20 places just because a programs peer score increased or decrease by .1 on a 5.0 scale. Gonzaga and St. Josephs University both jumped 20 spots this year to a tie of 93rd, even though their peer scores went from 2.8 to 2.9. Those sizable changes lack reason or justification. In all likelihood, big changes in rank occurred because one or two people failed to complete the survey from one year to the next.Even more puzzling was the fact that 71 of the top 113 schools had a year-over-year rankings change. Yet 52 of those 71 schools had changes in rank even though their peer scores were identical from year to year. But thats the ranki ng game. These lists attract tremendous attention, impact application volume and alumni donations, even faculty recruitment. And yet, their value is more for entertainment than for substance. Page 1 of 512345 » Wharton Again Tops U.S. News Ranking Wharton Again Tops U.S. News Ranking by: John A. Byrne on September 11, 2017 | 0 Comments Comments 37,412 Views September 11, 2017Wharton School at the University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School held onto its first place ranking in U.S. News annual ranking of the best business colleges in the U.S. Not far behind was MIT’s tiny undergraduate business program in second place, with UC-Berkeley’s Haas School and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business both tied for third place.U.S. News’ system of ranking undergraduate business programs resulted in numerous ties up and down the list of ranked schools.   Two schools—NYU’s Stern School of Business and the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business—were locked in fifth place.   Another four schools—Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Virginia—were all tied for se venth place. A remarkable 32 schools were tied for the rank of 151st, while 23 programs were tied at 128th.Unlike PoetsQuants’ more comprehensive rankings of undergraduate business programs, the U.S. News rankings is based solely on surveys of business school deans and senior faculty. They are asked to rate the quality of business programs with which they are familiar on a scale of one (marginal) and five (distinguished). Wharton received an overall grade of 4.8, while MIT came in at 4.6, and Berkeley and Michigan were at 4.5.NO EVALUATION OF STUDENT QUALITY, ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE OR CAREER OUTCOMES IN U.S. NEWS RANKINGThe U.S. News methodology does not factor into its rankings far more critical elements of a program’s excellence such as the quality of the incoming students, alumni opinions of the academic and extracurricular experience, nor career outcomes, all basic components of the PoetsQuants’ ranking which will be published this December. As a result, the U. S. News’ approach often reinforces existing beliefs among the administrators who actually fill out the surveys. Asking deans to rate other schools is less a measure of a school’s reputation than it is a collection of prejudices partly based on the self-fulfilling prophecy of U.S. News’ own rankings.Over the years, numerous critics have attacked the U.S. News rankings as little more than popularity ratings. Asking deans to rate other schools is less a measure of a school’s reputation than it is a collection of prejudices partly based on the self-fulfilling prophecy of U.S. News’ own rankings. That’s because most deans and faculty have little knowledge or direct experience with rival programs, anyway.Still, more students and parents consult U.S. News rankings than any other so the lists carry significant influence in the marketplace. Just how close one school is to another is evidenced by the large number of programs with the same peer assessm ent scores. Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Southern California, all ranked 11th, achieved a score of 4.1. A half dozen schools, all tied for 15th place, received a score of 3.8.  All told, some 191 undergraduate programs in business received a ranking from U.S. News this year, with nine different schools in a last-place tie, placing at a rank of 183rd.THIS YEARS BIGGEST WINNERS LOSERSAmong the top 50 schools, four big winners emerged this year, each climbing 18 places to finish in a tie for 45th place, up from 63rd a year ago: the undergraduate business programs at the University of Alabama, Villanova, Florida State, and the University of Kansas. Case Western Reserve University and the University of Pittsburgh both moved up seven places to 31st on the list, up from 38th last year. Ohio State and the University of Wisconsin at Madison inched up four spots to rank 15th, better than their 19th place finish a year earlier.Most schools made sma ll one- or two-place moves, either up or down the list. A dozen schools gained three places among the top 50, including No. 24 Arizona State, No. 45 Southern Methodist University, and No. 45 Temple University in Philadelphia.Schools have found themselves falling behind in U.S. News peer assessment-based ranking included Texas AM and George Washington University. AM fell to 31st place from 27th, while GW dropped to 42nd from 38th. Among schools that still held onto Top 50 status, those four-point declines represented the biggest drops.WIDE VARIANCES IN RANKINGS BETWEEN PQ AND U.S. NEWSAs is always the case with rankings, the further down the list one goes, the bigger the up-and-down movements from year to year. Three schoolsClemson, Texas Christian and Missouriall fell 15 places to rank 78th, from 63rd a year ago. Another three business schoolsBentley, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Oregonslipped 14 spots to 64th place from 48th last year.On the more positive side, a trio of New York schoolsCUNY Baruch, Fordham Universitys Gabelli School of Business, and the Rochester Institute of Technologyclimbed 13 places to rank 64th this year, up from 77th a year earlier.There are, not surprisingly, wide variances in the U.S. News ranking when compared with PoetsQuants. Taking into account more relevant indicators of program quality, PoetsQuants named Washington University’s Olin Business School the best school in the U.S. to major in business. U.S. News, merely on the basis of completed peer surveys, ranks Olin 14th. Notre Dame’s Mendoza School is ranked second by PoetsQuants but 11th by U.S. News. PoetsQuants’ ranks Wharton third rather than first.WHARTON NAMED BEST SCHOOL FOR FINANCE MARKETINGU.S. News also publishes the top five schools in each of eight specialties, such as international business, accounting and entrepreneurship. UT-Austin took first place honors in the accounting specialty, followed by the University of Illinoi s at Urbana-Champaign, Brigham Young University, Wharton, and Michigan. In entrepreneurship studies, Babson College once again topped all other schools, with MIT, Indiana, Berkeley, and Wharton bringing up the rear.Not surprisingly, Wharton captured first in finance, with NYU, MIT, Michigan, and UT-Texas in Austin next. Wharton also came in first in marketing, just ahead of Michigan, NYU, UT-Texas-Austin, and Berkeley. In international business, the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School won top honors again, followed by Wharton, NYU, Georgetown, and Berkeley. University of Michigan placed first in management, ahead of Wharton, Berkeley, UNC, and Virginia. And in information management systems, MIT came out ahead of Carnegie Mellon, the University of Arizona, the University of Minnesota, and UT-Texas in Austin.In supply chain management and logistics, an increasingly hot business specialty, Michigan State came out on top, followed by No. 2 MIT, No. 3 the University of Tennessee, No 4. Arizona State University and Penn State.(see rankings on following pages) Page 1 of 41234 »