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).

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