I used to think that top business school ranking was everything. When I was applying for college, I only went for the top-ranked business schools at first. I did send out a few other applications to some good state schools that seemed promising, but in general I wanted nothing more than to get into a business program that would give me the credentials that I needed to make a lot of money. Business school rankings, after all, were respected by the leaders of industry. I knew that I was smart enough to get good grades in my school, so I figured that finding a high ranking business school was the key to success.

It was actually a family friend who told me differently. He is very plainspoken, and he put it very simply for me. He told me, basically, that any idiot can get into business school. Undergraduate business school ranking is not respected, because an MBA is not a sign of competency. He said the people looking to hire me would not look so much at business school rankings as at other activities. Getting a business school MBA was all well and good, but what they wanted to know was whether or not I could communicate, lead, or even think clearly. Business school ranking for undergraduate programs told them nothing about this.

Rather than looking for a school with a high business school ranking, he told me that I should look at economic programs. Getting a degree in business could help a little bit, but I would probably be better served by a strong working knowledge of economics. Economists were always highly sought after by business leaders, because they could think clearly and could understand the ins and outs of business finance in a way that business school graduates could not. I could get a double major and get an MBA with a school with a good business school ranking, but that was secondary to the quality of the economics program.

In the long-term, it turns out that he was right. Although I was a little bit skeptical at first, I decided to heed his advice. I disregard business school rankings altogether in favor of a strong economics program. I was immediately hired out of school by a powerful regional food distributor. Within a few years, I was making six figures – a lot of money for someone so young.

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  4. Leadership in Education at School
  5. Start up Business – Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business Marks 50 years of – Newsblaze.com

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