I just observed that MBA program at University of Bath is ranked 21 by Economist however it doesn?t even figure in FT rankings of top 100 programs. I am really intrigued by this and would like to understand why. I had a quick look at the methodologies and couldn?t figure out the reason.

One thing which did observe on the Bath MBA was that it doesn?t require GMAT score for admissions, however I am not convinced that this could be the single biggest factor.

It's probably that Bath has an intake on a very low salary, and the percentage rise is pushing them up.

Interesting. Duncan's theory sounds logical to me, but the Economist says that Bath's MBA graduates make about $130k a year, on average - more than even the higher-ranked London Business School. The salary rise is also higher at Bath (59% vs. 50%.)

In the Economist ranking, the factors that hurt Bath are the subjective ones: Whether the program "opens new career opportunities," etc.

Bath fell off the FT rankings last year - presumably due to lower average salary growth - but if the stats in the Economist are accurate, this wouldn't make sense either.