Last month the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), along with several other business education organizations, requested that MBA ranking organizations postpone publishing rankings amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The request, sent via letter to Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, Forbes, Financial Times, QS, and US News & World Report, asked for the delay on the grounds that business schools are working to meet the needs of their students and communities and need support rather than additional responsibilities during this period.
The letter also pointed out the pandemic’s likely effect on metrics, speculating that survey results from this period may do more to reveal current stress than a business school’s effectiveness, with graduating students, alumni, and companies who recruit MBA graduates all facing significant challenges of their own.
The request concluded with a call for dialogue between the ranking organizations and the business school community. GMAC hopes to work in partnership with business education industry groups (AACSB, EFMD, and MBA CSEA) and the ranking organizations to consider the short and long-term implications of COVID-19 on business school education, including student mobility restrictions, test center closures, corporations’ hiring plans, and the challenge ranking organizations face in updating metrics during this period that will accurately measure a business school’s effectiveness. For example, schools’ responses during the pandemic regarding their ability to innovate to meet the needs of their stakeholders may more accurately reflect their value to prospective students than previously relied upon metrics.
The response to the request has been mixed.
Bloomberg Businessweek announced earlier this month that it would suspend its rankings. In addition to the request put forth by GMAC and schools, Bloomberg News Senior Editor Caleb Solomon added that it “felt inappropriate” to ask students, alumni, and recruiters to fill out a survey in an already overwhelming time. He also pointed out that the data collected would likely be overwhelmed by the pandemic and may not accurately show differences between schools.
Forbes, which publishes a biennial ranking of business schools, ranked the programs in 2019 and is not due to have another ranking published until 2021.
The Economist and QS have not published statements on their intentions to publish MBA rankings this year. Typically, The Economist and QS publish their Global FT MBA rankings in the fall.
The Financial Times, which produces the most influential business school ranking in Europe and Asia, published its Global MBA 2020 ranking in January, and just last week published its 2020 Global Executive Education MBA Ranking. Despite the pandemic and global uncertainty, their latest ranking shows change at the top, but it mostly consists of a reshuffling of established front-runner schools.
The most highly anticipated response, however, is from U.S. News and World Report, whose business school ranking garners the most attention within the U.S. Their Chief Data Strategist, Bob Morse, told Poets & Quants that, “the team at U.S. News continues to monitor the unprecedented disruptions caused by COVID-19 to business schools themselves, and their current and prospective students. As a result, we’re still reviewing our strategies for our upcoming Full-time and Part-time Best Business Schools rankings, as well as our fall 2020 data collection.”
While it remains to be seen how each ranking organization will move forward with compiling and publishing rankings, the GMAC letter provides valuable input for prospective business school students to keep in mind when reviewing available rankings and considering schools for the upcoming year.
While most surveys combine more than one year of data, to smooth sudden changes, carefully consider if a school of interest has dropped or risen suddenly to determine what metrics may be driving the change. Are certain metrics likely affected by the pandemic and likely to rebound? Or do you think they accurately reflect the schools’ ability to meet the needs of its students?
Look at each metric individually for a more complete view. Many of the ranking websites even allow you to sort schools based on the component metrics. You can then see how the schools rank based on what you are most interested in (quality of alumni network, starting salary, research opportunities, experience with faculty, etc.). This may also help you to understand what may be most affected by the lack of student mobility, testing cancellations, etc.
While the appeal of rankings is strong, we urge you to carefully consider how you can use them to find the best experience for you. Our advice has always been, and remains, to use them as only one component of your decision-making. During this period, more than ever, they should be a method to inform, but not drive your business school selection.