Ranking expected to rise
Business school narrowing gap on top 50, some say

By Julie Ann Matonis
Staff Reporter

In the next two or three years the graduate business program could be ranked in the top 50 of U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings, said William Moncrief, senior associate dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business.

He said it’s not important that TCU ranks behind Southern Methodist University and Rice University, but that TCU is gaining on both schools in the rankings.

“We’ve always been behind but we’re closing the gap,” Moncrief said. “I think in two or three years we’ll be within striking range. With our program and resources, I think we’ll be in the top 50.”

The latest rankings for graduate schools were released in the April 9 issue of U.S. News and World Report. The list ranks the top 50 graduate business schools, with Stanford University and Harvard University in the top two spots. The University of Texas at Austin ranked 18th, and Rice and SMU ranked 37th and 38th.

Bob Greer, associate dean of graduate programs, said the rankings help retain focus on continual improvement of the program.

“The rankings are important to us because we want to be in the top 50,” Greer said. “But this will not happen overnight because we have strong competitors who will fight hard to retain their top rankings.”

Moncrief said the business school needs to be visible nationally and up until now, TCU has not done a lot of marketing.

“Now we’re playing the rankings game,” Moncrief said. “If you’re making enough noise, people will mention you.”

Greer said several factors are involved in increasing the image and awareness of the graduate program.

“We are expending a great deal of effort in promoting the program to potential students,” Greer said. “We are advertising in The Wall Street Journal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal and on billboards.”

Moncrief said there are two parts to the rankings game, internal statistics and overall image.

Reputation accounts for 40 percent of the rankings and is composed of surveys from deans of other schools and from corporate recruiters.

Placement success accounted for 35 percent of the rankings and is measured by starting salary and employment rates for graduates.

Greer said as of April 12, 44 percent of the graduate students expected to graduate in May have job offers.

Greer said the difference in starting salary between TCU students and students from other universities is due to an exclusion of signing bonuses from the TCU salary data and less experience among TCU students.

“While we prefer more experience in our entering classes, our average experience is increasing and is now between 2 1/2 and three years,” Greer said. “With one or two exceptions, the top 50 schools have experience that ranges from four to six years. Employers tend to offer higher salaries to students who have more experience.”

According to U.S. News and World Report, the average age of the entering class at TCU is 26, and international students make up 40 percent of the class. The average age of the entering class at Rice is 28, and international students make up 20 percent of the class.

Cody Dick, a second-year MBA student, said it is important to have a large number of international students in the MBA program because of the global nature of the economy.

“There are huge benefits from seeing different backgrounds,” Dick said. “It pushes American students to do things on the international level.”

Student selectivity, characterized by the mean GPA and GMAT scores, accounts for 25 percent of the rankings.

Average GMAT scores at TCU were 594 for the incoming class of 1999. Greer said GMAT scores at TCU have increased 15 points each year for the past couple of years.

Julie Ann Matonis
j.a.matonis@student.tcu.edu