Dartmouth, Brigham Young, and ESADE Are Highest Ranking Business Schools Among National, Regional and International Categories in the Seventh Annual Business School Survey by Harris Interactive and The Wall Street Journal

Business Wire, Sept 17, 2007

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Harris Interactive[R] and The Wall Street Journal released today the Seventh Annual Business School Survey that reveals how top business schools internationally rank based on ratings by more than 4,400 corporate M.B.A recruiters.

As in previous years, the survey presents three separate rankings - national, regional and international. The national and regional rankings are comprised of U.S. schools only. The international ranking includes schools that attract a high number of recruiters who place graduates in jobs outside of the United States.

Beth Forbes, Senior Vice President for the Harris Interactive Brand and Strategy Consulting Practice at Harris Interactive states, "The Business School Survey provides schools with an opportunity to gain insight into perceptions of recruiters on today's business school talent and to understand important factors that recruiters consider when hiring graduates. Throughout the years, many schools have successfully used the results of this study to enhance their marketplace position."

Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business once again tops the national ranking.

Recruiters give top ratings to Tuck for its students' well-roundedness, their personal ethics and integrity, interpersonal and communication skills, and team work abilities. Following Tuck are Berkeley (#2), Columbia University (#3), MIT (#4) and Carnegie Mellon (#5).

The 19 U.S.-based M.B.A. programs share many of the same recruiters, primarily those from companies based in the eastern United States and who offer the highest compensation.

Among the 51 regional schools rated, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, receives top honors for the first time.

Recruiters give top ratings for BYU students' personal ethics and integrity, their work ethic and leadership potential. Ranking behind BYU are Wake Forest University (#2), Ohio State University (#3), University of Rochester (#4), and Indiana University (#5).

Three new schools were included in this year's ranking of regional schools: American University, Tulane University, and the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Regional programs are smaller, for the most part, with a fairly even mix of private and public universities represented. In addition, regional schools, on average, receive more positive ratings than do national schools from recruiters on nearly all measures -- and the regional schools, not surprisingly, are more likely than the national schools to enjoy a close relationship with their recruiters. Regional recruiters tend to recruit within a network of schools that, generally, are geographically close.

For the second year in a row, ESADE based in Barcelona ranked first among 25 international schools.

ESADE receives top ratings for its student's personal ethics and integrity, their team work abilities and the Career Services Office. The international ranking includes nine U.S. schools, eleven European, three Canadian, and two Latin American schools. Ranking behind ESADE are IMD (#2), London Business School (#3), IPADE (#4), and MIT (#5).

Four new schools were included in this year's ranking of international schools: Essec Business School in France, University of Oxford in the U.K., Northwestern University, and New York University.

Schools qualified to be ranked in the year-seven survey, as in previous years, vary in size, location and program/specialties. They also differ in terms of the recruiters they attract.

Although some differences in recruiting patterns do exist among the three ranking groups, overall, recruiters are more similar than different when it comes to what matters most to them. Communication and interpersonal skills remain at the top of the list of what matters most to recruiters.

Some additional findings:

* Yale received the most votes by recruiters for the school with the most improved M.B.A. program, followed by Carnegie Mellon.

* Stanford University tops the list among recruiters for being the school that produces the most creative and innovative M.B.A. students, followed by MIT.

* More than 40 percent of recruiters indicate that their company is recruiting at more schools than in previous years because of the competition for top talent. In addition, recruiters are increasingly looking to attract those students who have more global experience and who are versatile and adaptable to change.

* Recruiters continue to place tremendous value on M.B.A programs, with more than 40 percent of recruiters stating that an M.B.A. today is worth more to their company than it was five years ago.

* Approximately 40 percent of recruiters believe there is a shortage of U.S. minorities when they recruit potential candidates from schools. In addition, about 20 percent of recruiters believe that it is difficult to retain minority M.B.A. hires because they are in high demand. Recruiters cite the University of Michigan as being among the best schools for hiring minority M.B.A. students.

About the Survey

This survey was conducted online internationally by Harris Interactive in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal between December 19, 2006 and March 23, 2007, among 4,430 M.B.A. recruiters who hire full-time business school graduates. The 4,430 recruiters who were asked to rate schools with which they had recent experience provided a total of 6,151 school ratings. To qualify for a ranking, a school needed a minimum of 20 recruiter ratings. Overall, 30 percent of recruiters rated one school, 16 percent rated two, and 53 percent rated three. As in previous years, business schools did not have control over which schools recruiters chose to rate. Data for this survey were not weighted.