Editorial
Ranking
Personalized Rankings search accordingly. Another might think that ROI 1. Warwick Business School, University of
As business school candidates find themselves is more important, or that they want a business Warwick
increasingly in the driving seat about their careers, school renowned for strength in marketing. 2. Cranfield School of Management
and with the availability of huge amounts of All of these choices are available on Scorecard. 3. Indian School of Business
information on the internet, the trend towards Take for example, a 28-year old Indian candidate 4. Judge Business School, University of
personalized rankings has continued in recent who wants to do an MBA specializing in marketing Cambridge
years. Candidates no longer want to know where within India to stay close to his family. The top five 5. Macquarie Graduate School of Management,
the best schools are – we can’t all go to Harvard, schools that will appear in his search are: Macquarie University
Wharton, London Business School or INSEAD 1. Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi 6. Graduate School of Management, The
– but what the best schools are for them. University University of Western Australia
In response to this growing demand for 2. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade 7. School of Business, Bond University
personal information, QS created the world’s first 3. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 8. Aston Business School, Aston University
personalized business school ranking tool, QS 4. Indian School of Business 9. Birmingham Business School
Search & Scorecard (www.topmba.com/ 5. S. P. Jain Institute of Management 10. Cass Business School
scorecard). Scorecard is a unique online system and Research
allowing aspiring MBAs to search for a business Simply applying to top schools in the annual
school that suits their personal needs and Thinking harder he decides that he wants to know rankings often directs candidates towards
preferences; it’s a free and unique tool kit to which of those five has the best return on unsuitable MBA programs as not all candidates
personalize and refine business school selection. investment (in other words, which will pay back will benefit from a place at a ‘ranked’ school. Their
Partnered with media all over the world, including his financial investment quickest, according to the application may be rejected and they may miss the
Washington Post, Toronto Star and The Times average salary of alumni three months after best-suited MBA program for their abilities and
(London), QS Search and Scorecard allows graduating). In this shortlist the Indian School of requirements. The opportunity cost in career
candidates to: Business comes out on top. He writes this down terms may be great. Scorecard allows a realistic
•
narrow down a business-school search according and decides to take a visit to the school’s stand at appraisal of what an individual candidate wants.
to their own criteria the QS World MBA Tour. Rachel Tuft, of Manchester Business School,
•
avoid the restrictions of traditional ranking As an aside he wonders if he can study agrees: “Scorecard is the most in-depth and
systems overseas, to keep his options open. He selects interactive information tool available for MBA
•
search more than 350 of the world’s top business options in English speaking countries offering full applicants today.”
schools time one-year courses (which rules out the US as Registration to QS Search & Scorecard is free
•
create a personalized shortlist to which they can most courses there are two years long). He gets and there are several other points of interest, such as
devote extra research time some results he may never have considered, as access to articles and expert chats, that will help
There is no substitute for personal contact, and well as the strong Indian School in that candidates to narrow down their search and find the
nobody will claim that Scorecard answers all of a international list. right business school : www.topmba.com/scorecard.
candidate’s questions. But what it
does allow, using multiple criteria
and usable several times, is for the
reader to start seeing the same
business schools appearing time and
again, allowing them to create their
personal shortlist.
From that shortlist the candidate
will visit the QS World MBA Tour or,
even more impressively, QS
TopMBA Connect 1.2.1 to meet the
schools face to face, getting to know
the school culture, what makes it tick
and if it is really the kind of place
they see themselves studying at.
Selection criteria
As a first step, Scorecard is an
invaluable tool. It breaks down the
candidate’s selection criteria into
career strength, return on investment
(ROI), student diversity and faculty
strength, as well as the essentials of
location and budget costs. The
candidate might consider that faculty
strength is the most important
consideration and can weight his

TopMBA CAreer Guide www.topmba.com 287
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