For the third year straight, Cornell’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management received a higher ranking in the Global MBA Ranking by The Financial Times, becoming the 17th best business school — up from 27th in 2017 and 31th in 2016.
The data released by The Financial Times — mostly based on alumni’s replies to surveys and self-reports — also shows increases in categories like salary, which increased by 123 percent since 2017, and alumni ratings in “aims achieved,” which went up by 2 percent from last year’s 86 percent.
At the same time, several alumni rankings dropped, including “value for money,” “career progress” and “career service,” which dropped by four, seven and 14 places, respectively.
Among the alumni of the Class of 2014 that responded to the survey, 91 percent of graduates were employed within three months of graduation, including a little under 20 percent of graduates who started their own company, according to the data.
The data also shows that finance, consultancy and consumer products are among the top sectors graduates entered, while law, public sector/non-profit and utility are at the bottom of the list.
In terms of the diversity in the school, female faculty increased by one percent, bringing the percentage up to 26 percent. The number of female students, however, dropped by four percent, similar to international student percentage, which dropped three points to 39 percent.
Prof. Andrey Ukhov, finance, said that ranking is only a minor portion of what employers look at when hiring graduates and that a high-quality education is what matters more.
“[Employers] use rankings to decide which schools to recruit at, but rankings are only a part of the story,” Ukhov told The Sun.
Using the School of Hotel Administration, where he teaches, as an example, Ukhov said the school cultivates relationships with employers despite not being ranked as a “mainstream business school.”
“Strong connections between a school and employers are just as important, ”Ukhov explained.
Ukhov said that high-quality education is what promises prospective careers for students, citing his experience at Indiana University.
“Indiana made a big deal about the quality of the courses [and] constantly invested in curriculum development. Rankings followed,” Ukhov said. “It is education and the quality of the students that bring [the employers] back.”
The University did not respond to a request for comment by The Sun.