U.S. News and World Report

U.S. News and World Report has been ranking colleges since 1983. It began distinguishing undergraduate business programs around 1995 and has ranked them continuously since 1999. The survey relies entirely on the opinions of deans and senior faculty nationwide. The ranking of over 300 schools is published annually in late August or early September.

100% Peer assessment
Business school deans and senior faculty, two per program, rate AACSB-accredited business programs on a Likert scale of one to five

Pros:

• Straightforward and easy to grasp
• Scores are provided in addition to rank; ties are allowed; cluster and gaps visible

Cons:

• Deans and senior faculty likely to know institutions more than actual programs; may reflect historical reputation more than current condition

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Bloomberg Businessweek

Bloomberg Businessweek (BBW, formerly BusinessWeek) has been ranking graduate business programs for over two decades, but didn’t venture into the undergraduate realm until 2006. Just over 40 percent of the data comes from students and 30 percent from the programs themselves. The ranking of over 100 schools is published annually in late February to early March.

30% Student assessment of program
Graduating seniors complete an online survey of 50 questions, evaluating everything from teaching quality to recreational facilities

30% Admissions, program, faculty
Equally weighted: SAT average, faculty-student ratio, class size in core classes, percentage of students with internships, hours spent on homework

20% Recruiter assessment
Recruiters evaluate students, curriculum and career services

10% Salary
Median starting salary directly after program

10% Feeder school
BBW examines its last three MBA surveys to see how many of the undergraduate program’s alumni later enter a top-35 MBA program

Pros:

• Fairly balanced in criteria; captures opinions of actual students
• Many data points are published in the ranking tables (tuition, enrollment, median starting salary, etc.)
• Counters volatility in student and recruiter portions by weighting current year results at 50 percent of total rank; each of the two most recent surveys, 25 percent

Cons:

• Student opinion easily swayed by popular or unpopular changes that may have little to do with program quality or academic rigor
• Relies on schools to report data faithfully
• Recruiter satisfaction related to ability to fill a specific position, not necessarily real assessment of student quality, or preparation for career path
• Salaries not adjusted for cost of living or industry sector
• Uses its own MBA rankings to determine undergrad feeder school score; biased