Business School Rating

As you are searching for a business school, a good place to begin your search is the business school ratings.  Each year the Princeton Review publishes a list of the best business schools.  The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review Bookstore also publishes various guides to colleges, including The Best 301 Business Schools: 2010 Edition.

Ranking VS Rating

As you review the business school ratings, it is important to distinguish the difference between a ranking and a rating.  Princeton Review defines rankings as lists of top 10 schools in the book in various categories. Their ratings are numerical scores (on a scale of 60 to 99) that are given to all schools in the book that they received sufficient data from. Every school that appears in the 2010 edition receives an admissions selectivity rating.  If student surveys are received, the schools also receive ratings for academic experience, professors interesting, professors accessible, and career ratings. Only the top 10 schools in each of the 11 ranking categories appear on the ranking lists.

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How Ratings are Determined

In order for a school to appear on the ranking lists, it must meet the Princeton Review’s criteria for academic excellence and allow the publication to conduct surveys of its students. The review attempts to collect student opinions and statistical data from all business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), as well as from some excellent accredited international business schools.  The 2010 edition has 11 ranking lists, and each one identifies the top 10 business schools in a specific category. The categories cover a range of topics that the Princeton Review thinks prospective applicants might want to know or would ask about during a campus visit, including academics, career prospects, and campus diversity.

Ten of the 11 lists are based entirely on student opinions that are collected through the student survey. A few of the lists also incorporate institutional data reported by administrators at the business schools, such as “Toughest to Get Into,” which is based entirely on information reported by administrators. The review does not offer a “Best Overall Academics” list in the book because each they feel each school on the list is a “Best” when it comes to academics.  They feel that ranking lists that focus solely on academics offer very little value to students.

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The business school rating list provided by Princeton Review is a good place for prospective students to begin their search for a business school.  Since it provides information above and beyond academics, the review has turned into the go to source of information for those looking into a business school.