Business Education, MBA Education

In the weak economy, many people are returning to school in order to pursue their Masters of Business Administration.  Unfortunately, just having an extra degree doesn’t always mean a strong edge in the job field.  That is why MBA program rankings are becoming increasingly more important when it comes to deciding on a university.  MBA program rankings are determined in many different ways, though most often a university’s rating is based on the average salary of its alumni.  Business Week is often considered one of the best sources of MBA program rankings but there are many others as well: The Economist, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and The Princeton Review are just a few.

It can be very confusing when you look through the MBA program rankings because they often differ substantially by comparison.  The Princeton Review, for example, bases MBA program rankings partially on student surveys while Forbes determines MBA programs rankings based on return of investment.  Before you get stressed out trying to determine which school is the best and will get you the best job afterwards, you should consider several things.  First of all, when are you going for your Masters?  If it is right after your bachelors, you might not have a leg up on the job market competition without any work experience.  If you are already working, do you plan to continue your work while studying?  You will be more interested in the types of part or full-time programs available and location more than just rankings.

The MBA program rankings vary according to specialty, but here are the US schools which are constantly showing up in the top 10 lists from various reports:  Northwestern (Kellogg), Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Pennsylvania (Wharton), MIT (Sloan), Columbia, Michigan, Duke (Fuqua), Dartmouth (Tuck),  and Cornell (Johnson).

Before you rush into an MBA program based on rankings, make sure that you do all the appropriate research ahead of time.  Consider the cost as well as the return.  Most top MBA programs cost around $50,000 a year and your salary increase may not be so drastic.  Also consider enrollment trends.  Now that so many people are returning for their MBA, job experience is even more crucial.  Think about what an MBA can do for your career.  Most importantly, pick a program in which you feel you will grow and get the valuable knowledge you desire.

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MBA colleges rankings are what perspective students look at when deciding upon a university.  Ironically, these MBA college rankings often are self-fullfilling prophesies.  Once schools get to the top of the list, they become a sort of elite haven which corporate recruiters use to find employees.  Often, it doesn’t even matter what the schools teach.

When trying to figure out MBA colleges rankings, it can be very confusing.  Every business magazine seems to have their own interpretation about which schools are good and the methods for determining this are unclear.  The Economist, Business Week and US News & World Report are some of the top sources for MBA colleges rankings.  Each of these reports uses different factors such as student surveys, cost and return, objective data and GMAT scores.  Many of these methods are completely flawed.  If you are going to determine how good a school is by the quality of the graduates, then it should also be noted who is accepted to the schools to begin with.  Some of these students would have been successful even without an MBA.

Before you decide on a Masters of Business Administration program, you should consider several things.  Are you choosing a school based solely on the name recognition from the MBA college rankings?  If so, you might not have much post-MBA luck without work experience.  Think about how you will fit in with the atmosphere on the campus.  Each university preaches a different business methodology and its own culture.  Make sure that you are looking at the programs offered and not just the entire school.  Cost may be an important aspect of your decision, especially with premier schools costing around $50,000 a year.

While MBA college rankings are important, make sure that you are putting your own personal judgement ahead of the reports.  While each report aims to do something which is understandable, it may not be possible to achieve.  There are too many factors to consider when choosing an MBA program and no one survey can depict overall quality and how this relates to you.  While you shouldn’t ignore the MBA college rankings completely, make sure that you know what methods are used in the ratings and use your own logic when choosing a program.

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Are you considering going back to school for your Masters of Business Administration?  You aren’t alone.  Lots of workers and new graduates are hoping that an MBA will gauruntee them a higher salary and more job security during the economic crisis.  One of the first things that perspective students look at are MBA business school rankings.  It seems like every magazine has their own system of ranking and it is hard to know which ones to trust.  To start with, you should know that the MBA business school rankings have been controversial for years.  It is only recently that these studies have been accepted by the general public.  In fact, they have become too accepted and many people base their school decisions solely based on MBA business school rankings without knowing what they mean.

Before you jump into a program after reading the MBA business school rankings of one press, you should do some intense research.  You need to find out how the rankings are based and how this will affect you.  Business Week, one of the most popular MBA business school rankings, determines its findings based on a survey of recent graduates and a survey of corporate executives.  Both of these evaluating systems have faults.  Larger schools will obviously produce different results than smaller schools, but percentages of graduate success aren’t factored.  Also, the system relies on the fact that executives know anything about the schools.  To top it off, Business Week pre selects 44 schools and uses only these in their survey.

US News & World Report takes a different approach by including various factors like undergraduate GPA, GMAT scores, percentage of graduates who are employed, average graduate salaries, and several other factors.  While each of these factors might tell us something about school, collectively they make for skewed MBA business school rankings.  Interestingly, the MBA business school rankings seem to have a self-prophesizing effect.  If a school does well in rankings, then more qualified students attend and more recruiters come.  However, the rankings still say nothing about the quality of eduction being offered to students or the overall campus culture.

Should you trust the MBA rankings?  They are too important to be ignored, but you should take the findings with a grain of salt.  When it comes down to it, you need to pick a school based on your own decisions and not the poor statistical analysis done by magazines.

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Many of the top businessmen today were college dropouts.  Just look at Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Mark Zuckerberg.  Yet, in today’s economy, more and more students are returning to school for an MBA in entrepreneurship.  The idea is to get a leg up on the competition and a good start in a rough business climate.  When choosing a school, most people turn to the MBA entrepreneurship rankings.

MBA entrepreneurship rankings, like all rating systems for schools, can be very confusing and present a flawed picture of the school.  While MBA entrepreneurship rankings are a good start for assessing a school, you should still look at each of the programs individually and see what fits your needs.  Often, the best schools in the MBA entrepreneurship rankings aren’t the best schools for learning managerial skills and marketing experience.

Is it possible to teach entrepreneurship at all?  Many people look at this as more of an art than a science.  Without any experience, you will not be able to recognize market opportunities.  However, it takes a trained eye to spot this.  Most business schools offer courses in entrepreneurship as part of a more well-rounded degree.  You should keep this in mind while looking through the MBA entrepreneurship rankings.  These rankings are determined by a number of factors which vary per survey.  Often, studies look at the salaries of graduates, student surveys, and cost to payout.  Since entrepreneurship is such an individualistic venture, rather than employment reliant upon a job recruiter, one should look at schools in an individualistic way also.

Consider the types of programs being offered.  Are you going to be enrolled full time or part time?  Are you enrolling straight from undergraduate studies or do you already have experience.  The size of a school is particularly important with entrepreneurship programs.  A large school is beneficial because of all the great brain storming and ideas that one can gain from colleagues.  If you already have experience in the business world, you may want a smaller school that can help you focus on certain areas.

Here are some of the top schools in MBA entrepreneurship rankings.  However, these are just meant to get you started in the selection process:  Babson College, University of Southern California, Temple University, Rice University, Tulane University, University of Washington, University of Arizona, DePaul University.

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If you are having trouble making sense of MBA management rankings, you aren’t alone.  There are as many different rankings as there are schools to choose from.  While the MBA management rankings are important, the real choice usually comes down to location.  Europe tops the list for the best management programs but many North American students find it impractical to study abroad.  Also, European universities don’t normally require any work experience for admission so students are much younger on average.  However, not many school in the US offer masters in management programs.  Studying abroad may be a good way of gaining international business experience.

Even if you’ve narrowed down the search to the US, it still doesn’t get that much easier.  MBA management rankings account for several different factors depending on which study is used.  Usually, student surveys, graduate salaries, and general data like GMAT scores are used to factor the school’s overall MBA management rankings.  Keep in mind that a university is like a brand name.  Often, reputation is better than the actual quality of the product.  Try to find rankings which are broken down by different factors.

Perspective students should seek as much information as they can about the schools, including MBA management rankings, internship programs and corporate partners that are affiliated with the schools.   Even if you choose to study from you home country, you should consider the international factor to the school.  How much of the faculty and student body are from overseas?  This diversity is what will give you a range of perspectives.  There are also many programs in which students spend time in two schools in different countries.

You will be spending a lot of time at the university you choose, so you shouldn’t make a choice without visiting the campus.  Don’t just talk to the admissions office but make sure to talk to the students and some faculty members as well.  With the economic recession, more and more people are returning to school to get an MBA.  You will be faced with much more competition than in previous years.  It is crucial that you choose a school which isn’t just well ranked, but also suits your individual needs.  Here are some of the top US schools in MBA management rankings: Harvard, Stanford University, Northwestern University (Kellogg), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).   Top European Schools in MBA management rankings: Cems, HEC Paris, ESCP Europe, London School of Economics and Political Science, Essec Business School.

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