Two US Business Schools in View of Two Ranking Systems Report

Abstract

The report discusses the positions given to Case Western’s Weatherhead and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business schools in two different ranking systems, namely BusinessWeek and Forbes. The main emphasis is on how student assessment was considered by these media publications for ranking business schools. BusinessWeek asked students to rate their colleges based on certain pre-selected criteria such as teaching quality and career services, whereas Forbes focused mainly on gathering student feedback with regards to proportional financial gains by doing MBA in respective business schools. It has been observed that the information obtained from students apart from other sources played a significant role in the rankings given to respective business schools.

Introduction

I am planning to join a full-time MBA program in the US for which I have known from my friends about two universities, namely Wharton’s business school of the University of Pennsylvania and Case Western University. The first one is among the top ten in two selected media ranking publications, whereas the second one has been given only a considerable position by these rankings. In order to find out which university to choose for my MBA, I want to focus on the ranking systems with respect to feedbacks from students from these universities.

Case Western University

Case Western University offers various MBA programs through its Weatherhead School of Management (Weatherhead: 1). The full-time MBA program is offered in two different modes- full-time traditional and full-time accelerated.

The full-time traditional program is a two-year program containing four semesters with a total of 57 credits. Though a two-year work experience is preferred, it is not mandatory. Also, the school offers intensive pre-semester prep seminars to students who do not have previous business coursework experience. Alternatively, a full-time accelerated program is offered to students who have their undergraduate degree in business along with practical work experience. It is a time and money-saving program as it enables the students to complete their MBA in 11 months. It has been stated that nearly 66 percent of the students enrolled for full-time MBA get scholarships that cover the course fee completely or partially.

The Wharton MBA

As per the university’s website, Wharton was founded as the first collegiate business school in 1881 (The Wharton: 1). It states that its eminent professors are good at bringing cutting-edge knowledge into the classroom and transforming businesses and governments around the world. It mainly focuses on instilling leadership abilities in students through various learning methods such as learning teams, leadership ventures, and learning simulations that Wharton pioneered and now licenses to other schools. Also, the career-oriented focus is given to developing skills of organization, persuasion, and team-building. Wharton also claims that it has the largest alumni network of any business school with more than 80,000 alumni in 140 countries.

The full-time MBA is a two-year, full-time program with the first year focusing on a foundation of general management skills, and the second year containing electives while encompassing as a whole 19 majors and 200 electives. First-year students are required to take a month-long pre-term session that includes coursework, waiver testing, a Learning Team Retreat, and the chance to explore Philadelphia and build relationships with classmates. The university also offers dual and joint degree programs such as the MBA/MA Lauder Program that prepare students with foreign language skills to achieve cross-cultural and advanced language competencies along with business skills. The university claims that it has state-of-the-art career services and the largest alumni network of any business school, which help students to accomplish more, both immediately after graduation and throughout their careers.

Positions of Weatherhead and Wharton MBA programs in Media Publications

Different organizations have different criteria to publish rankings of business schools. Accordingly, the positions of these universities also vary slightly from one ranking system to the other. While Weatherhead’s MBA program has been given mere consideration in the two observed ranking systems Wharton MBA has been ranked as one of the top ten.

Business Week’s 2008 MBA Rankings

To rank business schools, Business Week considers criteria such as the age of the MBA program, enrollment, test scores, acceptance rates, and the number of international and minority students (MBA Rankings: 1). Also, the program must be accredited to be considered for the ranking. The three main sources that are used to rank MBA programs are a student survey, a survey of corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital rating.

Student Surveys

• Student surveys are conducted online by contacting current students by e-mail and directing them to a survey site to complete the survey. The survey is generally distributed three weeks before graduation and is kept available for three months to complete.
• Several reminders are sent to the students to ensure the participation of a maximum number of students.
• In 2008, BusinessWeek surveyed 16,704 students and received nearly 7,264 responses with a response rate of 46%.
• Participants are required to answer 45 questions to rate their programs with regards to factors such as teaching quality, career services, alumni network, and recruiting efforts.
• The student survey score for each school is calculated by using the average answer and standard deviation for each question. A total student score that weighs toward 45% of the final ranking is derived by combining the three most recent student surveys, with the latest survey amounting to 50% and the previous two countings for 25% each of the total student score.
• The remaining part of the final ranking is weighed by recruiter survey score (45%) and intellectual capital rating (10%).

Evaluation

The University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) stood at 4^th position, whereas Weatherhead’s program could not get any position in the 30 ranks given for US business schools except for consideration for ranking (Business School: 1). The ranking seems to be justified owing to some earlier mentioned points, such as Wharton’s vast alumni network, which form the elements of the student survey by the Business Week. On the other hand, Weatherhead School does not have such exclusive facilities.

Forbes Best US Business Schools in 2007

Forbes survey ranks schools as per ‘return on investment’, which means compensation five years after graduation minus tuition and the forgone salary during school (Best Business Schools: 1).

For U.S. rankings, Forbes considered only two-year programs. They gathered information from alumni of respective business schools about their pre-M.B.A. salaries and earnings for three of the first five years after getting their MBA degrees. Forbes compared their post-M.B.A. compensation with the opportunity cost, including tuition and forgone salary during the program period and potential earnings if they stayed in their old jobs. Adjustments are made for living expenses and the earnings gains are discounted, by using a rate related to money market yields.

Evaluation

Weatherhead stood at 55th in US rankings, whereas Wharton stood at 5^th position (Best Business Schools: 1.5 & 3.55). The Forbes comparison can be seen as follows. While the five-year gain for Weatherhead’s MBA was estimated at $6,000, depicting as 5% of expenses, the same for Wharton’s program was $82,000, which is 44% of expenses. Furthermore, the observed average pre-MBA salary and the post-MBA salary in 2006 for Wharton’s students from the class of 2002 were $65,000 and $196,000, respectively. The salaries of the same periods for Weatherhead’s students were $44,000 and $101,000, respectively.

On the other hand, critics of Forbes ranking point out that Forbes ranking is biased as it uses Students’ comments on their professors at ‘Ratemyprofessor’ website and the enrollment percentage of college alumni at ‘Who’s Who’ in America published by Forbes magazine (Johnson: 1). These two evaluations make up to 50% of the ranking criteria. In view of these arguments, the reliability of Forbes rankings becomes doubtful.

Conclusion

I have known about two business schools, Wharton and case Western’s Weather head, to consider joining for a full-time MBA program. To evaluate their suitability for my interests, two ranking systems, BusinessWeek and Forbes have been evaluated with respect to the importance given to student assessment in ranking selected business schools. With the evaluation, I have noticed that the information obtained from students apart from other sources played a significant role in the rankings given to respective business schools. As I feel that student assessment of a school/program acts as a reliable guide for prospective students, I want to choose the Wharton school of management over Weatherhead to pursue my MBA.

Works Cited

“Best Business Schools.” 2007. Web.

“Business School Rankings & Profiles.” BusinessWeek. 2008: Web.

Johnson, Todd. “Forbes college rankings. Can it get any more absurd?” 2008: Web.

“MBA Rankings.” BusinessWeek. 2008: 1-3. Web.

“The Wharton MBA Difference.” University of Pennsylvania (Wharton). 2008:1-8. Web.

“Weatherhead School of Management.” Case Western Reserve University. 2008: 1-10. Web.