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Be sure to read my Key Posts on the admissions process. Topics include essay analysis, resumes, recommendations, rankings, and more.

April 27, 2009

The 41 "Top 20" MBA Programs Averaged Ranking

This is the second of two posts on "Top 20" MBA Rankings. If you have not done so, I suggest reading the first post before reading this second post.

In what follows, I have built upon the data I collected on the 41 programs worldwide (See my previous post) that are generally identified by major ranking lists as "Top 20." While it seemed quite useful to simply collect all the data together so that I could see which programs were considered "Top 20" by the most well known ranking lists, I wanted to see what would happen if I simply determined the average ranking for each of the41 schools and so that is what I did below.

"CALCULATION OF AVERAGE RANKINGS FOR "THE 41 TOP 20 MBA PROGRAMS WORLDWIDE"


METHOD: Actually I copied this method from one used by Real Clear Politics (RCP) for looking at Polling Data. The situation is similar because the RCP averages, just like mine, do not take account for differences in the methods by which the initial calculations were made. I will not enter into the debate about the various problems with all of these publications' rankings as they all have problems. As I am no statistician, I used the following rather simple method to make my calculation:

1. Schools that were not ranked in the Top 20 on a specific list that they qualified for were given the value of 21. By assigning the value of 21, I have not weighted the value of the individual rankings.

2. I calculated average value by taking scores for all six rankings and
dividing by4 for US programs and 3 for non-US Programs as
US News and World Report only ranks US.

3. The school with the lowest total has the top average rank.

4. Schools with the same average numerical value have the same rank.


Obvious unsolved problems with my methods that I am aware of :
-Some rankings do not actually rank 20 programs.
- While US News and W World Report, FT, and EIU's each have one comprehensive list, Businessweek break-up schools into two lists, which results in it having more impact on the averaged ranking.
-I could have used FT's regional lists, but choose to use the Worldwide list.
- All schools that were not in the Top 20 were given a 21 regardless of their "real rank" on a list.

OBVIOUS WARNING: THIS LIST IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE!
One thing I find highly problematic about "Top 20" rankings is that they are never comprehensive. This list of forty-one "Top 20"schools suffers from the same problem. Notable absences from this list include HEC Paris, USC, and SDA Bocconi. Rankings are merely "a map," but certainly not "the territory" (actual value of a degree to specific person, actual market value of the degree, actual brand value of the degree, actual measure of the educational value of the degree).

Here is the result (Click to enlarge it):
In the event that you should want to copy the rankings, here they are:

Averaged Rank for the 41 "Top 20" MBA Programs
1 Harvard Business School
1 Stanford University GSB
3 London Business School
3 University of Chicago: Booth
5 IE Business School
6 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
7 IMD
8 IESE Business School
9 INSEAD
10 Dartmouth College: Tuck
11 Columbia Business School
11 MIT: Sloan
13 New York University: Stern
14 Northwestern University: Kellogg
15 University of California at Berkeley: Haas
16 Queen's Univeristy School of Business
17 ESADE Business School
17 University of Cambridge: Judge
17 University of Michigan: Ross
20 University of Western Ontario: Ivey
21 Duke University: Fuqua
22 Hong Kong UST Business School
23 CEIBS
23 University of Toronto: Rotman
25 University of Oxford: Saïd
26 Cornell University: Johnson
26 UCLA: Anderson
28 Yale School of Management
29 University of Virginia: Darden
30 Cranfield School of Management
31 Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School
32 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper
32 Indian School of Business
32 York University: Schulich
35 Indiana University: Kelley
36 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
37 Southern Methodist University (Cox)
37 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs
39 Georgetown University: McDonough
40 Henley Business School
41 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.

-Adam Markus
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