I don’t pay any attention to business school rankings. It’s one of those vague bits I gloss over because I’m not shopping for a school. I’ve always assumed that the rankings were some kind of measure that indicated “success”. Not really! Only one kind of success is measured.
I’ve recently discovered that the rankings are heavily weighted to favor starting salaries, and, the opinions of top recruiters. So, a school that graduates a lot of young brilliant people who start businesses actually gets a lower ranking than one whose graduates opt for safe, high-paying corporate jobs. There is no factorial for those who graduate students who do start-ups or help grow small companies.
Not everybody gets an MBA to enable doing start ups, and I don’t begrudge a great student a good job, but that’s only one kind of success.
A school that has an innovation or entrepreneur culture will fall in the rankings because their students go out and do their own thing. I find this amazing, and backwards. A business school that graduates courageous people who start businesses — ought to get a higher ranking! The job creation engine is small business, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to get the best and the brightest to help us reinvent the economy?
For more on how it works, see this USA News article on how they do their rankings.
There should be another ranking that informs us of the best schools to send students who are interested in learning how to start something new. How about it USA News, or Wall Street Journal? Do us a favor!
3 responses to “Business School Rankings – Punish Entrepreneurial Schools”
Hey Greg….you are probably right! It just so happens that I’ve spent the last 2 hours researching schools which focus on entrepreneurship and seen the entrepreneur.com listings, the US News and Report listings…etc. My youngest son is looking to go into a college entrepreneurship program so …
The ones which are most appealing to me so far are the ones with the widest curriculum, including ones hip enough to have courses related to social media marketing, finding venture capital, decent web design courses including javascript and CSS. Babson sticks out like a sore thumb.
There are some others which are appealing and maybe another 20 which are really business schools but throw a few entrepreneurship courses out there. It is possibly an under represented niche, and few look innovative.
One which is kind of interesting is the Cogswell Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. They focus on digital media and entrepreneurship and other leading edge technology based entrepreneurship ideas. Every student there starts a company freshman year and they help you grow it, help you find financing…etc. It’s an entrepreneurship incubator. Kind of innovative and results driven IMO.
You have this bang on centre of the nail head Mr Fraley sir…and it now requires action – someone to drive it deep…to do something actual…to wield the hammer of innovative thinking. The future of just about everything:- economy; peace; the planet; how we live; how we change from capitalism / consumerism / wastefulness & to all that will come about – depends upon starting something new. And it all starts with education – innovating people to become the next entrepreneurs. Imagine what it will be like wherever you are as the next millennium tick tocks into being. We have to educate people now to create that future. It’s not about profit & cash flow – though no-one will get far in business in this era without knowing how to become wealthy. And it isn’t about altruism. Simply – it’s about solutions. Those with money right now (like Bill Gates) must invest in people … the right people. Those people, in turn, will find the right place & time to put their ideas into action – to communicate what matters. For instance, though I am setting out to generate my fortune (to enable what I aim to do), if someone invested in me I would make things happen. Thanks for posting this.
Many schools are ‘playing around’ with this area of education.
Whether Business School, further or higher education or starting at grass roots, at Primary, attempts are being made in recognition of the necessity to grow the next generation of entrepreneurs.
These agencies, acting as entrepreneurship incubators, will not achieve the vital changes needed – they are skewed & tainted by what has gone before.
A complete shake up is required – an out with the old in with the new approach.
Technology isn’t the solution – it’s the tool. People innovation is where it all starts – and it begins with parenting … the biggest leadership challenge there is.
Let’s shake things up.
Success is nothing more than a few disciplines practiced everyday. This isn’t rocket science – it’s conscience.