Wanted: MBA Students Who Are Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Her view of rankings? “Oh, the rankings it’s always going to be a contentious issue,” Luijendijk-Steenkamp says. “My answer to that is I think there is a place for rankings – it is such a mine field out there. The rankings have a place when it comes to differentiating between quality.”

Still, she urges students to go beyond the rankings – like closely examining the different programs and talking to alumni before choosing where to study.

“What I find sad sometimes is that rankings are becoming such a key key factor when students are making a decision,” she said. “It’s impossible for a ranking to show what a school is truly about – I call it a necessary evil.”

Quigley said she had some doubts choosing RSM over some other MBA programs because some of the professors hail from universities in Canada and England that are little known in the United States. But, she said, “My expectations have been totally exceeded, which is awesome.”

Still, she does find one aspect of RSM worrying, “I think the biggest gap that we all have, and all of us are acutely aware of it, is we have a really strong ranking and a reputation that doesn’t match that ranking – so lack of name recognition of the RSM brand, quite frankly, is a big obstacle that we have.”

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