MBA Program Reputation and Quantitative Rankings: New Information for Students, Employers, and Program Administrators

Abstract

Since 1988, Business Week biennially ranks MBA programs based on qualitative ("subjective") surveys of students and employers. The Business Week ranking, and similar rankings, based on perceptions of MBA-program customers, rings the alarm that image, rather than substance, may become the raison d'etre of MBA-program evaluation and selection. We rank MBA programs using the quantitative ("objective") data collected with the 2004 Business Week survey, attempting to address these concerns about image over substance. We employ equal-weighted and principal components indexes to rank MBA programs. Our indexes fall into three categories - output, input, and output-input indexes - that rank MBA programs proximately from the interests of students, employers, and MBA program administrators, respectively.