Right now I am in a very peculiar position. I just got denied from Michigan, Michigan State waitlisted me until June for Fall 2015 but accepted me for Spring 2016 (I applied late, they already were filled), and now I am left with out of state options, which kind of come down to ranking and price. I want to go into entrepreneurship, so I applied to a few schools that were ranked highly from The Princeton Review, Entrepreneur.com, and some other websites. I was admitted to Syracuse, Babson College, Indiana University, and Temple. Here are the rankings of each
Babson: 1
Syracuse: 6
Temple:11
Indiana: Not in the top 25
So the answer seems obvious, but I am a bit confused about how much I should weigh these rankings. There’s no doubt that Babson is the best in this field, but it’s also very expensive. Indiana has a fantastic business school, but it wasn’t even ranked in the top 25 for undergraduate schools, so should I not go there. It’s vice-versa with Temple, they were ranked highly for entrepreneurship but aren’t listed as one of the best business schools.
Should I go strictly by rankings while making my decision? What else should I look for to determine the better school academically?
You should not go by rankings because there are no official ranking and likewise no guaranteed outcomes by going to any of these. I have never seen a ranking without Indiana in it so I don’t even know which you are using. Bloomberg Business (IU #8) puts some out and so does US News (also IU #8). Small differences in ranking like spot 1 vs 11 is pretty meaningless and it is even a kind of false precision to imply that such a numerical ranking has any degree of accuracy.
I think that you should consider
a) cost
b) the features of the program
c) the overall quality of the school (1/2 or more classes will be non business likely)
d) other personal preferences
Different schools have different strengths. Different rankings look at these strengths differently. They reach different results depending on the criteria they use. So if you want to rely on rankings, you have to ask yourself which one (if any) measures characteristics that really matter to YOU. If you care specifically about entrepreneurship, then Babson might be the place for you. If you want the best general business program, but also want good instruction in the liberal arts (as well as a traditional American college experience including a big D1 sports scene), then Indiana might be a better choice.
I agree with BrownParent that you should consider costs and personal preferences … as well as specific program or overall college strengths, which might be reflected in some of the measurements used by various rankings.
Babson is a very small school (very very small) that has a bit of a unique curriculum. Does not offer separate majors bu concentrations. It belongs to a consortium of schools so you can get classes at Olin school of engineering or Wellesley. However if you change your mind and want to study something else you will need to transfer. It is suburban but in the commuter rail to Boston. All the other schools in your list are more “traditional” universities and rather big. I would only consider Babson if I had visited and truly completely loved the concept of a school like this. If not sure it might not be a good idea.
I would strongly consider cost, and fit. My objection about Kelly would not be the ranking but rather the size of the school in case you are looking for a smaller environment.
According to the US News, Kelley is #3 in Entrepreneurship. I would choose either Babson or IU depending on CoA and fit. If cost is not a concern, then go solely on fit. IU provides a more traditional experience, but students at Babson are also very satisfied.