B-School Ranked Fourth By Magazine

Despite having the highest number of average job offers (4.2) and the most graduates earning more than $100,000, the Harvard Business School (HBS) was recently ranked fourth in the country by Business Week magazine.

In addition, despite these impressive statistics, the placement office was not ranked in the top five.

According to Business Week staff editor David Leonhardt, the recruiting office did not make the "best" list because corporate recruiters ranked the placement office 22nd.

"A good number of recruiters told us that they felt the Harvard placement office does not treat them with sufficient respect," Leonhardt said. "To it's credit, it is popular with students."

Leonhardt said that the HBS placement office is not very accommodating to companies who wish to recruit at the school.

HBS placement office workers said yesterday they were "busy" with the recruiting season and did not have time to comment on the story.

Overall, however, the article lauded new Dean of HBS Kim B. Clark '74 for his makeover of the school, crediting the school's move up from number five two years ago to his leadership.

"Graduate-satisfaction scores saw big gains in nearly every category, but especially in the use of information technology, an area in which Clark has invested some $11 million to put Harvard in the lead," the article in the Oct. 21 issue reads.

Clark credits others in the school with the rise in rankings.

"A number of faculty and staff have been working hard to improve the quality of the student experience, and we're pleased to see that recent graduates have told us we're on the right track," Clark said. "As you might expect, we look at many sources of data when we evaluate our program and we believe that the quality of HBS students, the quality of the faculty, and the educational experience at HBS remain unparalleled."

The survey ranked Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania first, the University of Michigan secon. The Kellogg School at Northwestern was ranked third. The Darden School at the University of Virginia rounded out the top five.

In six graded areas--teaching, curriculum, placement, global view and analysts--Harvard received an "A".

But a "C" in the remaining category, team players, ruined its perfect record.

Harvard tied with Virginia for the highest number of minority students, doing better than any other school in the top 25.

HBS also ranked first in teaching "general management" skills, and has the highest average gifts from alumni, although the percentage of alumni who donate was less than half that of Dartmouth, the leader at 63 percent.

The rankings are based entirely on surveys returned to the magazine, unlike rankings published in U.S. News and World Report, which are based on data sent in by schools and run through a formula.

"We go to the people that are consuming the education, and we go to the people who are consuming the people who are consuming the education," Leonhardt said. "As a journalist, you want to go to the horse's mouth, so to speak."