Today in Global Perspectives class professor was seemingly glowing when he broke a news. Turned out that Financial Times published their Global MBA Rankings 2010 just two days ago on January 25. MBA program at GWSB climbed from position 71 to 57 among top 100 MBA programs worldwide. What he was even more proud of was that in a separate ranking of Top Schools by Subject George Washington University MBA program ranked #5 in Top 10 programs for International Business. The reason for his being especially happy about the ranking in International Business section is that it is probably in great part credited to the success of the department he is working at.
I mentioned before in one of the posts that rankings are quite helpful in getting preliminary information about schools and sizing up the programs. But once that information is analyzed, one needs to look beyond the rankings and find the best match for him/herself, based on personal goals and circumstances, not purely the rankings. At any rate, this news is a nice validation for all of us in GWSB.
The Financial Times Global MBA rankings is one of the three most recognized rankings of MBA programs in the USA. The FT rankings are taking more global outlook, instead of looking only at the US business schools. Just as the professor mentioned in the first lecture on Global Perspectives. The other two rankings are mostly recognized for rankings of domestic business schools:
I guess this new ranking will be celebrated and touted in the school now. But the real moral of the story is:
- Heed to your professor’s advice when he is prompting you to subscribe for Financial Times and you will never be two days behind on a good news
- Attend the lectures, and you will be up to speed on most important news you might have accidentally missed.
Edited 2/1/2010: Today businessbecause.com caught up on the Global MBA Ranking from Financial Times with a review on losers and winners, and some comparisons between the schools in various regions of the world.
Read an article today about new online offering in business education: online MBA degree from Jack Welch Management Institute. The guy has already made a name for himself, even if occasionally in dubious nominations. Nevertheless, he was named the Manager of the Century by Fortune in 1999, and obviously has something to say about business.
Now he is trying to extend his legacy by buying an online outlet for broadcasting his business and probably life philosophy. The article rightfully admits the stigma which is still attached to online education in general, and business online education in particular. Some critics argue that Welch is also carrying stigma for his implementation of the “mean and lean” business approach. What I am wondering is if adding the two stigmas together will actually serve the purpose of de-stigmatizing either one.
About the perception of distance learning. I remember my conversation with a student during my class visit at Evening MBA, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University. She got her undegraduate degree from the University of Maryland. Since at that time this was a number one program on my list, I asked why she had not gone to the Smith part-time MBA program. It would seem natural for two reasons: she had already had connection with the University, and, at least by Businessweek rankings, Smith stands much higher than the McDonough MBA. (Even though other rankings put them at about the same position).
What she told me was quite interesting and unexpected for me. She said that she had some acquantainces who got their undegraduate diploma from UMUC (University of Maryland University College) – mostly distance and some evening programs or combination of the two. According to her, they put on their resume in educational credentials – University of Maryland. Which is not the same thing altogether. At any rate she felt that her degree from UMD was somewhat devalued by the fact that other people used it for essentially online degree. Of course, the guys who inconspicuously ommitted part of the name of their school and presented themselves as UMD graduates, instead of UMUC, boosted their degree credentials quite substantially. So she was concerned that the same name interference would happen with the MBA program from the University of Maryland. And it was the reason, at least in part, for her decision to not go back to the University of Maryland for her MBA degree. Incidentally, UMUC also offers online MBA program.
Anyways, just a little insight on the state of online MBA education. Should I mention that part-time MBA is also looked down upon by some from the full-time MBA programs? Well, I probably just need to take the foot out of my mouth and go to bed ;-)
GMAT is one of the major hurdles to overcome in pursuing admission to an MBA progrram. No wonder then that a big deal of attention is paid by every applicant to scoring high on this test. I’ll talk a bit about this as now is high season for GMAT taking, because of the second, and some first round application deadlines in many business schools.
Pretty much every business school explicitely states that GMAT score is only one of the prerequisits and is evaluated together with other components of the applicant’s complete application package. Nevetheless it is probably the single most important component which can make it or break it for a particular applicant. At the very least this is how it is perceived by probably every single MBA aspirant.
Before we get into specifics of part-time MBA, here is the general overview of the role of GMAT for full-time MBA as those are most often perceived as quintessentia lMBA program.
The high GMAT score is pretty much expected for the applicants to the top 10 MBA programs, like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford and the likes. ‘High’ here usually means breaking the 700 barrier. Since the top tier school are extremely selective, 700 and up score does not guarantee you admission, because well more than a half of eventually admitted will have that 700+. Once you have that score, selection really begins based on all other characteristics that are construed based on : essays, recommendations, work experience, undegraduate GPA, interviews. That’s why the 700+ GMAT score would not get you into the top tier school by itself, but scoring below that mark will most definetly decrease you chance of admittance significantly.
The best way to evaluate what GMAT score is common for admitted MBA students is to look at a particular Business School’s profile. You can readily find those at Businessweek’s rankings of Business Schools. There are two things you need to look at in regards to GMAT score in the school’s profile:
- Median/Mean (quite close numbers, that’s why I don’t really differentiate them. Median, obviously, more indicative)
- Middle 80% range GMAT scores
Checking out these numbers will give quite clear understanding if you stand a chance with your given score.
With Business Schools lower on the ranking ladder the expected GMAT score is respectively lower. Roughly the schools in the 11-20 ranking range have slightly lower median score and middle range. Most of them still have the median at or near the 700 score.
With the schools in the 21-30 rank the picture changes quite noticeably. The typical median score is below 700, around 680, and the lower rank of middle 80% range is around 610.
The reason we talk only about top 30 Business Schools is that this is the maximum number of schools ranked in Businessweek’s Top Business Schools ranking - arguably the most recognized, feared and revered, even if sometimes slanted, ranking of the US MBA programs.
To learn more about average GMAT scores for top part-time MBA programs in Washington, DC area, go to my another post here
