The business of being in business is an attractive education, and some schools are known for it. In Canadian Business's ranking of the top MBA programs in Canada, the magazine looked at price, value, and reputation.
Simon Fraser University (Beedie) was the only business school to rank in the mag's top 10 – finishing at 10th – joined by western institutions like the University of Alberta (seventh) and the University of Calgary's Haskayne school (ninth).
York Univertisty (Schulich) took Canada's top spot, followed by HEC Montreal and Concordia University's Molson school of business.
"Under dean Dezsö Horváth, Schulich has become a rankings darling," wrote CB's Richard Warnica. "It competes in all the major competitions and has come out as the top Canadian school, and one of the best schools in the world, on many recent lists."
Some may be surprised to see schools like UBC, Toronto, Queen's, Western (Ivey), or McGill off the list, but all five schools – and Windsor – refused to provide data to Canadian Business for their rankings.
(Several universities have also been doing this in recent years to Maclean's for that magazine's overall university rankings.)
Those school weren't shut out of mention, however.
Western University's Ivey school of business topped Canadian Business's reputation ranking, followed by University of Toronto (Rotman) and Queen's School of Business.
UBC's Sauder business school finished eighth in that list, too, meaning that five of the top eight school by "reputation" refused to submit data for the magazine's overall business ranking.
From the article:
"Our rankings emphasized value for money. We think that an NBA is an investment in yourself, and you should get a decent return. Therefore we screen for a good classroom experience that doesn't remove you from the workforce for an extender period, produces a good salary bump compared to tuition, and puts a recognizable name on your resume."
Value, of course, is hard to define.
It differs for everyone, especially for those in their formative years. Some tycoons – including those who have routinely written for CB – brag about how much better their lives have turned out because they did not attend business school, while students in search of the right campus are just looking for any hint, any advice that could aid them before they drop anchor.
But, in an industry where everything is added, subtracted and analyzed, statistics are everything and value is a statistic.
When it comes to reputation... well, that's what a degree is all about isn't it?
After all, a bad reputation is bad business.