Editorial: Rankings Do Matter
Benjamin Jobes '01, Editor-in-Chief
Issue date: 10/5/00 Section: Viewpoints
Number eight. Again, Business Week has rated the Johnson School amongst the top ten business schools in the nation. Who cares? Many of us do.
Critics of academic program rankings often warn that they discourage prospective students and recruiters from making their own assessments of the relative strengths and weaknesses of potential programs. They accuse publications of superimposing their criteria over the reader’s own preferences. Business Week and most other magazines that rank schools, however, provide a more detailed breakdown of the component pieces that enter their assessment.
Rankings help us to narrow down a list of potential schools to those worth deeper investigation, in order to make an educated decision. Without such a resource, time and resource constraints would still force us to narrow our short-lists, but with less of a sound basis for judgment. Perhaps we would rely more on existing prejudices based on the overall reputation of universities, outdated information regarding their business schools, or the flashiness of their publications.
The BW rankings, like many other popular lists are essentially a quantified representation of other people’s opinions. We rely on tabulations of other people’s assessments for many things in life. How often do you seek out a two-star restaurant when you travel? Perhaps we have all missed out on some great dining experiences at the whim of an unfair food critic. Still, we usually don’t have the time or money to try out every restaurant in a new town, and quite reasonably seek the advice of a respected restaurant critic to narrow down our choices.
In assessing the meaningfulness of our celebrated top-ten status, we must not only consider the importance of rankings, in general, but also the credibility of the particular source. While several other publications also rank business schools, none seems to generate the same amount of anticipation as the BW survey. This makes sense. Business Week has provided comprehensive and well-rounded coverage of business news and issues for decades. This provides the magazine with more credibility to assess schools of business than a general news magazine or a publication that focuses on a particular segment of business. Business Week has evaluated business schools for twelve years and has worked closely with business school deans and the business community to develop a sound methodology for its ratings.
While it would be foolish to rely only on one source to select a business school, Business Week does provide a good tool for creating an educated short-list. Rankings do matter. Business Week rankings really matter. Congratulations, Johnson School. You deserve it.
Critics of academic program rankings often warn that they discourage prospective students and recruiters from making their own assessments of the relative strengths and weaknesses of potential programs. They accuse publications of superimposing their criteria over the reader’s own preferences. Business Week and most other magazines that rank schools, however, provide a more detailed breakdown of the component pieces that enter their assessment.
Rankings help us to narrow down a list of potential schools to those worth deeper investigation, in order to make an educated decision. Without such a resource, time and resource constraints would still force us to narrow our short-lists, but with less of a sound basis for judgment. Perhaps we would rely more on existing prejudices based on the overall reputation of universities, outdated information regarding their business schools, or the flashiness of their publications.
The BW rankings, like many other popular lists are essentially a quantified representation of other people’s opinions. We rely on tabulations of other people’s assessments for many things in life. How often do you seek out a two-star restaurant when you travel? Perhaps we have all missed out on some great dining experiences at the whim of an unfair food critic. Still, we usually don’t have the time or money to try out every restaurant in a new town, and quite reasonably seek the advice of a respected restaurant critic to narrow down our choices.
In assessing the meaningfulness of our celebrated top-ten status, we must not only consider the importance of rankings, in general, but also the credibility of the particular source. While several other publications also rank business schools, none seems to generate the same amount of anticipation as the BW survey. This makes sense. Business Week has provided comprehensive and well-rounded coverage of business news and issues for decades. This provides the magazine with more credibility to assess schools of business than a general news magazine or a publication that focuses on a particular segment of business. Business Week has evaluated business schools for twelve years and has worked closely with business school deans and the business community to develop a sound methodology for its ratings.
While it would be foolish to rely only on one source to select a business school, Business Week does provide a good tool for creating an educated short-list. Rankings do matter. Business Week rankings really matter. Congratulations, Johnson School. You deserve it.