Wharton drops to third place in Business Week rankings

Wharton dropped to third place in the Business Week Undergraduate Business School rankings, released last week, after commanding the top spot for three years.

The McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia took first place, and the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame took second.

For the list, Business Week uses nine factors, which include surveys of 85,000 senior business majors and 600 corporate recruiters, median starting salaries for graduates and the number of graduates each program sends to top MBA programs.

They also created an academic-quality rating system, which considers SAT scores, student-faculty ratios, class size, the percentage of students with internships and the number of hours students devote to class work.

According to Business Week, student satisfaction was down overall, and institutions that succeeded in helping students navigate the job market improved their standings the most.

Wharton administrators do not appear too concerned about dropping down on the list.

"Rankings are a snapshot in time geared to answering specific questions," explained Georgette Chapman Phillips, vice dean of the Wharton Undergraduate Division, in an e-mail. "Some questions are quantitative, others are qualitative."

The most important thing to remember, she wrote, is that from last year's ranking to this year's, Wharton "has maintained our strong curriculum as well as our research opportunities, co-curricular activities and alumni connections."

College consultants agree that the drop will not significantly impact Wharton's image.

"It might in some ways justify the situation for people who can't afford an Ivy League school," said Christel Milak-Parker, founder of College Connections, a college counseling service, "but Wharton has such a long-standing reputation that this is not going to stop people from applying."

Milak-Parker added that there is usually not very much change among the top five schools.

Susan Close, founder of Close College Consulting, said rankings should not play a significant role in the college-selection process.

"Parents certainly do look at the rankings, and it matters more to them than what is the best fit, which I think is ridiculous," she said. "It depends on what students do with the education, and that's what makes the difference."

Similarly, Phillips stressed that rank is not everything.

"Wherever a 'ranking' places us, we will continue offering the best undergraduate business program in the world," she said.

Comments (23)

[QUOTE id="0ccbff50-9f0d-4bb7-80a0-318beeb97832"]I just checked the U.S.News Rankings, which is arguably the only ranking list that matter in this country (my college counselors and parents refuse to believe in rankings listed by other sources), and Wharton is clearly still number ONE in the country. UVA is ranked number six in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon, Texas Austin, UNC Chapel Hill. Notre Dame isn't even on the top ten list. When you think about it,UVA is a state school that anyone with VA residence can get in and Notre Damn isn't that much more selective, thus their students are not even on the same level as Wharton students. The people Whartonites are really competing against are students from legitimate business schools such as MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. Harvard hasn't been ranked number one university for a long time, yet there was never a doubt that it is the most well-known and prestigious school in the world.[/QUOTE] NA is clearly an ignorant fool. While UVA is a state school, it's still one of the most selective universities in the country. Every year the USN&WR; college rankings have come out, UVA has been ranked in the top 25 national universities and has never been ranked below #2 in public universities (usually vying with UC-Berkeley for the top slot). Slam UVA all you want...when you, NA, end up at Podunk U, you'll be *wishing* you could have gotten into UVA.

.....

It's hard to take that magazine seriously if they actually assert UVa and Notre Dame are in the same league as Wharton. As an alumnus (2001), I know where I and my company recruit from, and it's not UVa and Notre Dame.

OH NO! ATTENTION COLLEGE FRESHMEN: THE NEW THING IS TO TRANSFER TO NURSING! they're ranked #1!

This is a highly misleading ranking survey. It surveys students who are in the universities and asks them how well they feel about it. Penn students have extremely high expectations of both their fellow students and their future career options. However, the ecomonic downturn has affected Penn students so much that bitter seniors who haven't received their perfect job put down low marks for Penn. This survey shows me that UVA and Notre Dame have students with low expectations. That's about all.

I'm not in Wharton either, but seriously... Wharton not being number 1 for business is just sort of silly. It's more humorous than annoying. I know people at McIntire, and although they are definitely smart, they really don't compare to Wharton kids I know. Anecdotal, but it means something to me at least. Maybe Business Week wanted to sell more copies by roiling up the rankings a bit? Who knows.

haha wharton kids cant be so full of themselves anymore

Do not fret. Our university is #1 in the recruitment of LGBT and its "allies." That's something to hang our hats on. Come on Wharton entrepreneurs. Can't wait for cottage industries to emerge to teach high school seniors how to express sensitivity for under- represented victims in their essays.

I had the following exchange in a recent interview (word-for-word): Me: Did you go to Wharton/Penn? Interviewer: No, I wasn't nearly smart enough. I went to UVA. The kids at Wharton are on a different level. I think this says it all. If a UVA alum believes Wharton is superior, I'm inclined to believe him. If a UVA alum involved with recruiting at a prestigous bank believes Wharton is superior, then Wharton undergrads have absolutely nothing to worry about. Businessweek had ranked Wharton #1 forever, and I think this was nothing more than an attempt to increase publicity and sell magazines.

I went to UVa MacIntire, then to Wharton Grad. I send my kid to Wharton (I assume he could have gotten in to both). You simply cannot compare the two in my experience. During my time as a Wharton graduate student, I can tell you that the Wharton undergrads I met were far superior to anyone I knew at UVa (admittedly, not a scientific sample, just my anecdotal experience). Notre Dame undergrad business isn't in the same league as either one. Ranking these two schools ahead of Wharton is patently absurd. The great majority of the students at UVa and ND cannot even get into Wharton. Everyone knows this, rendering these "ranking" farcical. "Revealed preferences" methods are the only legitimate way to determine what schools the kids prefer. I think Wharton would come out on top in such a study, even though ND students/applicants are very loyal/determined to go there. The other metric is salaries, because the market ultimately determines quality by paying for it. I think Wharton wins easily. What this survey probably legitmately reflects is what a grind the Wharton experience is relative to UVa or ND, where I'm pretty sure the kids are having more fun. The people who run Wharton should try to make it less of a snake pit for the kids. You can teach the material without encouraging the kids to kill each other.

I'm not in WHarton. I don't even like it. But to deny that it isn't--by a significant margin--the world's best undergraduate business school is an exercise in stupidity.

yeah, John, i'm sure you've done your research and know top business schools better than business week. i'm not saying business week is right, but just that it's unlikely that the difference is a "significant margin."

First, thank you John. Secondly, UVA and Notre Dame....HA! Wharton wins all. See link to learn more about Wharton: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/University_of_Pennsylvania And Mark, no one's transferring to nursing. (I think that's Mark.)

hi sandy! speak for yourself. actually, your window speaks for yourself. nursing, here we come!

I cannot help smiling. I attended Penn and studied political theory and comparative literature and then went to law school. My years at Penn were among the most satisfying of my life. My best frined from Wharton eventually regretted the narrowness of his education. He said (also word for word) "The only thing I learned at Wharton was buy low, sell high."

it's not surprising since most undergrads, including myself, hate a lot of aspects of wharton. this is a long time coming.

I just checked the U.S.News Rankings, which is arguably the only ranking list that matter in this country (my college counselors and parents refuse to believe in rankings listed by other sources), and Wharton is clearly still number ONE in the country. UVA is ranked number six in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon, Texas Austin, UNC Chapel Hill. Notre Dame isn't even on the top ten list. When you think about it,UVA is a state school that anyone with VA residence can get in and Notre Damn isn't that much more selective, thus their students are not even on the same level as Wharton students. The people Whartonites are really competing against are students from legitimate business schools such as MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. Harvard hasn't been ranked number one university for a long time, yet there was never a doubt that it is the most well-known and prestigious school in the world.

These rankings are much ado about nothing. Everone knows business adminstration is a trivial subject, not worthy of serious academic study- as compared to say, the natural sciences.

[QUOTE id="200b39b6-bc89-4713-ae12-86353dc19052"]Do not fret. Our university is #1 in the recruitment of LGBT and its "allies." That's something to hang our hats on. Come on Wharton entrepreneurs. Can't wait for cottage industries to emerge to teach high school seniors how to express sensitivity for under- represented victims in their essays.[/QUOTE] Nice try to sneak in your own homophobic agenda. You might find Jerry Fallwell's Liberty University more to your liking. Tell Fred Phelps we said hello. Here's the link, we won't miss you! http://www.liberty.edu/

[QUOTE id="200b39b6-bc89-4713-ae12-86353dc19052"]Do not fret. Our university is #1 in the recruitment of LGBT and its "allies." That's something to hang our hats on. Come on Wharton entrepreneurs. Can't wait for cottage industries to emerge to teach high school seniors how to express sensitivity for under- represented victims in their essays.[/QUOTE] Typical hysterical reaction. No agenda here, sweetheart - Just a disdain for recruiting for a political/social/moral question. Not right here, Liberty, or any other place. By the way, your tuition is in arrears.

[QUOTE id="b9e2a10e-e8e7-4a02-af39-8544767de0bf"]I had the following exchange in a recent interview (word-for-word): Me: Did you go to Wharton/Penn? Interviewer: No, I wasn't nearly smart enough. I went to UVA. The kids at Wharton are on a different level. I think this says it all. If a UVA alum believes Wharton is superior, I'm inclined to believe him. If a UVA alum involved with recruiting at a prestigous bank believes Wharton is superior, then Wharton undergrads have absolutely nothing to worry about. Businessweek had ranked Wharton #1 forever, and I think this was nothing more than an attempt to increase publicity and sell magazines.[/QUOTE] And yet, he, UVA grad, was interviewing you. Maybe the moral of the story is that these things matter very little in the real world.

[QUOTE id="6ce9dee1-a58e-4fc8-8a42-002ca4f0c9a6"]First, thank you John. Secondly, UVA and Notre Dame....HA! Wharton wins all. See link to learn more about Wharton: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/University_of_Pennsylvania And Mark, no one's transferring to nursing. (I think that's Mark.)[/QUOTE] lol wiki

Most of customer love .because has hight quality and in lower price.Actually,they're really work for your health.For summer,you can choose one pair of sandals as .You also can choose used the antimicrobial Dry and Cool mesh shoes.Wowen,we have and for your option.for mens just have now.I hope we will bring more in the future.We have one have special design shoes for barefoot,we hope you will love it too.

Comments are closed for this item.