The Perceptual Impact of U.S. News & World Report Rankings on Eight Public MBA Programs

U.S. News & World Report has published a ranking of the top 50 MBA programs since 1990. Today, there are more than a half dozen different rankings of MBA programs and they are so popular and powerful, that prospective students, alumni, legislators, college presidents, deans, and admissions officers wait with bated breath to see where their school will be ranked. This qualitative study looked behind the numbers of the U.S. News & World Report ranking to discover the perceptual impact of the ranking on eight differentially ranked, public MBA schools, as perceived by 45 faculty and administrators. Three schools from the top 25, three from the bottom 25, and two unranked schools participated. Many themes emerged from the data and supported much that has been reported in the literature regarding the rankings, including the notion that rankings matter! The implications for future research, policy, and practice for administrators, faculty and other interested parties are discussed. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.