The 7 stages of B-school rankings

Reading the furore on BW forums over the latest FT rankings catalyzed these thoughts: Do rankings matter so much? My two cents…

I started my Bschool journey in sometime in April/May last year, which is why I had to push most of my apps into R2. But I am sure most people get serious around this time of the year (is it a new year resolution thing?)

So, since most 2011 applicants would start by looking for some school specific stuff on the web to decide where they wanna apply, I thought I’ll recap my own journey as a case study to help other jump-start the process:

Stage 1: The moment I took the firm decision for 2010, I started researching schools on the web. I soon realized there were many sets of rankings available, with hardly any consensus. Welcome aboard!

Stage 2: Soon I decided that WSJ and FT rankings are based on bizarre, single-factor criteria. Might as well stick to the more reasonable B.Week & US News rankings. Don’t I want a medal on my resume?

Stage 3: Further reading of the forums convinced me that H/W/S and M7 are what matter in the business school hierarchy, and all time spent yet was waste. Time to start the essays!

Stage 4: The more I talked to people, the more I got confused. And one day, I discovered the BusinessWeek forums (“met the devil” as some might say). Taking the cue from other like-minded (read: as confused as me) folks, I created my own hybrid rankings, averaging the FT, BW, USNews, and WSJ rankings, giving adequate weightage to the factors important to me. I’m a genius!

Stage 5: Now I began to see the forums for what they were… frequented by obsessive-compulsive 22 year olds who had never seen a B-school gate, leave alone visited one. Plus I read a similar rankings journey of someone who had applied last year, so… Junk the discussions! Get back to essays!

Stage 6: (At this point some people visit their shortlisted schools to check out fit, etc. Unfortunately I couldnt, so…) Talking to various people from different B schools reinforced certain beliefs and challenged others. Putting down my goals (my master career goals essay), and revisiting the Stage 3 weightages with new perspectives – and a bit more thought, I started eliminating schools, forming my own broad hierarchy….. O, did I miss Round 1 during all this? Worry not, there’s Round 2!

Stage 7: (There’s usually a big gap b/w stages 6 and 7, when all applications have been perfected & submitted, and that’s where you find me now…) An idle mind is the devil’s workshop! Thought One: Any school that takes me is great. Rankings? What rankings? Thought Two: Everyone is gonna select my application with full schol. but School X is where I’ll go. Shouldn’t have wasted all those bucks by applying elsewhere. Rankings? What rankings? This is where it all ends. Or does it?

Epilogue: I know I’ll happily accept an offer from any of the 6 schools still on my list. Maybe after a while, I won’t even remember the rankings I read and the hierarchy I made. Maybe…

O, I’m sure I confused everyone, didn’t I? Thats what happens when you’re at stage 7 – and waiting for an admit / IV call. I’ll probably write a more useful post when (if?) I get in!