There are more than 1300 graduate management programs throughout the world, more than 900 MBA programs across the USA and many more in Europe. Only the leading 28, 25 US business schools, and three European were included in the survey. In defining the "leading schools" you have to remember that at your next conference you'll encounter colleagues from the many schools you left out. How then do you determine which are the leading schools?.
Perhaps more so than other educational programs, MBA programs are being subjected to ranking. Like any other evaluation scheme such ranking must be regarded with caution. For example, Business Week's cover story in two of its issues (October 26, 1992, October 24, 1994) claimed to be the most comprehensive ranking yet.
Every two years since 1988 the magazine has ranked B. schools by surveying MBA graduates and organizations that recruit MBAs. The basis for this ranking is customer satisfaction: "how the schools determine and satisfy the needs of both graduates and the corporations that hire them."
Questionnaires were completed by graduating MBAs (4,712 0f 6,046 sent out - a very good response rate of 78%) and recruiters (199 organizations of the 352 polled - a 57% response rate). Later, the two scores were combined.
U.S.News & World Report used a different method (March 23, 1992). They used five indicators for the combined overall rank:
1. Student selectivity, three measures:
1.1 average Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT, discussed later),
1.2 undergraduate grade-point average,
1.3 overall acceptance rate.
2. Placement success, four measures:
2.1 percentage employed at graduation,
2.2 percentage employed three months after graduation,
2.3 median starting salaries (excluding sign-up or other bonuses),
2.4 recruiters/graduates ratio.
3. Graduation Rate
percent of students earning MBA within two years.
4. Deans and MBA program directors reputation survey.
5. CEOs (Chief Executive Officer) reputation survey.
Which of these two (and other) rankings
is "right"? Which of the many scores and measures is "better"? I don't
know. It surely depends on what you want to measure: perceptions (of students,
deans, employers), merits of entering class, salaries of graduates.
Luckily, for my purposes I never had to decide if Stanford or Harvard is ranked first, or whether Northwestern is better than both. "All" I needed was a list of the ten leading B. schools. Of course, different lists never have all the same schools (there should be a law stating this obvious). So, I hoped that by including 28 schools in my convenience sample, 25 US and three European, I would not miss any of the top ten. From these schools I collected as much information I could before exhausting the good will of the Dean/Director of the program. Exhibit 1.1 is an alphabetic list (no order is intended or implied) of the B. schools included in this study. For each school its official name and address is given, as well as the name by which it is popularly known.
All the analyses, comparisons, and quotations
in the following chapters focus on these schools and the available information.
Chapter 2, the next chapter, focuses on the incoming class.
Exhibit 1
List
of Business Schools Included in the Study
Berkeley: Haas School of Business, 350 Barrows Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Carnegie Mellon: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Chicago: The University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, Chicago, Illinois 60611.
Columbia: Columbia Business School, 105 Uris Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.
Cornell: Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, 315 Mallot Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-4201
Dartmouth: The Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College, 100 Tuck Hall, Hanover, NH 03755-9030.
Duke: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708.
Harvard: Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 02163.
Indiana: Graduate School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-3681
IMD: IMD, Chemin de Bellerive 23, PO 915, CH-1001 Lausanne, Switzerland.
INSEAD: INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance, 77305 Fontainebleau, Cedex France.
London Business School: London Business School, Sussex Place, Regent's Park, London NW1 4SA, United Kingdom.
Michigan: School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan, 701 Tafpon, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1234.
MIT: MIT Sloan School of Management, Master's Program, Room E52-112, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge,Massachusetts 02142-1347.
North Carolina: The Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Corral Hall, CB 3490, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490.
Northwestern: Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Leverone Hall, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Il 60208-2003.
NYU: Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, 44 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012-1126.
Pittsburgh: The Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 276 Mervis Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
Rochester: William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627.
Stanford: Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5015.
Texas: Graduate School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, PO Box 7999, Austin, Texas 78713-7999.
UCLA: The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024-1448.
USC: Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, Bridge Hall 101, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421.
Vanderbilt: Owen Graduate School Of Management, Vanderbilt University, 401 Twenty First Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203.
Virginia: The Darden School, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, PO Box 6550, Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-6550
Washington University: John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University, Campus Box 1133, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899.
Wharton: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 102 Vance Hall, 3733 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6361.
Yale: Yale School of Organization and
Management, Box IA, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-7368
In 1965 there were 5,000 MBA graduates
in the USA; 21,000 in 1970; 45,000 in 1977, more than 70,000 in 1989, and
xx,000 in 1994 ( ). Excluding research-oriented graduates of business schools
(those with a PhD, MSc, etc.), and the many non-degree graduates of the
business schools' executive programs, there are probably more than 1,250,000
certified MBAs around. Who are these people?
Size, Average Age, Gender, International Representation
A profile of the incoming class of the surveyed schools provides some insight into the background of today's MBA candidate. The total size of the incoming class, the average age of the students (note the schools that gave the exact average!), gender, and percent of internationals are detailed in Exhibit 2.1.
Class sizes vary from 158 students at Washington U. (65 at IMD), to 826 at Harvard, with about 350 per leading school, and most class sizes lying between 200 and 500 students. The average age of students when entering the program is 25-28 in the USA, which leaves a gap of a few years between gaining an undergraduate degree and starting the graduate program. Later (Exhibit 2.2), we'll see that most of the new students invested about four years in gaining full-time work experience. In Europe the students tend to be a little older: 28-29 (apart from being a year or two older than their US counterparts, the trend among European graduates is to acquire about five years of full-time work experience before embarking upon MBA studies).
My own casual observations had led me to believe that the male/female ratio of the B. schools student body had changed greatly over the last twenty years and that it now stood at about fifty-fifty. Imagine my amazement then to find out that thincoming cof the leading B. schools are around 20% to a maximum of 35% female. The lows and highs are: Carnegie Mellon - 17% female, INSEAD - 18%, Dartmouth - 34%, Virginia and Yale - 35%. As this is a cross-sectional survey, and not a longitudinal study, nothing can be said about time-related changes (make a note of this excuse, you may find it very useful in one of your reports). However, I would hazard a guess that the trend is there, but the change is rather slow.
US B. schools have always attracted a large body of international students. I myself have very fond memories of the extremely hospitable HBS program I attended in the early seventies. Though Europe - and other parts of the world - are catching up quickly, for business candidates, the USA has long been to the rest of the world the Mecca that Paris used to be for artists, and London for lawyers. International representation at the US schools is about 25% on the average, lying between a minimum of 11% at North Carolina, and a maximum of 40% at Rochester.
"Haas School students have declared that perhaps their single greatest resource is each other. They come from a great diversity of cultures and experiences, representing 44 countries around the globe. (Berkeley, p. 5).
"..a student body that it nearly 40% bilingual; a student body that includes citizens of over 60 countries; a number of internationally focused clubs that host lectures, seminars and social gatherings; a strong placement record among U.S. and internationally based multinational companies". (Columbia, p. 5)
"Committed to both academic excellence and extracurricular involvement, the Fuqua community includes students from virtually every state in the union and 37 foreign countries". (Duke, p. 10)
"The majority of HBS students and faculty have significant experience living, working, or studying outside their home country. The School enrolled its first two foreign students, one from China and one from France, in 1909. By 1992, the first-year class included more than 200 international students. Seventy-two countries are represented in the Program". (Harvard, p. 8)
"Students new to Kellogg will discover an unexpected dividend of enrollment: their classmates. The fellow students that share the Kellogg experience bring a rich variety of backgrounds to campus and represent a wide range of geographic and ethnic origins". (Northwestern, p. 20)
"Perhaps the most telling characteristic of any Texas MBA class is the diversity of the students' points of origin. The fall 1992 entering class included students from twenty-nine foreign countries, thirty-six states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Together, these individuals provide an opportunity for exposure to a variety of economic perspectives and world views. In addition to its pursuit of a global perspective, the Graduate School of Business places high priority on increasing the representation of qualified women and minorities in the program. The result is a student body with proven intellectual capacity and outstanding potential for positions of leadership". (Texas, p. 7)
"Each year, men and women from across
the United States and around the world enroll in the USC MBA program. They
come from major cities, such as London and San Francisco, but they also
come from lesser-known places like Alcova, Wyoming, and One Tree Hill,
New Zealand". (USC, p. 25)
Exhibit 2.1
Annual Full-Time Class Size, Average Age,
Gender, International Representation.
|
School
|
Size |
Age |
&
|
Inter-national |
1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. E1. E2. E3. |
Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon Chicago Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Duke Harvard Indiana Michigan MIT North Carolina Northwestern NYU Pittsburgh Rochester Stanford Texas UCLA USC Vanderbilt Virginia Washington U. Wharton Yale IMD INSEAD London B. School |
200 475 515 250 170 325 826 260 420 244 200 473 400 300 200 359 420 300 220 380 233 158 750 211 65 450 180 |
26 27 26.8 27.3 26.6 25 26 26 26 26.7 27 27 26 27 26 27 26 27.6 27 25 27 26 27 27.7 29 28 28 |
17 25 30 25 34 27 29 28 24 20 20 27 30 25 28 28 31 33 25 35 30 28 35 21 18 21 |
25 23 30 25 23 17 24 18 16 36 11 22 32
40 23 20 19 21 20 11 20 29 31 - - - |
According to a very old joke bandied around at B. schools, 50% of the students have an undergraduate degree in Economics, 50% in Engineering, and the balance have other degrees. Well, the proliferation of undergraduate programs in business has modified these statistics a little.
Exhibit 2.2 shows the percentages of students with undergraduate degrees in BUSiness, ECOnomics, ENGineering, and OTHER fields. It also delineates the incoming students' full-time work experience: average number of years and the percentage of students in the incoming class with full-time work experience.
Overall, the exhibit shows little evidence of a bias in favor of business, economics or engineering. In all B. schools, with the exception of Yale (where most students come with other undergraduate degrees), the three together form a majority of 60-70% of the undergraduate degrees (80% at Duke). A business degree seems to be slightly dominant, with figures ranging from 13% up to 34% of the incoming class. The figures for economics and engineering degrees are very close, except for USC with its relatively low percentage of engineers.
Not surprisingly, 47% of MIT's incoming students hold engineering degrees. Also in Europe, the student body has more engineers than the average US schools; at INSEAD they are 55% of the class.
We have already noted the gap of several years between undergraduate and graduate studies. These years are usually invested in gaining work experience; Exhibit 2.2 shows a very high percentage of students having work experience prior to their MBA studies.
Vanderbilt has the lowest percent of students with full-time work experience (75%), then come Washington U. (80%), and Pittsburgh (83%); these are the only three universities in which less than 90% of the incoming class have full-time work experience. In a very large number of schools, 98-99% of the students have work experience, Stanford and Switzerland's IMD having a full 100%. Information about the length of work experience tends to be sparse, but at US schools it is about four years, and five in Europe (the students there are also slightly older, as shown in Exhibit 2.1.)
|
School
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. E1. E2. E3. |
Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon Chicago Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Duke Harvard Indiana Michigan MIT North Carolina Northwestern NYU
Pittsburgh Rochester Stanford Texas UCLA USC Vanderbilt Virginia Washington U. Wharton Yale IMD INSEAD London B. School |
31 23 23
33 19
22
25 27
30 23 28 34 21 32 22 13 34 28 18 |
23 18
20 26
22
22
24 18 22 20 21 19 12 11 NA 17 |
35** 19 18
27 21
22 47
20
21 15 7 20 23 20 22 14 35 55 29 |
65*** 27 41
20 34
34
33
38 47 38 36 30 39 61 17 17 36 |
4.4 4
4 3.8
4.2
4 1.4-6.7 4 4
+2 4.3 3-4 +1
4
5.5
5 |
93 98 94 94 98 98
95 96 98 99 99 99
85 88 100 80 99 92 75 99 80 99 99 100 99 99 |
NA not available
If you have decided on an MBA program, admission is the main obstacle. Once you admitted, you'll probably complete your studies.
"Admission to the MBA Program is hicompetitive. Last year, there were approximately 6,000 applications for the 800 places in the entering class". (Harvard, p. 15)
"We want to see all of our students do well, and we are proud that we graduate 99 percent of them". (Cornell, p. 12)
"One evaluative interview is required of all candidates for admission to Kellogg. ....... Interview reports are added to the applicant's file for evaluation with the other criteria for admission. An interview may be conbefore filing a completed application". (Northwestern, p. 34)
"Our admission decisions are made after careful consideration of each facet of your application. Strengths and aptitudes that you present enable a decision that takes into account each of these facets. No arbitrary levels for test scores or grade-point averages determine admission to the Owen School." (Vanderbilt, p. 38).
A good way to learn about MBA programs is through the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). This test is directed and sponsored by the Graduate Management Admission Council, which is composed of representatives of 110 graduate schools of management. Since "the GMAT measures general verbal and mathematical skills that are developed over a long period of time and are associated with success in the first year of study at graduate schools of management" (GMAT Bulletin of Information, 1994-1995, page 4, my emphases), this test may shed some light on the MBA program.
First, let us take a look at Exhibit 2.3, which gives the average GMAT scores, or range of scores, of the entering class at some business schools (maximum possible score is 800). Average GMAT scores are from 602 (Vanderbilt) to 675 (Stanford), and the range is from 470 to 780 (Rochester).
Exhibit 2.3 also includes the average,
or range, of undergraduate studies grade-point average (GPA) of the incoming
class. Averages are between 3 (Virginia) to 3.5 (MIT), and the range is
from 2.69 (Washington U.) up to 3.81 (Duke).
Exhibit 2.3
Average or Range of GMAT and GPA of the Entering
Class
|
School
|
GMAT
|
GPA
|
1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. E1. E2. E3. |
Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon Chicago Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Duke Harvard Indiana Michigan MIT North Carolina Northwestern NYU Pittsburgh Rochester Stanford Texas UCLA ISC Vanderbilt Virginia Washington U. Wharton Yale IMD INSEAD London B. School |
635
620 642 635 635 643 550-710 630 (Tofel) 610 630 650 620 642 550-680 597 470-780 675 634 640 606 602 610 590-690 643 651 NA NA 620 |
3.14
2.94-3.81
3.5 3.2
2.8-3.8
3.3
3.32
3 2.69-3.71 3.4 3.36
|
Unlike most university graduate programs, the MBA program is not based on undergraduate studies. In addition to economists, engineers, lawyers, and sociologists, you will find graduates from many other disciplines and professions. Indeed, classes are so heterogeneous that no previous knowledge is assumed.
"Wharton's students come from a wide range of geographic, cultural, and professional backgrounds. They include lawyers, scientists, doctors, authors, bankers, musicians, consultants, engineers, entrepreneurs, and designers. They are involved in the activities of more than 100 clubs and organizations". (Wharton, p. 5).
"Hailing from over 60 different countries, 40 different states, and 100 undergraduate institutions, a typical class may include former lawyers, medical doctors, consultants, musicians, writers, professional athletes and entrepreneurs". (Columbia, p. 11)
The list of skills measured by the GMAT are those that have been found to be correlated (make a note of the word "correlation"; used intelligently, it will get you half way through an MBA program) with high grades at the end of the first year of MBA studies.
The GMAT consists of several sections. In the reading comprehension section you'll read a passage and then answer questions based on its content. In the critical reasoning section you'll be asked what can be properly inferred from a given statement; what is true or false if a given piece of information is accurate; what are the assumptions behind a given statement; or what could strengthen or weaken a given statement. In the data sufficiency section you'll be asked whether the given data are sufficient for answering a given question. The problem-solving section includes a math quiz, asking, for example, what is the ratio of the ages of two brothers now, given age differences (say, four years difference) and the ratio (say, 2/3) a few years ago (say, four years ago). Well, your answer to my example should be 3/4. The sentence correction section is just that: you have to choose a sentence which better phrases (grammar, choice of words, and sentence construction) the original one.
A recent addition is the analytical writing section: analyzing and explaining views on a given issue, and writing a critique of a presented argument.
Are these the skills a new student entering an MBA program requires? Before answering this question, let us take a look at the "classical" MBA.