The Goizueta Business School’s ranking dropped to seventh from fifth in the annual undergraduate business programs ranking compiled by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program is one of just five schools to remain in the top 10 spots for all eight years that the ranking has been in place, according to Senior Associate Dean and Director of the BBA Program Andrea Hershatter.
While Hershatter acknowledged the rankings drop, she stressed that statistically every ranking category that the B-School undergraduate program can control has been improving.
“Based on the things under our control, everything has been improving, but many aspects of the rankings are beyond our control,” Hershatter said.
One of the criterion that determines rankings is the “feeder school measure,” or whether a BBA graduate attends a top 35 graduate business school to receive their Master of Business Administration (MBA). In an email sent to BBA students on Monday, Hershatter wrote that BusinessWeek‘s methodology is comprised of five sources: a student survey counting for 30 percent; a recruiter survey for 20 percent; the feeder school measure for 10 percent; an academic quality measure for 30 percent; and the median starting salary of graduates for 10 percent.
She also mentioned in an interview with the Wheel that the ranking system is very volatile. Since BusinessWeek began the rankings eight years ago, Goizueta has been ranked No. 5, 4, 5, 9, 7, 3 and 5, according to Hershatter’s email.
She said that this year was unique in that there was especially strong volatility in the rankings. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fell to No. 19 from No. 6 last year.
In addition, Hershatter said each criterion is weighted differently, and all of the components come together to reach a ranking number.
She cited the fact that Wake Forest University (N.C.) was ranked No. 1 in academic quality but overall stands at No. 18.
“While we care about the results, we are not highly concerned with small movement. At this point we are comfortable to be listed amongst the elite group [of schools] that we are,” Hershatter said. “It would be a mistake to over emphasize any single ranking.”
Hershatter also wrote in her email: “Independent of the rankings, we measure the true value of your Goizueta experience by the depth to which you are academically challenged and the degree to which you are emerge prepared to pursue your educational, life and career goals.”
– By Nicholas Sommariva
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