Wharton tops rankings of undergrad business schools

In its recently released rankings, U.S. News and World Report yet again named the Wharton School the No. 1 undergraduate business program.

Other programs in the top grouping include the No. 2-ranked Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan's business school. Haas and Michigan tied for third.

"It is nice to be recognized," said David Schmittlein, deputy dean of Wharton. "There are people who use rankings as at least a partial guidepost to high-quality educational institutions, so we are mindful of [their] importance."

Wharton has remained at the top of the heap for many years now -- it took the No. 1 spot in the U.S News rankings for 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Schmittlein said that while the administration appreciates the rankings' importance to some, Wharton's operations are by no means rankings-driven.

"We don't try to micromanage ourselves relative to the rankings," he said.

U.S. News Director of Media Relations Richard Folkers said that the undergraduate business programs are ranked based on a "peer assessment survey."

"Deans and senior faculty from schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business are surveyed," he said. These "deans and senior faculty rate the quality of programs they are familiar with."

Those surveyed were asked to rate programs on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest score.

Wharton undergraduate vice dean Barbara Kahn also said she is pleased by Wharton's new ranking.

"Of course, we're delighted to be ranked at number one, but I don't think our emphasis should be on the ranking, but rather on the quality of our program," she said.

She emphasized that it should not bring about complacency.

"The last thing you want to do is rest on a number one ranking," she said. "You always want to try to improve."

Schmittlein acknowledged that the rankings are somewhat artificial constructions.

"Rankings are never things that you can directly control," he said. "They use idiosyncratic measures used by particular individuals at a particular time to construct a ranking."

Therefore, he said, changes in rankings should be taken lightly.

"I would... probably first and foremost [attribute rankings changes] to random chance, especially when you look at these relatively modest numerical differences between some of the top schools," he said. "I wouldn't really make too much of the differences."

He added that just a few individuals who fail to respond to a survey could affect the rankings.

Kahn echoed Schmittlein's sentiments regarding fluctuations in the business school rankings.

"I think our reputation is solid," she said. "I think if anything, the space between us and number two got a little bit wider."

"Some of these ups and downs could be due to sampling error or the way the data are collected," she added.

According to Schmittlein, the rankings are not an accurate reflection of Wharton.

"I don't think that any single numerical scale is likely to do that very effectively," he said, citing Wharton's "incredible diversity" of programs as one of the things not encompassed by the U.S. News rankings.

Schmittlein said that this is "not meant to suggest that we don't care about the rankings... [but] at the end of the day, it's usually not the case that we're learning anything new from the rankings."

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