The Wall Street Journal Guide To The Top Business Schools Honors The University Of Pennsylvania's Wharton School With Top Ranking

Business Wire, Sept 16, 2003

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2003

In Wake of Corporate Scandals, Recruiters Seek Principled Graduates and Accounting Excellence; Wharton Offers Both

Corporate recruiters, with an increased focus on ethics and accounting, have ranked The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School as the nation's No. 1 business school according to "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools 2004" released today. The survey, conducted for the third year with Harris Interactive(R), a global market research and consulting firm, also found that recruiters continue to favor large schools over smaller institutions. Seven of the top 10 are from large-enrollment institutions.

The survey is unique because it rates business schools solely according to the opinions of approximately 2,200 corporate recruiters. The survey ranks schools by how well they and their graduates meet corporate talent requirements.

Wharton's top ranking is largely due to its students' strong financial and accounting skills and its top-notch faculty. The school also is well-known for its longstanding focus on ethics in research and in the classroom. Ranking behind The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School is Dartmouth (#2), the University of Michigan (#3), Northwestern University (#4) and the University of Chicago (#5).

"We provided only the most important facts about the MBA programs and what corporate recruiters--the buyers of MBA talent--think of schools and their students," said editor Ronald J. Alsop. "It is the recruiter's opinion that really matters most to prospective students, who are returning to business school for one reason: to increase their marketability in a highly competitive job market."

In this tight market, recruiters said they had greater success in hiring students from big schools like Wharton than in previous years and received better treatment from both the students and career-placement offices. "Recruiters said they faced less competition from other companies, found students to be more humble and less demanding, and attracted top talent with more reasonable compensation packages than in years past," said Alsop.

The results are to be published tomorrow in a special section of The Wall Street Journal and at CareerJournal.com, the Journal's Web site for executives, managers and professionals. More about the top 50 programs, plus profiles of 100 schools and recruiters' picks in a host of categories, including academic excellence and programs for women, is featured in "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools 2004," published by Wall Street Journal Books/Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, available at WSJbooks.com and wherever books are sold.

About the Editors

Ronald J. Alsop, Editor. Ronald Alsop is a news editor at The Wall Street Journal and editor of "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools 2004." He also writes about marketing and corporate reputation for the newspaper and is writing a book about corporate reputation to be published next year by Wall Street Journal Books/Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Joy Marie Sever, Project Director. Joy Sever, Ph.D., is a senior vice president at Harris Interactive and director of the firm's reputation practice.

About Dow Jones & Company

In addition to The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; www.dowjones.com) publishes Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Indexes and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva, with Hearst of SmartMoney and with NBC of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.

     THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GUIDE TO TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS 2004

   Rankings based on survey of recruiters with Harris Interactive

The Top 10 Business Schools

1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
3. University of Michigan
4. Northwestern University
5. University of Chicago
6. Carnegie Mellon University
7. Columbia University
8. Harvard University
9. Yale University
10. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

Top Public Schools

1. University of Michigan
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
3. Purdue University (Krannert)
4. Indiana University (Kelley)
5. University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)

Top Private Schools

1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
3. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4. University of Chicago
5. Carnegie Mellon University

Top Large Schools

1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2. University of Michigan
3. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4. University of Chicago
5. Columbia University

Top Small Schools

1. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
2. Carnegie Mellon University
3. Yale University
4. Purdue University (Krannert)
5. University of California at Berkeley (Haas)

Top Schools by Region
East

1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
2. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
3. Carnegie Mellon University

South

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
2. University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
3. Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Midwest

1. University of Michigan
2. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
3. University of Chicago

West

1. University of California at Berkeley (Haas)
2. Brigham Young University (Marriott)
3. Stanford University

Top 10 International Schools

1. ITESM
2. IPADE
3. IE
4. London Business School
5. ESADE
6. HEC School of Management
7. Ivey
8. IESE
9. INSEAD
10. University of Toronto (Rotman)

Diversity
Recruiters' Top Schools for Hiring Women

1. Columbia University
2. Northwestern University
3. University of California at Berkeley (tied with Northwestern
   University for No. 2)

Recruiters' Top Schools for Hiring Minorities

1. University of Michigan
2. Columbia University
3. Clark Atlanta University

Hidden Gems

1. Babson College
2. Emory University
3. Vanderbilt University
4. Brigham Young University (tie with Vanderbilt University for No. 3)
5. Rice University