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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Business school ranking helps attract students

The Kelley School of Business was recently given a top 10 ranking by the U.S. News and World Report for best Undergraduate Business Programs. At the No. 10 spot this year, the Kelley school has established itself, over the past decade, as one of the nation's top business programs.\nFor many prospective business students, U.S. News' ranking often plays a large part on their ultimate collegiate decision. There has not been a specific statistical analysis to determine the impact of the U.S. News and World Report rankings on a school's success in attracting students, but according to the National Bureau of Economic Research there has definitely been some effect. A paper published by NBER concluded that colleges and universities that receive a lower ranking in U.S. News tend to have lower yield rates (the percentage of students accepted to a particular university that choose to attend) than schools with a higher ranking. The schools receiving a lower overall ranking are forced to admit a higher percentage of applicants the years following their low results, according to NBER. The rankings may also increase the amount of financial aid given out at certain schools to compensate for their loss in overall rankings. \nAccording to the Dean of the Kelley School of Business, Dan Dalton, IU's main competition in attracting students to the Kelley School are rival Big 10 schools. Most notably Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin are viewed, by the Kelley School, as main competitors for top students. But the Kelly School of Business has had no problem in attracting out-of-state students.\n"Even though I come from a state whose top public University has a competitive business program, it was a no-brainer," said freshman Jessica Leary, a Chicago native. "Whenever I mention to people that I go to IU, one of the first things they comment on is the high ranking of the business school."\nU.S. News and World Report determines their final rankings based solely on peer assessment. The deans of every business school in the United States that is accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business are asked annually to rank each business school they are familiar with on a scale of 1 to 5. The averages are then calculated, with the highest average rating getting the highest rankings. A similar system is used to determine the rankings of individual departments within the respective schools. This year the Kelley school received rankings of 4th in management, 7th in marketing and 7th in finance.\n"This method of ranking the schools has been used for over 20 years, however, and no problems have ever been encountered with the way it is done," said Rich Fowlkres, Director of Media Relations for U.S. News and World Report. \n"The task of looking at every single accredited college's curriculum is daunting, considering there are over 1,400 of them," Fowlkres said. "We think that educators who are professionals in their field will be objective in the evaluations of their peers and will not play dirty."\nMany of the 1,400 schools are not as well known as others, and this can play a part in determining where one school ends up on the list. Colleges and universities with new business programs or a smaller enrollment size have a tougher time gaining national recognition.\n"We are able to more easily critique a school whose program is well known and whose curriculum we are more familiar with," Dalton said. "Overall reputation definitely plays a big part when deciding the rankings." \nThe ranking also affects what calibre of students are attracted, which in turn affects the faculty.\n"The reputation of a business school can become a self-fulfilled prophecy," said Ira Solomon, chair of the Accounting Department at the University of Illinois. "The quality of students at a certain school greatly affects one's mental model of a school. Students will then select a school based on its' reputation. At the same time, faculty like to be around high quality students. In that way, it is kind of a circular pattern."\nWhile the business school rankings are based solely on peer assessment, overall rankings for each individual college and university in the United States are based on several criteria, including acceptance rate, retention rate, and average SAT Scores of incoming students. \n-- Contact staff writer Scott Lipsky at slipsky@indiana.edu

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