P&Q’s Must Reads: Claudine Gay & Francesca Gino: Why Is Harvard Protecting One & Punishing The Other? 

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Claudine Gay and Francesca Gino: Why Is Harvard Protecting One & Punishing The Other For Research Misconduct? 

Critics of Harvard University President Claudine Gay say there is a double standard in the university’s decision to support a president accused of plagiarism that could result in the suspension or expulsion of a student for similar offenses.

But the most blatant example of a double standard is the fact that Gay’s office launched a process five months ago to strip tenure from Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino over accusations of research misconduct involving some of Gino’s academic work. Both academics have been subjected to social media mobbing, scathing commentary that often reflects the worst instincts of people who hide behind anonymity in Internet forums. 

In this commentary, Poets&Quants founder and editor in chief John Byrne discusses Harvard’s apparent double standards in its approach to these two prominent women. You can find it in our trending tab.

No. 2: Poets&Quants 2023-2024 MBA Ranking: Stanford’s Triumphant Return To The Top

There’s plenty for business schools to love and much to hate in Poets&Quants’ 2023-2024 composite ranking of full-time MBA programs in the U.S. 

Few would likely disagree with Stanford’s re-emergence at the top of the list. After all, Stanford Graduate School of Business has rightly claimed that title five times in the 14 years of the ranking, including four of the last five. And few would likely argue with the No. 2 ranking for Harvard Business School, which has topped our list for seven of the 14 years. But then the surprises come fast and furious.

You can read all about those surprises from our homepage.

No. 3: 2023 Business School Rankings: The Complete Collection

Rankings aren’t designed to be one-size-fits-all oracles. Rather, they are starting points – puzzle pieces – that can tip off candidates to where schools truly excel and what they truly believe. That’s why Poets&Quants devotes so much attention to rankings. Forget reading a box score that only reports where schools finished. Instead, P&Q delves into the data points to show the reasons behind a program’s results.

This year, P&Q churned out 98 rankings-related articles. We’ve collected all of them in this story to help you parse through the data points that matter. You can find in our rankings tab.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: 5 Must-Dos Before You Hit Submit On Your MBA Application. Check out this must read story and also learn about the deadly mistakes to avoid. It’s available now from our homepage.

Next:  Tips For Round 2 MBA Applicants. This story, also with advice to Students at European MBA Programs, is up now on our homepage.

Finally: How To Successfully Reapply To MBA Programs: This story offers tips on reapplying to your dream school, even if you didn’t make the cut the first time around. You can find in our admissions hub.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay informed!