BW Business School Rankings

The latest BusinessWeek b-school rankings are out. As per the new rankings, the top U.S. programs are:

1. Chicago
2. HBS
3. Kellogg
4. Wharton
5. Ross
6. Stanford
7. Columbia
8. Duke
9. MIT
10. Haas

Well...I am surprised that Stanford has been ranked no higher than 6th. But I am delighted that both Ross and Stanford figure in top 7 and Darden isn't far behind (#16). My Ross and Stanford applications are currently under review and the Darden applications should be reviewed soon too. Please please send me the interview invites. I am so looking forward to them :-)


The top Non-U.S. programs are:

1. Queens
2. IE Business School
3. INSEAD
4. Ivey
5. LBS
6. ESADE
7. IMD
8. Rotman
9. IESE
10. Oxford

Here again, I was caught by surprise when I didn't see HEC Paris in the top 10. That is one school that has been consistently ranked high among b-schools in Europe. HEC, Judge and Cranfield figure in the second tier.

For more information, please click here. You may also wanna read about the crisis at the schools.

HEC Paris - a top non-US b-school

I had filled in HEC Paris' Candidate preliminary evaluation form and this what they had to say...

Dear Ashwanth,

Thank you for the interest you have expressed in the HEC MBA Program and for having taken the time to submit your Candidate Profile. We have carefully examined the form you provided and would like to provide you a preliminary evaluation of your profile.

Like all leading MBA programs, HEC requires candidates to submit official GMAT scores. Our participants currently have an average score of around 670. Based on the information you have provided, your GMAT results are well within our standard range, so we encourage you to have your official score sent to us using school code 0TL-6C-28.

The HEC MBA Program is taught in English, with the option to do coursework in French. In order to succeed in this environment, candidates whose mother tongue is not English or those who do not hold a university degree from an English-speaking institution must show a minimum TOEFL score of 100 (ibt), a minimum IELTS score of 7.5 or a minimum TOIEC score of 800. The results you have reported appear to meet our requirements; but please be sure to have your official score sent to us using school code 0649.

HEC MBA participants learn as much from each other as from our excellent faculty and high-profile guest speakers. Our class size of just 200 and our ideal program length allow our participants to benefit from the experience of their classmates, who represent over 50 different nationalities and have on average 6 years of professional experience. We believe that the professional experience outlined in your Candidate Profile would equip you to make a positive contribution to the HEC MBA learning experience.

Overall, we feel that you are an excellent candidate for the HEC MBA Program. Hence, we encourage you to proceed to the next step of the admissions process by filling out our online application form....

This is quite encouraging. HEC Paris now makes its way into the list of non-US b-schools that I'll be applying to in case I get dinged at ISB. I know a couple of alums from this school and they have had only good things to say about it. ISB will let out its interview shortlist for the Hyderabad candidates in the coming week. If I do clear this first hurdle then I'll wait till the 20th of Nov (ISB decision deadline) before proceeding with the R2 applications.

Well...lets c what the future has in store for me...