Fantasy MBA Ranking Winners: U.S. News Bracket

Announcing The Fantasy MBA U.S. News Bracket Winners

Who could have guessed that Harvard Business School would fall to sixth place in the U.S. News 2020 Ranking of the best business schools? Not us. Not you! No one earned a perfect score in this first Fantasy MBA Ranking bracket, but we do know one thing — the Quants are killing it. They’re taking the first five prizes this season. The Quants are so utterly dominant that it isn’t until WinnerWinner, who came in at twelfth place, that a self-proclaimed Poet joins the scoreboard.

With just a few days to play, this first ranking bracket was really a beta test for the rest of the season. Here’s what we learned. You guys are pretty good but this guessing game is harder than it seems. Not surprisingly, most players predict that Harvard would be either No. 1 or No. 2 in the ranking and fantasy gamers also didn’t give as much love to such schools as Yale or NYU SternĀ that finished in U.S. News‘ Top Ten. Not even our own Editor-In-Chief could have predicted some of the outcomes of this year’s U.S. News list.

We also needed to quickly develop ‘bonus’ points to eliminate ties. Of the 73 players, we had ten whose scores, with the exception of our winner, fell into only two other tiers of total points. To create a tie-breaker without relying on comments, which very few players utilized for points, we awarded five additional points for exact match placements in the top five ranking positions. We’ll fold this into the standard points structure for future brackets coming out in the fall. The Fantasy MBA Ranking Champion who scores the highest overall in the season will win a three-school consulting package valued between $7,000 ā€“ $15,000 or a cash prize of $1,000.

If you haven’t joined the game yet, there’s still time to win the grand prize. The U.S. News bracket winners are named below but remember, for this year only, the grand prize winner will be the player with the highest score over the three upcoming brackets: Businessweek, The Economist, and Poets&Quants.

FIRST PLACE

Mr. Bangladeshi Analyst: A prospective MBA & Quant

With six out of ten correct matches and a total of 100 points – 25 bracket opening points, 60 exact match points, 0 comment points (as of 3/18), and 15 bonus points for having three exact matches in the top five – Mr. Bangladeshi will receive a $100 e-gift card and a P&Q hoodie or mug. Congratulations!!

SECOND PLACE

Carl: A Class of 2000 MBA & Quant

Player “Carl” had five of ten correct matches, four of which in the top 5, for a total of 95 points. That’s 25 opening bracket points, 50 exact-match points, 0 comment points (as of 3/18), and 20 bonus points. Congratulations! Second place wins a $50 e-gift card and a P&Q hoodie or mug.

THIRD PLACE TIE

MBA4lyfe & OnePricklyBoi

MBA4lyfe: A Class Of 2019 MBA & Quant had five of ten correct matches, three of which fell in the top 5 spots. MBA4lyfe’s score of 90 is made up of 25 opening bracket points, 50 exact match points, 0 community points (as of 3/18), and 15 bonus points. Third place wins a $25 e-gift card and a P&Q hoodie or mug.

OnePricklyBoi: A prospective MBA & Quant also had five of ten correct matches, three of which fell in the top 5 spots. OnePricklyBoi’s score of 90 is made up of 25 opening bracket points, 50 exact match points, 0 community points (as of 3/18), and 15 bonus points. Third place wins a $25 e-gift card and a P&Q hoodie or mug.

FIFTH PLACE

Brian L., A Professor & Quant

Professor Brian L. had four of ten correct matches, three of which were among the top 5. This player earned a total of 80 points from 25 opening bracket points, 40 exact match points, 0 community points (as of 3/18) and 15 bonus points. Fifth place wins a P&Q hoodie or mug.

AN HONORABLE MENTION TO STS

Fantasy MBA Player STS (another Quant) gets a shout out and a hoodie for being the only top-scoring player to leave a comment for another player. Thanks, STS! Reach out to me to collect your P&Q swag.

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