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In the world of business, you want to be at the top. Graduate business schools are important for development in the world of administration. You can get a Masters of Business Administration at many schools now, but can you expect the best from just any MBA? No! Entrepreneurship and business administration does depend on the individual a lot, and not just the school. There are many great businessmen and women coming from the top graduate business schools in America, and you have to compete with them. And the more the job market tightens, the more it will matter if you come from one of the best MBA programs.
U.S. News and World Report [1] have quite a variety of rankings for graduate school programs, among them MBA, part-time MBA and Entrepreneurship. The top graduate business schools of 2009 include Harvard, Stanford and Northwestern at the top three. Number one for executive MBA is Northwestern, but NYU and Babson College in Massachusetts are the best for Part-time and entrepreneurship, respectively, while Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona and the University of South Carolina are the best for international business. Just a few of the other good schools include UC Berkeley, M.I.T., Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Chicago. Columbia, DePaul in Chicago, and Duke in North Carolina also rank high in these listings.
Another thing to consider is that while you are at a great school, it may not be necessary to be the top graduate. Business schools alike are constantly changing their criterion for students as the job market changes. According to one article from BusinessWeek, [2] Top graduate business schools are looking for more than book smarts and great test scores. They want a student who will be hired out of school. So if you follow the curriculum of an MBA from just anywhere, you may not realize the best ways of applying what you have learned, even though you get great scores. You want to look at the better Graduate programs and decide what would serve you the best. After all, you do still need to have what it takes, personally, to be in business.
1. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools
2. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2009/bs2009079_054049.htm?chan=bschools_bschool+index+page_top+stories
