MBA Programs Ranked in Public University Top 20

The School of Management has joined business schools at the nation’s top 20 public universities in a prominent ranking of full-time and part-time graduate management programs.

U.S. News & World Report’s annual “2012 Best Graduate Schools” rankings, published last week, rates the school’s Full-Time MBA program at No. 17 among public universities in the U.S. That ranking represented a jump of seven places from the program’s No. 24 ranking in 2010.

The UT Dallas Professional (Part-Time) MBA program also jumped in the national rankings, moving up two spots to tie for No. 20 among public universities.  That ranking is up from 22 last year.

“We are pleased to see the School of Management in U.S. News’ top-tier schools once again. It’s gratifying when others benchmark and recognize the progress we’ve made building a strong faculty to deliver the highest quality MBA programs possible,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean and Caruth Chair of Management.

“To achieve this level of recognition for a full-time program that’s less than 15 years old and competing with programs that have been around a long time is really a remarkable accomplishment,” said School of Management Associate Dean Monica Powell. “We are very proud of students in both our full-time and part-time programs. They are truly outstanding students whose profiles on practically every dimension including GMAT, incoming GPA and experience are comparable to those in programs that have been highly ranked for many years.”

The full-time program was ranked No. 40 in rankings of both public and private universities, up from last year’s No. 50 spot. The part-time program climbed five places to land at No. 36 overall.

The top three schools in this year’s full-time program rankings are Stanford University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On the part-time Top 50 list, the top universities include Northwestern University and the University of Chicago (tied for No. 1), the University of California, Berkeley (No. 2), and New York University and the University of Michigan (tied for No. 3.)

U.S. News bases its rankings of full-time programs on surveys of business school deans and recruiters, as well as on statistical measures of quality. Criteria include acceptance rates, students’ GPAs and GMAT scores; as well as the percentage of students employed at graduation and their average starting salaries. The publication surveyed 437 MBA programs to rank the top business schools.

The part-time rankings were based on a fall 2010 peer-assessment survey that asked business school deans and MBA program directors at each of the nation’s 295 part-time MBA programs to rate other part-time programs.