U.S. News and World Report rated the Tuck School of Business the seventh best graduate business program in the country in the magazine's annual rankings, published March 30. The ranking is two spots higher than Tuck's position last year.
The school also fell one spot to number six in the management category and rose from number 10 to number nine in the nonprofit category.
According to a statement released by Tuck administrators, the school's increased ranking can be attributed to successful peer and recruiter assessments, improved career placement, higher starting salaries and a promising new entering class. Tuck Dean Paul Danos said donations from alumni allow the program to continue to improve.
Danos added that Tuck's high placement contributes to much of its appeal for prospective students.
"In some cases, prospects place a very strong weight on a school's ranking, as do employers," Danos said in an e-mail. "We are always pleased with good publicity about Tuck, and of course being at the top of the rankings is very good publicity that gets to many people around the world."
U.S. News and World Report uses a weighted system for its rankings based on quality assessment, placement success and student selectivity.
The magazine sends a questionnaire on statistics to the school itself, surveys deans of other programs as well as business people and conducts interviews with program deans, students and faculty.
The quality score, which comprises 40 percent of the total ranking, is determined by a survey of deans of other graduate business programs as well as corporate recruiters who have hired graduates from the program. They rate the school on a scale from one to five, one being "marginal" and five being "outstanding," according to the U.S. News website.
The placement score, which comprises 35 percent of the total score, is determined by an examination of average starting salaries of graduates and employment rates of job-seeking students.
The remaining 25 percent of the score is derived from student selectivity. To calculate this score, U.S. News examines mean GMAT scores and mean undergraduate GPAs of accepted students as well as the program's acceptance rate.
The scores in the management and nonprofit categories are calculated from ratings by deans of other business schools. The deans can nominate up to 10 schools for each "specialty category."
U.S. News and World Report ranked Harvard University, Stanford University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as the first, second and third best graduate business programs, respectively.
