Hi,
One of my friend had recently graduated from Top 5 FT ranked UK univ.He got placed in Fin sector with moderate pay.I mean there was a huge deviation between salaries mentioned in FT rankings and what he got.When I asked him,he said that he was not given an opportunity to participate in the survey.He said, only those who got high perks, were given an opportunity to participate and rest were denied.It makes a big question on FT rankings..............

This is the exact situation of what happens with Business schools ranking. And whether your story is true or not, there is a similar case in reality.

If you already have the gut to come here, can you please let us know the name as well. Let me tell you the first character and see if it is correct: D

The FT only requires schools to provide a portion of samples based on class size. And i think it is a small percentage of far less than the 50% guard-mark.

When I talk to business school ppl, I often go for the one that sounds for laidback and honest rather than one making hype statements backed by rankings alone.

I think there is no point in exposing a particular univ name.Just imagine! If the situation prevails in Top 5, What about remaining univ.It raises a serious question on Ranking methodology.Students from US and UK(High pay) were asked to participate and rest were not asked to participate.

More over Branding depends upon Rankings.

Correct me if I am wrong..............

The Financial Times ranking is based on the salary information given by alumni who graduated 3 years previously. That is why your friend has not been invited to participate yet.

To a certain extent the salary differntial is driven by:
1. The salaries reported in the FT are from 3 years after graduation
2. All MBA starting salaries have been significantly reduced in the economic downturn.

But you are right, i do think that many business schools manipulate the b school rankings. The newspapers dont really police this since they dont care. The result makes no difference to them. And as you say the brand of the school and the career of the Dean is dependent on the school going up in the ranking.

I would like to raise a point.

I believe the ability to select survey participants is more likely to distort the average salary (reported by the schools) than significantly affect their rankings. Nowadays, getting onto rankings is a big thing for the schools. If we assume that each school in the top 100 has tried to select their best graduates for surveys in order to gain a higher ranking, the overall effect is actually nil (no school has an unfair advantage over the other). Instead, the end result is a distortion to the reported average salary of the MBA class due to a selective sample.

As for your friend getting a lower-than-expected salary, I believe the evidence is not strong enough (sample too small) to destroy the credibility of the information reported by FT.

I am sad to say that my friend is from 2006 batch.

In the year that a school is audited by the FT they have to prove that they gave the paper the email addresses of all graduates from 3 years previous. The invitation to participate is sent by the FT themselves. So in that year at least manipulation is not possible. Outside of an audit year there are no checks.

The manipulation comes more in the form of the administration of the schools encouraging certain students to respond more strongly than others. Strictly the FT forbids contact. But for sure phone calls are made....

I agree with blackgarlic that the manipulation doesn't effect the ranking only the reported stats. But it is still a deception of prospective students and therefore immoral.

Business schools are in business, and they will do whatever it takes to raise ranking profile

If what Ibanker said is right then they restrict admissions in the year of auditing. And bear in mind that the ONLY ranking that has some sorts of serious auditing is the FT ranking

Schools participate in the ones that they are more likely to perform better.

All rankings are full-of-shit and thus would not be reliable upon.

I am stunned by the credentials of some of the teachers and students at the so-called TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS.

The rankings are compiled for a purpose and I see this purpose as raising the schools' profiles. This is extremely useful for international students as a guide. Read guide.

Whether the stats provided is flawed I do not know, as I have not seen any solid evidence in this thread yet. As for Susee's friend (who got a lower-than-expected salary), this chap could be at the bottom of the scale. At the same time, he may have another classmate who received a higher-than-average salary. Thus the reported average salary of their MBA class. Read average.

Learn to look at things from different angles first before coming to conclusions. There are all sorts of information being circulated in this forum, some with data to back up while most are hear-say. My advice would be to take these information as a reference and form your own conclusions.

As far as statistics is concerned taking average on any set of data cant be accurate.....It can be a valid data only when the difference between all students is marginal.Let us consider datas of X,Y and Z.If X gets 5$ and Y gets 4$ and Z gets 6$ then average is acceptable.In case if X gets 10$ then taking average is not recommendable........

My point is a few people(earns high pay) can make a huge bias on salary average reports......

Let me paste the communication had........

By me-You are correct.My problem is also much similar.In my earlier mail I was telling you about splitting up of my father's property.I may get around a land share(with building) worth of 25 to 30 lakhs.Keeping that in mind I am proceeding.And to meet bank's margin I already made arrangements.I don't know how far I will succeed.FT rankings on salary aspects looks good.But as an individual I don't know about my success rate.

I would like to ask you a query.Pl do not mistake me.Your reply will be much helpful to visualize my career.Of course we both sail on different boats.But I think there won't be any big difference between us.Here comes my query.Is your perks match with FT salary statements.If not what was the deviation?

As you know perceptions are different from reality.Balancing between optimism and pessimism is an art.As an optimist its good to proceed.But on other side If I fail,I am afraid whether I could save my property from bank.

It may be foolish thing.But every middle class guy would have faced this dilemma.And I am in that stage.Just by checking with FT,Guardian etc I am making my investments.

By my friend-My salary definitely does not match the FT figures (in Rs. terms) They survey usually the US/ UK people and people who earn well only participate. Also the invitation for this survey is usually sent through Univ. contact list (coz they only have alumni contacts)

I did not receive any email to participate in any such survey. I wonder if Univ. 'moderates' this list or what...

I too am from middle class family and in fact I did not get any support even from my family. But for me it was important to pursue MBA - with a long term horizon. I was probably naive when I went for MBA coz I did not really do so much of payback time and post-MBA RoI analysis...I did not set any such quantifiable targets. What I did was worst case scenario - that if I had to leave aside my MBA and work on my pre-MBA credentials/ salary again, how much would I have to slog to repay it, and am I prepared for that worst case. The answer was a resounding YES...so I took the plunge.