Editorial
Ranking
Scorecard:
Matching
candidates’
objectives
to what
usiness schools, as you’ll see from the tables, are incredibly varied.
schools offer B
Some people, before doing the necessary research, believe you just
‘do an MBA’, but that’s not the case. MBA programs have certain
sets of specializations, faculties with specific interests and expertise,
graduates who, on average, boost their salaries by a certain percentage after
By Ross Geraghty graduation and international reputations that vary by country and industry.
Finding the right school among the thousands around the world can be
quite a task and the MBA candidate is advised to take a lot of time and effort
The decision to do an MBA is one of selecting the best school to suit their interests and the practicalities of their
lives. But what’s the best way to do this?
the most important an aspiring
Rankings
business leader can make. The Rankings have existed for a long time and the likelihood is, given the public
taste for them as some kind of quality indicator, they are here to stay. However,
statistics that follow provide merely a it is becoming clear that traditional, static rankings are only of superficial
benefit. Pat Harker, former Dean of Wharton, went on record as disapproving
general overview that may allow MBA of rankings several years ago, although it’s easy to say that when your school
has finished top in most rankings five years in a row.
aspirants to start narrowing down The point is, can it really be that a school that tops the rankings of any
international newspaper, for example, is top for all of the criteria an MBA
their business school search. using a candidate considers when choosing a business school?
It seems unlikely. Research released in 2008 bears this out. In the QS
thick pen you may delete programs TopMBA Global Recruiters’ Top 100 Business Schools, in which MBA and
careers experts QS canvassed the opinions of 500 MBA employers worldwide
that are too expensive for your budget, about the schools they recruit from by specialization, Harvard Business School
tops the list for the strategy specialization. Yet Harvard comes only eighth in
for example, while a highlighter will the list for operations management. Likewise INSEAD (international
management), Wharton (finance), Kellogg (marketing), MIT Sloan
allow you to remember programs you (information management) and IE Business School (entrepreneurship) top
their respective tables and thus cement their reputations for those seeking a
may not have considered before. career in these specializations.
All business schools are trying to differentiate themselves accordingly, to
establish a niche for themselves and then spend significant energies promoting
their modus operandi and their unique sales point. This is why most of them
visit countries all round the globe with the QS World MBA Tour, which visits
50 cities between September and November 2008.
286 TopMBA CAreer Guide
www.topmba.com
MBA_FALL_08_pp_066-287.indd 286 15/8/08 11:30:54
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