<p>A lot of people think Purdue is private. The same goes for Berkeley, Oxford, and Cambridge. If you start with the assumption that private is better, I can see why Purdue gets its high ranking.</p>
<p>“Respondents may be mixing up MSU and U of M, Penn and Penn State as well as Texas A&M and UT-Austin but the bigger point is that if these chairmen don’t even know the exact name of these universities, then their name recognition isn’t as great as you think it is.”</p>
<p>Complete nonsense of course. Penn and Penn State get mixed up all the time in this country, let alone in Europe where English is not the primary language for the vast majority of inhabitants. It has nothing to do with Michigan not being well known in Europe. There is no way that Europeans are thinking of MSU instead of Michigan when filling out these surveys. </p>
<p>If you combine the scores of MSU and Michigan, where there is obviously a mistake, I guarantee you that Michigan would make a huge leap towards the top of these rankings.</p>
<p>“You’re probably just overrating them if you expected them to crack the top 10 for American schools.”</p>
<p>Who knows? Michigan might have cracked the top ten with a correction from the NYTs as to why they have MSU totally misplaced.</p>
<p>Cal, Cornell and Dartmouth are slightly lower than I expected. I am not surprised that Michigan and Penn were rated lower than expected because Michigan State and Penn State are sure to eat away a chunk of their votes. If the survey had Wharton instead of Penn, they would have made the top 5.</p>
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<p>fully agree</p>
<p>The Harvard/Stanford high ranking is expected due to the dominance that their two business schools have in the world of MBA’s.</p>
<p>Impressive that Princeton, Brown and Caltech are ranked that high with no business schools</p>
<p>The survey is about recruiting. For some context:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1250280-super-elite-credentials-matter-much-more-than-your-academic-record.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1250280-super-elite-credentials-matter-much-more-than-your-academic-record.html</a></p>
<p>[How</a> Elite Firms Hire: The Inside Story, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty](<a href=“http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2011/11/how_elite_firms.html]How”>How Elite Firms Hire: The Inside Story - Econlib)</p>
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Penn and Penn State only get mixed up by uneducated people. No business executive here or abroad would ever mix up the “University of Pennsylvania” with “Penn State University”. It is even less likely that they would mix up the “University of Michigan-Ann Arbor” with “Michigan State University” or the “University of Texas-Austin” with “Texas A&M”. The latter two pairing don’t sound anything alike. Ann Arbor and Austin are iconic medium-sized cities in America and are permanently attached to the image of the state flagships that they house.</p>
<p>MSU has thousands upon thousands of alumni and it may be possible that there are some very influential alumni in the higher ranks of some of the companies that these pollsters specifically targeted. It may be an anomaly but you’re in no position to question the results of this survey without far greater than evidence than your personal feelings.</p>
<p>Also, MSU is very strong in Supply Chain Management, Agriculture and Manufacturing so they might be better represented in multinational corporations that specialize in these areas than U of M grads.</p>
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Dude what’s your obsession with U of M? It’s higher regarded than MSU in the United States if that makes your feel better. These are clearly two separate entities and I’ve never heard of anyone mixing them up. If the “University of Michigan-Dearborn” showed up in this ranking, then I would be more inclined to believe your mix up story.:D</p>
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rjk, these aren’t street dwellers we’re talking about-they are preeminent businessmen. They are all fluent in English or they wouldn’t be the heads of multinational corporations. They know the difference between Michigan State and U of M.</p>
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Alexandre, these aren’t laypeople we’re talking about. These are chief executives and chairmen from the world superpowers like England, Canada, France, Germany and the like. They’re not going to confuse Michigan State with Michigan or Penn State with Penn. This is wishful thinking on your part. It also doesn’t explain why Purdue, Boston University, Texas A&M and UNC are ranked so high. </p>
<p>What this survey tells me is that after the top 15, its pretty much guesswork on the part of these high ranking European executives. They know of the cream of the crop (all the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, UCLA, Duke and Berkeley) but the rest of their impressions are based on alumni relations within the company and where the American talent that already exists within their firm went to school. That’s where big schools like Michigan State, Texas A&M and Purdue have a huge advantage since they have strong agriculture/supply chain/manufacturing/engineering specialties.</p>
<p>Here are some articles that speculate why MSU is ranked so high:</p>
<p>[The</a> State News :: MSU students? strong work ethic transcends rankings](<a href=“http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2011/11/msu_students_strong_work_ethic_transcends_rankings]The”>MSU students’ strong work ethic transcends rankings - The State News)</p>
<p>**"The broad variety of majors and skill sets available to students at MSU helps makes them coveted in the job market, Rudd said.</p>
<p>We have a number of companies that choose us as their top one, two or three schools, she said.</p>
<p>Many companies come here as their first choice for supply chain (management students,) and supply chain (management) is a skill set that goes across industries.</p>
<p>General management senior Matt Blumhardt said MSUs high ranking is helping build the Spartan brand.</p>
<p>Its the fact that Michigan State students come out of their four years and they not only have the classroom knowledge but they have experience to put forth in the business world, he said."**</p>
<p>[MSU</a> bests U-M on top-recruited university rankings](<a href=“http://www.annarbor.com/news/msu-bests-u-m-on-nyt-top-recruited-universities-ranking/]MSU”>MSU bests U-M on top-recruited university rankings)</p>
<p>[New</a> York Times: MSU 39th-most recruited university by leading companies across 10 countries | MLive.com](<a href=“http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2011/11/new_york_times_msu_39th-most_r.html]New”>New York Times: MSU 39th-most recruited university by leading companies across 10 countries - mlive.com)</p>
<p>Alexandre, if you suspect there’s a flaw in findings of this survey, then its important that you contact those in charge to inform them of a possible tabulation mistake since this survey is being cited all over the world already. Otherwise, it stands as presented.</p>
<p>From my screen name, you can tell I’m a UT-Austin grad who lives in the northeast. I can’t even count the number of times people have asked me, “Now, which school did you go to? Isn’t A&M the one in Austin?” Sigh.</p>
<p>“2. Respondents may be mixing up MSU and U of M, Penn and Penn State as well as Texas A&M and UT-Austin but the bigger point is that if these chairmen don’t even know the exact name of these universities, then their name recognition isn’t as great as you think it is.”</p>
<p>Guess who typed this tidbit just a bit earlier today.</p>
<p>I changed my mind after I actually read the methodology rjkofnovi. Those were my initial thoughts but there’s no way business executives in Europe and North America are that in the dark. </p>
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Isn’t Texas-Austin more in the spotlight and well-known than A&M though? I had never even heard of the Aggies till I started watching college football. I’ve always known UT-Austin had a good engineering program especially in the petroleum area.</p>
<p>I think most Yankees 
hear “Texas” and that’s it. They can’t keep the two schools straight, at least in my experience.</p>
<p>IF I understand the article correctly, it is for MBA graduates. I cannot believe that Wharton is not near the top. If it isn’t, what does it say about Wharton? Or, more than likely, what does it say about these executives who don’t know the names of schools? LOL</p>
<p>EDIT: oops, i guess this was about business schools. I do, now, kind of think it’s odd where UCLA ranks. Perhaps it produces really good MBA students? Someone in the article did say that where a person went was important, so i think UCLA’s international prestige still plays a strong role here. (even though it’s odd since it doesn’t have an undergraduate business school.)</p>
<h1>rantRetracted</h1>
<p>Here is the original article taken from the NYT:</p>
<p><a href=“Gauging the Value of Your M.B.A. - The New York Times”>Gauging the Value of Your M.B.A. - The New York Times;
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<p>Rjk, you come up with a plausible explanation for MSU being listed above Michigan. Common sense dictates that this ought to be indeed the result of a confused bunch of people who participated in the survey. </p>
<p>However, that should not mask the REAL problem with this type of surveys. Participants neither seem to care or know much about the details and must rely on vague and HIGHLY speculative information. This is not much different from other surveys, including the rather infamous USNews’ Peer Assessment.</p>
<p>Take it as you wish but it is not accidental that MSU was confused (partly) with Michigan. The responders really did not know better, but will not admit to it. Again, just as in the other surveys.</p>
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<p>It is not a tabulation mistake. It is a matter of knowledge. :)</p>
<p>“Asked to select the top universities from which they recruited”… wonder if it was verbal or written choice survey?</p>
<p>Likewise, one possible explanation for UCLA’s great result is it could have been confused with the “University of California” flagship campus… ;)</p>
<p>They are both bears. Brand name confusion may lead to dilution. :p</p>
<p>Another sensational report from New York Times.</p>
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They might think that they were voting for Northeastern … the co-op school.</p>
<p>^ Northwestern? That’s in Seattle, right?</p>