How Recruiters Rank The Best Schools

UNDERRATED: THUNDERBIRD SURPRISINGLY SOARS

So you think Thunderbird is circling the drain, do you? The school is awash in red ink and the trustees are up in arms. But you’d never know it from recruiters’ response to the U.S. News survey. Thunderbird’s assessment score jumped by over 25%, landing them in real estate that was occupied by USC (Marshall) and Vanderbilt (Owen) last year. That said, their 61.4% placement rate, second-lowest in the top 100, makes us wonder which recruiters responded to the U.S. News survey. So what other schools are surging? Here are the schools where recruiter perceptions are boosting schools’ overall rankings:

School 2015 Overall Rank 2014 Overall Rank ’15 Recruiter Rank ’14 Recruiter Rank ’15 Recruiter Score ’14 Recruiter Score ’15 Difference ’14 Difference
Thunderbird 85 88 31 77 3.3 2.6 -54 -11
Buffalo 74 75 22 25 3.6 3.3 -52 -50
Texas Tech 87 NR 41 NA 3.2 NA -46 NA
St. Thomas 100 NR 54 NA 3.1 NA -46 NA
Alabama 74 58 31 2.6 3.3 2.6 -43 19
Colorado 80 79 41 77 3.2 2.6 -39 -2
West Virginia 92 104 54 97 3.1 2.4 -38 -7
Rensselaer 87 96 54 88 3.1 2.5 -33 -8
Cincinnati 60 99 31 59 3.3 2.8 -29 -40
William & Mary 82 70 54 37 3.1 3.0 -28 -33
UT-Dallas 37 37 12 16 4.0 3.8 -25 -21
Syracuse 79 79 54 37 3.1 3.0 -25 -42
Pittsburgh 52 61 31 59 3.3 2.8 -21 -2
Binghamton 76 79 54 37 3.1 3.0 -22 -42
Texas Christian 76 79 54 77 3.1 2.6 -22 -2
UC-San Diego 60 73 41 59 3.2 2.8 -19 -14
Oregon 96 91 78 88 2.9 2.5 -18 -3
Wake Forest 58 47 41 50 3.2 2.9 -17 3
Missouri 58 52 41 33 3.2 3.1 -17 -19
SMU 55 52 41 37 3.2 3.0 -14 -15

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

Tthe University of Alabama (Manderson) supplied the wildest swing. In the 2014 rankings, recruiters were lukewarm towards the school. This year, they discovered how undervalued it was, with its recruiter score shooting up 0.7 points. And this occurred despite the school dropping 16 places. Due to this correction, Alabama is now viewed as underrated. Considering Alabama’s upward trajectory until most recent rankings, expect them to settle into a more balanced position in 2016.

Texas Tech certainly burst onto the scene in the 2015 rankings. But don’t get too excited. Their graduates’ $51,687 starting salary is the third-lowest among top 100 schools. The University of Colorado (Leeds)’s rise may also be a mirage, as its three month placement rate is among the lowest at 68.8%. But if you’re seeking certainty, you’d be hard pressed to beat the University of Albany, which had a 100% placement rate for its 78 students.

Ironically, last year’s more underrated program – North Carolina State (Jenkins) – doesn’t appear among the overperformers or the underrateds. Jenkins’ overall rank jumped 23 spots in 2015. As a result, quantitative data and recruiter opinions are in better alignment here.

THE BIG PREDICTION

So what can we expect in the 2016 rankings? Consider this: 43 schools increased their recruiter score by 0.2 points or better (and 23 schools by 0.4 points or more). In economics, that’s called a bubble. Expect these inflated numbers to pop next year, with many schools slingshotting back to their 2014 numbers. And those corrections mean you’ll likely see slightly lower index numbers and overall rankings for this year’s pets among recruiters.

DON’T MISS: YALE FALLS TO 13TH IN U.S. NEWS RANKING

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