Booth Regains First In 2018 Economist Ranking - Poets&Quants

The University of Chicago’s Booth School has captured first place in The Economist ranking in six of the past seven years

What goes up must comes down?

In The Ecoomist’s new 2018 MBA ranking out today (Oct. 25) that is what it comes to as the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business recaptured first place after losing the spot to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business last year. Kellogg, meantime, slipped to second place, just behind its Chicago arch rival. It is the sixth time in the past seven years that Booth has been No. 1 in this ranking.

But outside the top five, which includes No. 3 Harvard Business School, No. 4 University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and No. 5 Stanford Graduate School of Business, all of which retained their previous year ranks, there were some big changes.

UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business fell out of The Economist’s top ten, slipping four spots each to 11th and 12th, respectively. IESE Business School in Spain jumped 11 places to rank sixth from 17th a year ago. The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business climbed five spots to rank seventh from 12th a year earlier.

WARWICK IN BRITAIN NOW RANKED HIGHER THAN EITHER INSEAD OR LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL

Rounding out the top ten schools are No. 8 UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, No. 9  University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and No. 10 Columbia Business School.

As is often the case in the British magazine’s rather unpredictable and often nonsensical ranking, there are some real shocks. Warwick Business School, placing 18th, is ranked one spot higher than INSEAD, a school that is often neck and neck with London Business School for being the best in Europe. Warwick didn’t even make The Economist’s 2017 ranking at all. Meantime, this year London landed outside the top 20, ranking 27th, below No. 24 SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy and No. 21 University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.

But there were still more wild ups and downs. The University of Washington’s Foster School of Business soared 14 places to finish 22nd, up from 36th only a year earlier, while the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business jumped 10 spots to finish 25th, up from 35th in 2017.

THE THIRD OF THE FIVE MOST INFLUENTIAL MBA RANKINGS

The Economist list is the third of the five most influential MBA rankings to come out this year. It follows the Financial Times in January, and U.S. News & World Report in March. Forbes did not publish its biennial list this year, both Wharton claimed the No. 1 spot in Forbes last year for the first time ever. Stanford Graduate School of Business capped the FT list this year, while Chicago Booth also scored for the first time top honors in U.S. News. The last and final big brand list from Bloomberg Businessweek is expected to make its appearance in mid-November. Poets&Quants will then quickly follow with its composite ranking before the end of next month.

The Economist said that Booth came in first because of high student ratings. Students “praise its world-class facilities and faculty, which includes several Nobel laureates. Job opportunities are among the best, thanks to a highly rated careers service and an alumni network of 52,500 people, one of the largest in the world. Employment outcomes are outstanding: 97% of students find a job within three months of graduation. Graduates pocket an average salary of $129,400, a 67% rise on their pre-mba paychecks.”

The Economist examines business schools by considering the most criteria—21 different metrics in all versus the 20 at the FT–from the diversity of the on-campus recruiters to the range of overseas exchange programs. Compensation and career placement are heavily weighted, including starting salaries, pre-MBA versus post-MBA pay increases, and the percentage of graduates who land jobs through the career management center. Pay and placement account for 45% of the methodology.

The one big difference with the Financial Times is The Economist’s rather significant reliance on student satisfaction, gathered by an annual survey of current MBA students and recent alumni. They’re asked to rate the quality of the faculty, the career services staff, the school’s curriculum and culture, the facilities, the alumni network, and their classmates. The methodology takes into account new career opportunities (35%); personal development/educational experience (35%); increasing salary (20%); and the potential to network (10%). The figures are a mixture of hard data and the subjective marks given by the school’s students who are aware that their answers will result in a ranking that could reflect on the reputation of their degrees.

It’s often helpful to parse rankings for their individual data points than relying on the judgements of editors who often incorrectly weigh some factors in a ranking. One notable example: The Economist has named the University of Virginia Darden School of Business the No. 1 education experience in the world for the eighth consecutive year. Students surveyed by The Economist also gave Darden profs high marks, rating the school’s faculty first in the world.

 

MORE ANALYSIS TO FOLLOW

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