How Recruiters Rank The Best Schools

How The Top 20 Business Schools Line Up According To Recruiters

School	2015 Overall Rank	2014 Overall Rank	’15 Recruiter Rank	’14 Recruiter Rank	’15 Recruiter Score	’14 Recruiter Score	’15 Difference	’14 Difference
Emory	20	18	24	22	3.5	3.4	4	4
Dartmouth	9	9	12	10	4.0	4.0	3	1
UC-Berkeley	7	7	9	8	4.2	4.1	2	1
NYU	10	10	12	12	4.0	3.9	2	2
UCLA	16	14	18	16	3.8	3.8	2	2
Carnegie Mellon	18	19	20	20	3.7	3.6	2	1
Chicago	4	6	5	4	4.4	4.4	1	-2
Virginia	11	12	12	12	4.0	3.9	1	0
Michigan	11	14	12	12	4,0	3.9	1	-2
UNC	19	20	20	16	3.7	3.8	1	-4
Stanford	1	1	1	1	4.6	4.6	0	0
Harvard	1	1	1	3	4.6	4.5	0	2
Penn	1	3	1	1	4.6	4.6	0	-1
MIT	5	4	4	4	4.5	4.4	-1	0
Northwestern	6	4	5	4	4.4	4.4	-1	0
Columbia	8	8	7	7	4.3	4.2	-1	-1
Duke	14	11	10	10	4.1	4.0	-4	-1
UT-Austin	15	17	10	16	4.1	3.8	-5	-1
Cornell	17	16	12	12	4.0	3.9	-5	-4
Yale	13	13	7	8	4.3	4.1	-6	-5

Source: P&Q analysis based on U.S. News & World Report 2015 business school ranking

Among Top 20 schools, Emory (Goizueta) is the archetypal overperformer as it ranks higher overall (#20) than among recruiters (#24). However, this recruiter ranking may be a misnomer, as Emory maintains a 96.2% placement rate for students three months after graduation, the highest percentage in the top 100. Despite dropping 2 spots overall, Emory is still ranked 7 spots higher than was in 2009…and its recruiter marks have risen along with it. Dartmouth (Tuck), a model of consistency, also falls into the overperformer category, ranking in the top 10 overall, but #12 among recruiters. But the right recruiters must love Tuck grads, as graduates’ starting salaries trail only Wharton.

Schools like Virginia (Darden), Booth, Michigan (Ross), Columbia, and MIT Sloan also experienced little difference between their overall rank and their recruiter rank.

The University of Texas (McCombs) also carries weight with recruiters. Their 4.1 average places them above stalwarts like Michigan (Ross), Virginia (Darden), and Cornell (Johnson). And its 93.4% placement rate is equal to Wharton.

Yale tops the underrated class, ranking #13 overall and #7 among recruiters. Although Dean Ted Snyder believes the Yale student body ranks among the five best in the nation, neither the overall or recruiter rankings reflect this sentiment. What’s more, Yale’s feeble 85.2% placement reinforces this discrepancy. Duke (Fuqua)’s cumulative score is a hair above Michigan (Ross), Virginia (Darden), and NYU (Stern).But its lower overall ranking places it among the underrated schools. The same phenomenon applies to Cornell (Johnson).