Has Aston been consistently listed in the top 100 MBAs?
http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2015
http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2014
http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2013[/quote]

Hi Duncun,

If you are using the ft ranking as the benchmark, then I agree that Aston is no longer as good as before... Moreover, it did not even appear on the top 100 ranking on Economist 2015, to my surprise!

Why Katz (UofPittsburgh) is not at all considered though it stands 35th in the Forbes list (US schools) and 97th in 2015 Global list of FT?

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2015

http://www.forbes.com/business-schools/list/2/#tab:rank_header:position

[Edited by SandyMBA on Jan 03, 2016]

Goodness me. This post is now over 75,000 views!

Very interesting!
I'm wondering.. I guess these numbers generally apply to full time MBA - do these numbers also apply to Executive MBA programs for the same school?

No, EMBA programs as a rule will generally have lower GMAT scores than their full-time counterparts at the same school. However, this will vary greatly depending on many factors. What schools are you looking at?

This post is very helpful thank you!!

I do have one question about this:

If you have less work experience, you'll generally be a more competitive candidate towards the bottom of the tier you are targetting.

Does the opposite apply? For instance I have 8 years of work experience and since most of these MBAs have average work experience of 4-6 years should I apply to a higher tier than normal?

No, because there is a sweet spot for experience. With too much experience you are harder to place.

I'm interested in the Tier 5 schools in Germany - WHU and ESMT.

When you say that they "don't have the profile they would like in the rankings" and that their GMAT score is more variable, what exactly do you mean? Because of their variability, are they riskier than the schools in the higher tiers?

By "don't have the profile they would like in the rankings" I meant that, in 2015 when I wrote that, these schools were present in fewer rankings than the schools in higher tiers. By more variable, I meant that the scores of admitted candidates had a wider range than at schools in higher tiers. This wider range does increase the risk for employers. For example, Warwick introduced a 650 GMAT minimum which means that few MBA graduates there can be really scared of numbers and can pick up on nuance in English. WHU is a bit more open on GMAT scores, partly because the average score in Germany is under 600.

Wow. Over 100,000 views of this post!!