2011 Forbes MBA Ranking: Winners & Losers

The first business school to pump out a news release on the new 2011 Forbes ranking of the best business schools today (Aug. 3) was Rollins’ Crummer Graduate School of Business in Florida. The school proudly touted the fact that at a rank of 46, it had the highest rated MBA program in Florida, ahead of the University of Miami and the University of Florida.

“The survey from Forbes validates the importance of choosing a program based on the quality of education that students will receive,” said Craig McAllaster, dean, Rollins MBA, in a prepared release. “Our inclusion in the Best Business Schools list highlights the value of an MBA program that truly believes in helping each and every student acquire the proper skills that can be leveraged in the business world.”

What Rollins failed to note that it was also one of the schools that slid the most on the list, falling 10 places from the previous Forbes ranking released two years ago.

Rollins is in plenty of good company, though. The University of Miami, in fact, dropped the most of the top 50 schools on the 2009 Forbes list. It plunged 16 places to 59th. The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business fell 11 spots to 38.

Among the elite schools, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, which typically has done very well in the Forbes surveys over the years, dropped four spots to sixth place from second. In both 2007 and 2005, the Tuck School had placed first in the Forbes survey.

BIGGEST LOSERS IN THE 2011 FORBES BEST B-SCHOOL RANKING

Biggest Losers 2011 Rank Change from 2009
1. Miami 59 -16
2. Maryland (Smith) 38 -11
3. Connecticut-Storrs 37 -10
4. Rollins 46 -10
5. Arizona (Eller) 60 -7
6. Boston College (Carroll) 53 -7
7. USC (Marshall) 39 -7
8. Washington Univ. (Olin) 47 -6
9. Dartmouth (Tuck) 6 -4
10. Georgetown (McDonough) 35 -4

To gather its compensation data, the magazine surveyed 16,000 alumni at more than 100 schools. Roughly 30% of the surveyed graduates responded. Forbes then compared their earnings over the first five years out of business school to the opportunity costs—two years of forgone compensation, tuition and required fees–of getting the MBA degree. The schools with the highest returns by dollars ranked highest on the list.

And this year’s winners? Case Western University’s Weatherhead School cracked the top 50, jumping 13 places to 49th. The University of Alabama climbed nine spots to 57th and Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business finished 25th, up eight places from two years ago.

BIGGEST WINNERS IN THE 2011 FORBES BEST B-SCHOOL RANKING

 

Biggest Winners 2011 Rank Change from 2009
1. Case Western (Weatherhead) 49 +13
2. Alabama (Manderson) 57 +9
3. SMU (Cox) 25 +8
4. William & Mary (Mason) 41 +8
5. Georgia (Terry) 42 +8
6. Notre Dame (Mendoza) 31 +7
7. Illinois Urbana-Champaign 56 +7
8. Wisconsin-Madison 29 +6
9. Auburn 58 +6
10. Rochester (Simon) 32 +5
11. Ohio State (Fisher) 34 +5
12. Purdue (Krannert) 40 +5

DON’T MISS: HARVARD NUDGES ASIDE STANFORD FOR FIRST PLACE IN 2011 FORBES MBA RANKING or WHAT TOP MBAS MAKE FIVE YEARS OUT