Credibility Lost
Today, BusinessWeek published its biannual ranking of the top business schools in the U.S.
Chicago, the school that only a year ago was the laughingstock of the business school world for refusing to disclose its yield, is the number one school in the country.
Michigan is now better than Stanford.
Duke is better than Columbia.
This reminds me of the U.S. News & World Report ranking over a decade ago that gave "Best College" distinction to Cal Tech. Only the students at Cal Tech seemed to agree with this assessment. The following year, the magazine radically revised its methodology.
I know what BusinessWeek is trying to sell here. But is anyone buying?
Chicago, the school that only a year ago was the laughingstock of the business school world for refusing to disclose its yield, is the number one school in the country.
Michigan is now better than Stanford.
Duke is better than Columbia.
This reminds me of the U.S. News & World Report ranking over a decade ago that gave "Best College" distinction to Cal Tech. Only the students at Cal Tech seemed to agree with this assessment. The following year, the magazine radically revised its methodology.
I know what BusinessWeek is trying to sell here. But is anyone buying?
posted by Jerry Blank at 7:40 PM
3 Comments:
To be clear: Business Week is selling magazines.
To be honest: I bought some of what Business Week is selling.
To be blunt: I was out of toilet paper and wiped my butt with it.
BW lost a reader.
As a student at a 'second tier' university, obviously the most important ranking is the one for payback. Which makes UW the best school for those who don't want to live in Utah, South Carolina, or East Lansing. Though obviously anyone who has sat though Finance fundamentals will know payback is crappy way to measure present value of future returns. :)
As a hopeful applicant the rankings did not affect my selected schools at all. I'm not going to change my selection just because of a new ranking - not going to drop my Kellogg application and start up a Chicago application.
I think the rankings do not affect those who have already started the application process. The rankings are more likely to to affect next year's applicants.
But I'm not buying their rankings.
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