#35 by CNN/Money

University of South Carolina press release clip:

The Moore School of Business is among the "50 Best MBA Schools for Getting Hired," according to a new ranking released by CNNMoney.com.
Of the top 111 accredited U.S. business schools, the University of South Carolina's business school was ranked No. 35, based on an analysis by Fortune magazine and its web partner, QS. The results were based on surveys of 445 human resource managers responsible for MBA hiring, the percentage of students employed within three months of graduation, the average number of employment offers and students' average salary on graduation.

#35 in the country is great, but I wonder about the accuracy of the numbers. For starters, UNC-Chapel Hill did not qualify due to a mistake by CNN/Money editors. Second, the numbers published for the Moore School of Business are not accurate. For example:

Category	As published by CNN/Money	As published by GCMO at the Moore School for 2006
Average starting base Salary	$65,000	$76,657
Bonus	$8,700	$8,800
students employed in 3 months	40%	88%

I am not sure if the variation in the statistics is due to a mistake or differences in methodology. Either way, these variations are significant. Universities across the US live and die by the academic rankings of national publications. While business school administrators will down play the importance of rankings, studies show that ranks do influence potential students. Before joining the program at the Moore School, I used rankings to certify its status as a top MBA program in international business.

Academic rankings have some enormous flaws. First, rankings become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Schools with top rankings get the top students and schools get the top rankings due to their top students. Second, editors of publications pick and weight the qualities for their publication. Rarely, if ever, will these arbitrary selections reflect a person’s personal needs.

As Dr. Martin Schatz put it:

Most likely, no single MBA program is best for everyone, and almost every program is best for someone. The match has to be individualized.

*UPDATE*
CNN/Money has taken down the ranking list...
CNN/MONEY:

Correction: Top 50 Business Schools

February 27 2007: 2:28 PM EST

Last week, CNNMoney.com published "Top 50 Business Schools for Getting Hired."

The data for the list was provided by an outside vendor, Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. Upon our publication of the feature, we were alerted to potential flaws in the provided data and the data survey methodology.

These flaws in methodology may have resulted in University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School and Boston University being omitted from the list.

CNNMoney.com regrets the error, and apologizes to its readers and the business schools involved. The list has been removed from the site.