The Tuck School of Business reclaimed the top position in this year's Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive business school rankings, up from the number three spot last year. Tuck also held the highest rank in the 2001 and 2002 Wall Street Journal rankings.
The University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University and Yale University rounded out the top five MBA programs, which were assessed on the basis of their appeal to corporate recruiters.
According to the Wall Street Journal, recruiters commended Tuck graduates for their ethical motivation and collegiality and "repeatedly praised Tuck graduates for their character, teamwork and strong skills in finance and consulting."
Paul Danos, dean of the Tuck School, said the ranking affirmed his goal of constantly improving Dartmouth's business program.
"We will continue to focus on making the Tuck MBA program one of the best in the world," Danos said. "Our strategy is quite clear and we will remain on a course of continuous improvement, guided by the needs of our students and the advice of our alumni."
Recruiters scored schools on three elements: perception of the program and its students, intended future supportive behavior toward that school and mass appeal.
Tuck excelled in the first two areas, but the mass appeal score reflected the middling number of recruiters that come to Tuck, the second smallest of the business schools that rank in the top 10.
Tuck, with 503 full-time students, is far smaller than the business schools at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, whose student populations number in the thousands.
Richard McNulty, Tuck's career development director, attributed the constant class size and growing applicant pool to the school's good reputation.
"Our reputation is driven by these rankings, by the work of the admissions team and by all of the articles written by faculty, and these help each other in a virtuous cycle," McNulty said.
Tuck has stayed on top of the changing job market by producing well-rounded graduates, McNulty added, who possess communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills.
"Combine soft and hard skills and you have leadership: short-term potential to solve problems, long-term potential to lead in the right direction," McNulty said.
Tuck also received recognition this year from Forbes magazine, which ranked the school first among the world's business schools based on the return on investments for its graduates. Tuck finished sixth in this year's U.S. News and World Report ranking and 16th in this year's Business Week ranking.
The Economist's ranking of graduate business programs will be revealed later this week.
