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Wisconsin MBA Ranks 57th among U.S. Schools in Financial Times Ranking

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business is ranked 57th among all business schools in the United States in the newly released Financial Times rankings for full-time MBA programs. The school was ranked 51st in 2006.

The ranking evaluated the class of students entering in 2001 and graduating in 2003. The UW-Madison MBA program was redesigned for the class of students entering in 2004 and is not measured by this current ranking.

“We value the significance of the Financial Times ranking as a relative measurement of how we compare to other business schools nationwide at a point in time. We remain committed to consistently improving on our fundamentals and sustaining excellence in everything we do in order to deliver outstanding educational experiences,” said Dean Michael M. Knetter. “We feel confident that the upward trends in placement and student satisfaction we are seeing will be reflected in future rankings based on our redesigned MBA program.”

Key indicators show upward trends in the MBA program:

• Student quality as measured by average GMAT score is 661 for students who enrolled in 2006, up from an average of 623 for students surveyed who enrolled in 2001.
• Student satisfaction with academic program quality is at 94 percent for first-year students in the program in 2006-07, compared with 81 percent for first-year students in 2005-2006.
• Career placement is at 95 percent for the class of 2006, up from 70 percent for 2003 graduates. The average salary for 2006 graduates was $82,917, compared to $68,852 for 2003 graduates. UW-Madison MBA graduates achieved a higher percentage increase in salaries (11.5%) over national averages (9.5%-9.7%) in 2006.

The Financial Times’ ranking methodology includes data provided by the school and a survey of MBA/MS alumni from the class of 2003. The ranking is based on three major categories:

• Alumni career development and salary purchasing power
• Diversity
• Research capabilities

To view the entire Financial Times report, visit: http://www.ft.com/businesseducation/globalmba2007