NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University has been named the 15th best business school in the world by The Wall Street Journal, up from 26th place last year.
The ranking, conducted by The Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive, is based on a survey of more than 2,000 corporate recruiters, the people who best know the productógraduatesóof the world’s business schools. As the newspaper explains, "Ours is a different kind of survey, based on what corporate recruiters, who are the consumers of M.B.A. talent, think. Their opinions offer invaluable insightsófor anybody who went to business school, is thinking about going to business school, is hiring students from business school or is working with graduates of business school."
The Owen School was ranked 15th in the world, based on 26 attributes ranging from "analytical and problem-solving skills" to "quality of past hires" and "likelihood of returning to school for future recruiting needs." The 11-place advance represented one of the biggest jumps in the ranking by any business school.
Owen was also ranked 9th among private schools and 6th among top small schools, those with enrollments of less than 500. For the second year, the school was included on the newspaper’s list of "hidden gems"óthose "schools that recruiters say don’t get enough respect." Recruiters, who reported that they consider these schools "a ripe source of talented M.B.A. hires," ranked Owen 3rd in the world in this category.
Recruiters applauded Vanderbilt graduates’ "solid finance skills and general management perspective," and "gave students top marks for their communication and interpersonal skills, personal ethics and integrity and ability to work well in teams."
"As a member of Vanderbilt’s unique and supportive learning environment," commented William G. Christie, dean and Ralph Owen Professor of Management at the Owen School, "the Owen community works with exceptional determination to constantly build on its reputation in the major indicators of business school distinction. We are extremely pleased with the results of The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey, which reflect this excellent work, as well as the recruiters’ perceived quality of the Owen student."
Recruiters were allowed to rank a business school only if they hire full-time business school graduates and have direct and recent recruiting experience with a particular school.
For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the Vanderbilt News Service homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/news or the Owen School’s website at www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
Media Contact: Susanne Loftis, (615) 322-NEWS susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu