Lies, Damned Lies & Rankings

OK, the following ‘Top 14′ MBA list is not exactly a lie—but it sure is misleading. Today, U.S. News & World Report ran a piece on the ’14 MBA Programs That Lead to Jobs,’ featuring 14 schools ranked by the percentage of their 2015 MBA class that was employed three months after graduating:

Coastal Carolina U………. 100%
U. of South Florida……… 100%
Rutgers U. (Newark)……… 98.3%
U. of Iowa …………….. 97.9%
Louisiana State U. (Ourso).. 97.6%
Temple U……………….. 97.4%
Washington U. (Olin)…….. 97.1%
Georgia Tech …………… 96.4%
Rochester Inst. Tech…….. 96.4%
Baylor U……………….. 95.7%
Howard U……………….. 95.7%
Ohio State U……………. 95.7%
U. of Florida (Hough)……. 95.7%
U. of Rochester ………… 95.7%

Now, these are (probably) all fine institutions, but there’s a galaxy of difference between Coastal Carolina’s 100% placement record and Iowa Tippie’s ‘lesser’ 97.9% success rate. Where Coastal Carolina (Conway, South Carolina) does not (as far as I can see) even list its principal recruiters, one suspects that Bain and Goldman Sachs aren’t among them. Tippie, on the other hand, lists 173 hiring companies, including such stalwarts as Bank of America, Amazon, Deloitte, and General Electric. True, the listed companies hired Tippie MBAs between 2012 and 2015 (a broad range of inclusion), the list includes both full-time jobs and internships, and there’s no indication which firms were the school’s main recruiters—but compared to Coastal Carolina, this almost qualifies as ‘full disclosure.’ The point being simply that sometimes a ‘top school’ ranking is virtually meaningless. But then you already knew that, right?