Question about rankings

[californiascreamin]

Can anyone offer any info on the difference in job prospects between a top 5 school (e.g. Harvard, Wharton), a top 10 school (e.g. Tuck,) and a top 20 school (e.g. Darden)?

Are there certain jobs/industries that are all but impossible to get into unless you graduate from a top 5?

Thanks.

[jjanders]

I'm going to bump this post because I'm interested in this as well.

I finally took my GMAT yesterday and got a 700, so I feel like I have a decent shot into getting into a top school.

However, taking things like cost and location into consideration, there are also a few schools I'm interested in that are ranked more in the 15-30 range.

I know rankings don't necessarily mean much, but I am also wondering if the difference in job prospects and overall opportunities will be that different if you compare somewhere like MIT or Berkeley (top schools I'm interested in) with lower schools I'm interested in (Yale, University of Washington)

[beatthegmat]

I'm going to bump this post because I'm interested in this as well.

I finally took my GMAT yesterday and got a 700, so I feel like I have a decent shot into getting into a top school.

However, taking things like cost and location into consideration, there are also a few schools I'm interested in that are ranked more in the 15-30 range.

I know rankings don't necessarily mean much, but I am also wondering if the difference in job prospects and overall opportunities will be that different if you compare somewhere like MIT or Berkeley (top schools I'm interested in) with lower schools I'm interested in (Yale, University of Washington)

This is just my opinion, but I believe that in most cases it makes the most sense to attend the highest 'ranked' MBA program you can get into. Since business is not considered a profession in the same way that law or medicine is, the primary factor that recruiters use to differentiate among MBA candidates is quality of program--unfortunately, these recruiters likely use rankings like BusinessWeek and US News to differentiate among top tiered schools and the rest.

Thus, I think your best investment is going to your top school when possible.