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Should Rankings Determine Where To Get Your MBA?
Dr. Aviva LegattContributor
I feature stories on impactful leadership in college admissions and higher education.
Rankings: you can't escape them. For some, they are the ultimate determining factor when deciding where to apply to and attend.
You've got to find an educational opportunity that will enable your dreams, rather than expect that a specific degree and its ranking or "prestige" to automatically lead to your success.
Photo credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
According to Gareth Howells, Executive Director of MBA, MiF & Early Career Programmes at London Business School (LBS), 75% of LBS applicants "use rankings to assist their decision-making process… or to shortlist schools when deciding which to apply to."
But by only focusing on rankings, you may be limiting your options. Howells cautions students to research the methodologies of each of the ranking sets as there can be "significant variations" in what is being measured. The key is to measure how these criteria align with your goals as a student.
For example, 50% of U.S. News Rankings criteria for MBA programs rely on career placement success. Starting salary and employment rates weigh 35% and recruiter-provided feedback weighs 15%. If your goal is to be in a traditional job (e.g. banking and consulting) with a high salary, then focusing on MBA programs that are higher up on the U.S. News Rankings may be helpful.
On the other hand, Bloomberg MBA rankings rely more on reputation scores provided by employers. Starting salary combined with job placement rate comprise 20% of the score while the employer reputation score weighs 35%. A nearly-equal weight of 45% is given to the perspectives provided by students and alumni, whose input is not considered in the U.S. News methodology. If you're interested in overall satisfaction of students and alumni in these programs, then you may want to look more closely at the Bloomberg rankings.
Alternatives to using traditional rankings to shortlist your MBA programs include the following methods:
Bureau of Labor and Statistics: Occupational Projections Data. See the dropdown list where you can rank occupations on pay, projected industry growth, and degree required. Check out these data to find out how much you'll be making, which industries are growing, and if you truly need an MBA to be employed in one of these fields.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Degrees Eligible for 24-Month OPT Extension. Designed for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math graduate students, students earning a degree on this list have special privileges through their student visa to stay an additional two years above the standard 12-month work allowance for F-1 student visas. The federal government has this program because we can't find enough talent at home in the U.S. to fill these kinds of positions. So whether you're from abroad or from the United States, if you enter the STEM fields, you'll be in demand on the job market.
National Center for Education Statistics' Data about the number of degrees conferred. On this page, you can see aggregated rates of degrees earned in the U.S, as well as a breakdown of students by degree type. You can use these data to analyze if you'll be over- or underrepresented in your field. If you are underrepresented in your field, you will have a higher chance of admission to more highly-selective graduate programs in that field.
How does your passion come in?
If you're only focused on rankings, it's time to think bigger about your life goals. Allen Kenneth Schaidle, Independent Education Consultant and researcher, agrees that students should "weigh rankings cautiously" as they do not "necessarily define the substance" of MBA programs.
The goal of graduate school shouldn't be the degree itself, but what you want to do with it. You've got to find an educational opportunity that will enable your dreams, rather than expect that a specific degree and its ranking or "prestige" to automatically lead to your success.
My question to you:
How do your passion and goals relate to what the labor market demands and the rankings show?
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Dr. Aviva Legatt
I am the founder of Ivy Insight, a boutique college admissions consulting firm, and an internationally recognized expert in the field. My book Get Real and Get In (St.
I am the founder of Ivy Insight, a boutique college admissions consulting firm, and an internationally recognized expert in the field. My book Get Real and Get In (St. Martin's Press) is an insider's guide targeted to college bound students and will publish on August 3, 2021.
At Forbes, I have had the honor of interviewing notables like Olympian Simone Biles, New York
Times bestselling author Adam Grant, and Pitch Perfect producer Deke Sharon.
Have a question about college? Text "Forbes" to 610-222-5762. I answer as many questions as I can on my podcast, College Admissions Real Talk.
Find me on Clubhouse @avivalegatt.