Rankings and the Executive MBA Decision

Schools don’t change dramatically one year to the next, but rankings methodologies do. So rankings change and—sometimes, accordingly—student sentiments do, too. Today’s Wall Street Journal ranking (second time, the first was in 2008) placed Vanderbilt #25 in its Best Executive MBA Programs poll. We were #19 in 2008. Wharton got the top spot, deserved in my opinion because they, like Vanderbilt, still hold academic ability high in their admissions standards. Like us, they use the GMAT to ensure that seemingly successful prospective executive students have as much intellectual muscle as they do skills in persuasion and people management. That special combination of brains and boardroom charisma, with new training at mid career, is appreciable for MBA graduates from strong executive programs.

The real learning experience doesn’t change as wildly as the ranking might indicate, so I am always surprised by the changes in sentiment of students and employers. Maybe I shouldn’t be. It is no surprise that career-related concerns topped the list of influencers, since the 2010 graduates entered school in a boom economy and then hit the recession. Only 36% of executive students these days are completely sponsored, less than that—from 34% down to 13% this year—at Vanderbilt.

The Top 25 EMBA programs were determined based on this year’s weighted combination of corporate score, alumni score, and management skills score. Vanderbilt earned an 18 alumni rank and 17 management skills rank. Our corporate rank of 31 probably held us back given this year’s rankings methodology. Why? We are in a mid-sized city that is not a major headquarters location for a deep list of sponsoring corporations, and we only have 50 students to try to make an impact on that recruiter poll.

I am most proud of the international respect a Vanderbilt MBA holds, and the close relationships our students have here with faculty, the staff, the executive coach, and—the secret sauce—their peer executives. As one comment in the WSJ related article notes: “Some [recruiters] criticize EMBA programs for not focusing enough on hard core business disciplines.” Like Wharton, Vanderbilt has never lost sight of academic rigor. In the long run, as employers point out, that will matter.

And what matters the most, rankings aside? You can’t have a great B-school without successful alumni, so how alumni feel several years out, and how alumni have gone and done great things with the education, are the true reflections of the merits of an MBA.

To see the complete article and which schools comprise the TOP 25 EMBA Programs go to:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/business-schools.html