The MBA programs at Arizona’s two largest universities rank among the 50 best in the nation, according to the U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate School rankings.
Coming in highest was the full-time MBA program at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, which jumped up a spot from last year to No. 29 in the nation. Further down the list, at No. 47 was the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, which was at No. 64 a year ago.
Both schools’ part-time programs placed even higher, with ASU’s at No. 18 and UArizona’s at No. 43.
The U.S. News grad school report included rankings from a number of different programs, and is widely considered to be one of the best rankings for evaluating schools.
The latest U.S. News list released Tuesday ranked MBA programs based on factors like peer and recruiter assessments, post-graduate employment rate, GMAT/GRE scores, student GPA and acceptance rates.
“U.S. News continues to update the Best Graduate Schools methodology and add new programs to keep the rankings relevant and valuable for prospective students,” Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a statement. “Utilizing a robust data-collection process — surveying more than 2,100 programs and more than 23,000 academics and professionals — allows us to provide students with useful, quality data to determine the best program for their individual needs.”
The magazine said it surveyed 493 institutions that have master’s-level business programs in the U.S. accredited by AACSB International. Of those, 363 responded and 134 were ranked because they provided enough data on their full-time MBA programs and had large enough 2021 graduating classes seeking employment for valid comparisons, U.S. News said.
The top spot for MBA programs was shared by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, both of which received perfect scores of 100 in the magazine’s evaluation system.
ASU’s Carey school scored a 68 overall, and UArizona’s Eller school scored at 57. Graduates from the Carey school had an average salary plus bonus that amounted to $123,097, and those from the Eller school averaged $104,491.
At graduation, more than 80% of Carey graduates were employed, with that number jumping to more than 96% within three months of graduation. More than 65% of Eller grads were hired when they left school, with that rising to over 92% within three months. Employment rates were not included in the part-time list.
“We are thrilled to see our MBA programs continue to rise in the rankings,” Amy Ostrom, interim dean of the W. P. Carey School and PetSmart Chair in Services Leadership, said in a statement. “We are committed to providing an excellent business education to our graduates — even and especially during tumultuous times. I’m proud that these rankings reflect that commitment.”
While salary and employment rates were important to the ranking, greater weight was given for peer assessment scores, which were ratings of 1 to 5 compiled from scores provided by business school deans and directors across the nation. Recruiters were also surveyed for similar scores that received less weight.
The Carey school’s peer assessment score was 3.6 and its recruiter assessment score was 3.3. The Eller school scores were 3.4 and 3.1.
Other criteria evaluated by U.S. News included mean GMAT and GRE scores, mean undergraduate GPA and acceptance rates at each school.
MBA specialties were also ranked, with ASU’s program placing highest for accounting (No. 14), information systems (No. 11), and executive MBA (No. 13). UArizona’s program was No. 3 for information systems. The specialty rankings were based entirely on responses from AACSB-accredited deans and directors who were asked to nominate 15 programs for excellence in each specialty area, U.S. News said.
The full U.S. News rankings of graduate schools for 2022 can be found here.
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