How do you know if an MBA program is well ranked if their rankings change between publications? For example, the University of Washington Foster School of Business is ranked in four different publications, and each places them differently. They are ranked 19th in the nation and fifth among public universities by both the Financial Times and Bloomberg Businessweek, 27th overall and 7th among public business schools by the Economist, and 27th overall and 9th among public business schools by U.S. News & World Report.
But what if you distilled those rankings and metrics down into what really mattered? That’s what the Foster School did using their customizable MBA Rankings Calculator. Using aggregated user-weighted search criteria, the school determined that their actual ranking should be 9th in the nation and 1st among public universities. Here’s how they came to that conclusion:
Foster’s Updated Ranking
The reality is that each ranking system uses different criteria and methods to determine how well a school performs. The issue is that some of these criteria are not of real interest to MBAs, while other criteria, which may be held to lower standards, are actually more preferred by students.
To fix this, the Foster School developed a free online tool that allows students to search for the top MBA programs based on their own ranking system. Using ten distinct metrics—job placement rate, average salary and bonus, average debt, employer opinion, return on investment, alumni advancement, faculty research, average GMAT, student selectivity and dean and director opinion—the sliding scale allows users to assign their own weight to each. This then generates a top 30 listing based on the student’s customization.
Since the introduction of the calculator, students across the United States and in 94 other countries have used it more than 30,000 times. Foster was able to determine the top four metrics that matter most: salary, placement, ROI and employer opinion. When these metrics are rated most heavily, the Foster School increases its ranking above most others.
- Placement Rate: Foster ranked first overall out of the top 20 schools with a 98 percent job placement rate last year.
- Average Salary: In 2016, Foster MBAs earned a starting salary and bonus of $133,299, one of the nation’s highest.
- Employer Opinion: Foster was rated 12th nationally and 2nd publicly among recruiters and in employer satisfaction.
- ROI: In 2015, the U.S. News reported that the Foster MBA offered the “Best Bang for the Buck.” And, in 2016, both Businessweek and the U.S. News revealed that the Foster MBA has the best salary and bonus to debt ratio of any top 30 school.