美国最好的商学院：依旧是哈佛

今年社交网站Poets&Quants发布的美国最佳MBA院校排名中，哈佛商学院连续第四年拔得头筹。

社交网站Poets&Quants对本年度美国最佳MBA院校的排名再次证明，最好的商学院往往固定不变：在我们最新发布的2013年全美最佳MBA院校综合排名中，前8名与去年完全一致，没有丝毫变化。更重要的是，去年跻身全美十强的商学院今年依然稳居前10名。

最稳定的一家仍然是连续第四年拔得头筹的哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)。尽管《纽约时报》(New York Times)一篇关于哈佛商学院性别不平等现象的特写报道造成了不那么轻微负面效应，但这所商学院的MBA学位依然是闯荡工商界的硬通货。没有哪位竞争对手能够与哈佛商学院带给这项游戏的强大资源相媲美：数不胜数的超级明星教授、课程设置的多样化、学生的出众素质、校园的规模和范围，以及校友的杰出成就。

此外，今年进入哈佛商学院的新生堪称有史以来最令人印象深刻的一级。申请者多达9,315人，较去年同期增加了3.9%。哈佛商学院精挑细选，仅欢迎其中的941位学生攻读该校MBA学位，女生在新生的占比也上升到了41%，创下历史新高。GMAT（研究生管理专业入学考试）的平均分数高达720分，而这批MBA新生在本科阶段的平均绩点（3.67）同样令人叹为观止。

从《商业周刊》(BusinessWeek)到《美国新闻与世界报道》(U.S. News & World Report)，美国最有影响力的5项MBA排名均在我们的综合排名中占据一定权重。但值得注意的是，上榜商学院的基本指数评分非常接近。前四名【依次为哈佛大学、斯坦福大学( Stanford University )、芝加哥大学(Chicago University )和宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)】的分数差距非常微弱；哈佛大学仅比其位于西海岸的宿敌斯坦福大学高出区区0.35分。

这也是芝加哥大学在Poets&Quants榜单上连续第四次领先于宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院(Wharton)，从而让人们更加相信一种观点：哈佛、斯坦福和沃顿长期傲居美国商学院前三强的格局已不复存在。全美十强中，只有沃顿商学院2015届班级的申请人数出现了下降。过去一年，这所商学院的申请人数下跌了5.8% ，而芝加哥大学布斯商学院(Booth)的申请人数则猛增了9.9%，增长幅度高居十大商学院之首。事实上，这种增幅也使得布斯商学院的筛选性首次超过沃顿，尽管只是略高一点。

尽管稳居前8名的商学院在规模、地区和文化等诸多方面存在差异，但这些院校确实存在一个相同点：它们都是学费高昂，极具声望，拥有强大全球品牌的私立院校。毕竟，这是商学院。

相较于最好的法学院，这些发放MBA学位的顶级院校表现得尤为出色。首先，在十大商学院中，有9家的申请人数进一步增长，从而使大多数商学院变得比以往更加挑剔。其次，在9家商学院中，2015届学生的GMAT平均分数高于去年，有几家甚至创造了新的纪录。GMAT分数向来位居榜首的斯坦福大学报告称，今年入学新生的GMAT平均分达到创纪录的732分，比去年的729分略高一些。只有加州大学伯克利分校(UC-Berkeley)哈斯商学院(Haas School of Business)的平均分有所下降，但今年的平均分（714分）也只是比去年（715分）下降了1分而已。

沃顿商学院和西北大学(Northwestern University)凯洛格商学院(Kellogg School of Business)的GMAT平均分涨幅最大：尽管申请人数有所下降，但沃顿的GMAT平均分达到创纪录的725分，高于除斯坦福和哈佛之外的其他任何一家商学院。与此同时，凯洛格商学院的GMAT平均分也创下历史新高（715分）。沃顿和凯洛格的GMAT平均分均在一年内猛增了7分，去年的平均值分别为718分和708分。

This year's Poets&Quants' ranking of the best full-time MBA programs in the U.S. proves that the best business schools tend to stay put: There isn't a single difference between the top eight MBA programs in our new 2013 composite ranking and the top eight in 2012. What's more, all top 10 schools remained firmly in the top ten this year.

The steadiest institution is still Harvard Business School, which took the top spot for the fourth year in a row. Despite less-than-flattering publicity generated by a New York Times' feature on gender inequality at Harvard, an MBA from the school remains the quintessential credential in business. No rival beats Harvard in the formidable resources it brings to the game: the outsize number of superstar professors, the diversity of its course offerings, the stellar quality of its students, the size and scope of its campus, and the achievements of its alumni.

This year's entering class at Harvard, moreover, is one of school's most impressive ever. Drawing from an applicant pool that was up 3.9% last year to 9,315 hopefuls, Harvard welcomed just 941 incoming MBA students, with the highest percentage of women ever at 41% of the class. The median GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score was a hefty 720, while the average undergraduate grade point average for the newest crop of MBA students was an impressive 3.67.

Yet, it's worth noting that the underlying index scores in our composite ranking -- which annually weighs the five most influential MBA rankings, ranging from BusinessWeek to U.S. News & World Report -- are especially close. The scores of No. 1 Harvard, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Chicago, and No. 4 University of Pennsylvania are fractions away from each other; a mere 0.35 separates Harvard and its perennial West Coast rival Stanford.

This is also the fourth time in a row that Chicago has ranked ahead of Wharton on the Poets&Quants list, giving slightly more credence to the view that it is no longer Harvard-Stanford-Wharton at the top. Wharton was the only Top 10 school that saw a decline in applications for the class of 2015. Its applicant pool shrunk by 5.8% this past year, while Chicago Booth reported the biggest percentage boost in applications of any Top 10 school -- a healthy 9.9%. The increase actually made Chicago slightly more selective than Wharton for the first time.

The immovable top eight differ in many ways -- size, region, culture, and so on. But the schools do have one feature in common: They're all private, pricey, highly prestigious institutions with powerful global brands. This is business school, after all.

And compared to the best law schools, the top schools that hand out MBA diplomas are doing exceptionally well. For one thing, nine out of the ten reported an increase in MBA applications, allowing most to be even more selective than usual. For another, Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) averages for the class of 2015 also rose at nine of the ten schools, reaching record levels at several MBA programs. The historical GMAT leader, Stanford, is reporting a record 732 average GMAT this year, up from 729 last year. The only school to report a decline was UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where the average fell by just one point to 714 this year from 715 last year.

Wharton and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business scored the largest single increases in GMAT averages: Despite a fall in applications, Wharton hit a record 725, higher than any school other than Stanford or Harvard. Kellogg, meanwhile, reported a record average of 715. At both Wharton and Kellogg, the mean GMAT bumped up seven points in a single year, from 718 at Wharton and 708 at Kellogg.

除了几个值得注意的特例，本已高企的新生本科阶段平均成绩依然相当稳定。在斯坦福大学，新生平均绩点从去年的3.69攀升至令人惊愕的3.73，为美国所有商学院的最高值。芝加哥大学布斯商学院的新生平均绩点从一年前的3.52微涨至3.57。隶属于达特茅斯学院(Dartmouth College)的塔克商学院(Tuck School of Business )报告称，新生平均绩点从3.49小幅上涨至3.50。但就总体而言，新生本科阶段的平均绩点与去年同期完全相同：哈佛大学、哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)、加州大学伯克利分校哈斯商学院和杜克大学(Duke University)福库商学院( Fuqua School)的平均绩点依次为3.67、3.50、3.61和3.40。

大多数招生官员和院长表示，今年的申请者素质位居史上最佳之列。“申请者的整体素质变得更强了，”芝加哥布斯商学院全日制MBA院校副院长斯泰西•R•科莱说。“今年的GMAT成绩中位数为730分，处于第96个百分位数。现如今，GMAT成绩在680分以下的申请者已经变得极其罕见。我10年前来这里时，GMAT平均分为695分，而今年达到创纪录的723分。看上去我们的GMAT分数并不逊色于兄弟院校。”事实上，芝加哥大学布斯商学院今年的GMAT成绩中位数与哈佛商学院相等，是该校历史上的第一次。

今年的美国最佳商学院排名中，前20名确实有所变化，但变化不大。加州大学伯克利分校哈斯商学院与杜克大学福库商学院今年交换了位次：福库位居第9名，哈斯下降至第10名。与此同时，密歇根大学(University of Michigan)罗斯商学院(Ross School)和弗吉尼亚大学(University of Virginia)达顿商学院( Darden School)也交换了名次。这所中西部名校上升到第12名，而达顿商学院则下滑至第13名。位于这些位置互换中间的，是依然稳居第11名的康奈尔大学(Cornell University)约翰逊管理研究生学院(Johnson Graduate School of Management)。

虽然它的北加州表弟有所下降，但加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)的位次已经从第17名升至第14名。它甚至把纽约大学(NYU)斯特恩商学院( Stern School )从第14名挤到了第15位。同时，耶鲁大学管理学院(Yale School of Management)从去年的第15名下降至第17名。实际上，在《美国新闻与世界报道》和《金融时报》(Financial Times)发布的美国商学院榜单上，耶鲁大学的排名高于加州大学洛杉矶分校，但其他排名，尤其是注重投资回报率的《福布斯》(Forbes)榜单，更青睐这家位于洛杉矶的商学院。

与其他排名不同，Poets&Quants综合排名结合了世界上最有影响力的5份商学院榜单的最新成果，这些榜单的发布者分别是《彭博商业周刊》、《经济学人》(The Economist)、《金融时报》、《福布斯》和《美国新闻与世界报道》。Poets&Quants综合排名并不是仅仅计算这些榜单的平均值，而是依据每份榜单的权威性和信誉，对其分别加权——《彭博商业周刊》、福布斯》和《美国新闻与世界报道》的权重皆为25%，《金融时报》为15%，《经济学人》为10%。

综合考虑这5份最有影响力的商学院榜单并不会完全消除每套排名体系的缺陷，但这样做确实可以显著弱化单个榜单的不足之处。任何一个榜单可能会因为错误的调查技术或带有偏见的排名方法而出现反常情况，而把所有数据放在一起则可以抑制这种现象。所以，这项综合排名有助于降低这些榜单的噪音，从而更加直接地向外界传递真实信号。

译者：叶寒

Undergraduate grade point averages -- already high -- remained pretty stable with some noteworthy exceptions. At Stanford, average GPA crept higher to an astounding 3.73, highest of any U.S. business school and up from 3.69 last year. At Chicago Booth, GPA eked up to 3.57 this year, from 3.52 a year earlier. Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business reported a tiny increase to 3.50 from 3.49. In general, though, undergraduate GPAs were exactly the same year-over-year: A 3.67 at Harvard, a 3.50 at Columbia, a 3.61 at UC-Berkeley Haas, and a 3.40 at Duke University's Fuqua School.

Most admissions officials and deans say the applicant pool is among the best they have ever seen. "The quality of the pool is just stronger," says Stacey R. Kole, deputy dean of the full-time MBA program at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. "We hit a 730 median GMAT this year, the 96th percentile. There are very few people under 680 these days. When I got here 10 years ago, the average GMAT was 695. It's a record this year at 723. And it's not like we just shimmied under the bar on GMAT." Indeed, Chicago Booth's 730 median is now equal to Harvard Business School for the first time in the school's history.

When it comes to this year's ranking of the best, the top 20 did change -- but not much. UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business and Duke University's Fuqua School switched places this year: Fuqua took the ninth spot, and Haas landed in tenth place. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's Ross School and the University of Virginia's Darden School also pulled a switch. The Midwestern titan rose to No. 12, while Darden slipped to No. 13. In the middle of all the swapping, Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management remained stable at No. 11.

Though its Northern Californian cousin slipped a little, UCLA climbed from No. 17 to No. 14. It even bumped NYU's Stern School out of the No. 14 spot, sending it down to No. 15. Meanwhile, Yale School of Management finished at No. 17, down from 15 last year. U.S. News and the Financial Times actually placed Yale above UCLA, but the other rankings -- in particular, the return-on-investment focused Forbes list -- favored the Los Angeles-based school.

Unlike other rankings, the Poets&Quants composite list combines the latest results from the five most influential business school rankings in the world: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, and U.S. News & World Report. Instead of merely averaging the five, each ranking is separately weighted to account for their authority and credibility. (The BusinessWeek, Forbes, and U.S. News lists are given a weight of 25% each, while the FT is given a 15% weight, and The Economist is given a 10% weight).

Combining the five most influential rankings doesn't eliminate the flaws in each system, but it does significantly diminish them. When an anomaly pops up on one list due to either faulty survey technique or biased methodology, bringing all the data together tends to suppress it. So the composite index tones down the noise in each of these five surveys to get more directly at the real signal that is being sent.