How MBAs Rank Their Own Business Schools

The Tuck School

TUCK’S EXCLUSION CASTS DOUBT ON GRADUATEPROGRAMS’ RANKING

Alas, GraduatePrograms.com isn’t the only outlet that measures alumni strength. The Economist conducted a similar survey as part of its annual rankings. Drawing from a smaller segment (12,946 readers) – and a more concise five-point scale – students scored Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business as the best program for networking at (4.98). While Tuck didn’t make GraduatePrograms.com’s top 25 for networking, you can be certain that the program’s personal attention and customized approach has created legions of alumni supporters. In fact, Tuck’s most recent annual giving campaign generated an astounding 70 percent participation rate. And it’s not just the breadth of alumni support that’s staggering. It’s depth, with giving topping $6.4 million this past campaign –and the school’s endowment growing from $59.2 million to $310 million dollars over the past 19 years. That’s alumni support – and it’s not accident that Tuck alumni have remained so close and committed to the program.

“The community at Tuck is, in my opinion, the best part of the program,” writes one recent alum as part of Bloomberg Businessweek’s student survey. “From the administration, to faculty and staff, to my classmates, and even the broader alumni network, Tuckies support each other ferociously. They go out of their way to proactively be helpful and create an atmosphere in which everyone succeeds.”

However, respondents to the GraduatePrograms.com and The Economist surveys agree on one thing: Stanford is (again) one of the top alumni networks. It ranks second in The Economist poll (compared to first in GraduatePrograms.com). Both sets of respondents also rank the University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)’s network high (third in The Economist and seventh in GraduatePrograms.com).  However, that’s where the similarities end, with the University of Virginia (Darden) and the University of Michigan (Ross) ranking fourth and fifth with Economist respondents – as opposed to being unranked by GraduatePrograms.com.

In other words, just as with graduate satisfaction – alumni strength is all in the eye of the beholder.

DON’T MISS: THE MBA ALUMNI NETWORK: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Source: Business Insider