The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business is ranked 29th among all business schools in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. The school advances two places from a ranking of 31st in 2006, and eight places from 2005, to achieve its highest ranking in this publication since 1990. UW-Madison ties Michigan State for sixth among the Big Ten schools.

U.S. News bases its rankings on data furnished by schools, recruiters, deans and MBA program directors across a broad range of indicators:

• Placement success for the class graduating in spring 2006. This is a composite of starting salary, employment rates at graduation and three months later.
• Student selectivity for the class entering in fall 2006. This is a composite of mean score on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), mean GPA and proportion of applicants accepted by the school.
• Survey of corporate recruiters.
• Survey of business school deans and MBA program directors.

To view the entire U.S. News report online, please visit: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/mba/brief/mbarank_brief.php

The School of Business launched a new MBA program based on career specializations in fall 2004. The first class of students of this new program graduated in May 2006. The new specialized MBA program prepares students to launch careers in highly focused areas. 

Based on internal measurements, the school has made progress on key fundamentals:

• Student quality as measured by average GMAT score was 661 for students who enrolled in 2006, up from an average of 632 for students who enrolled in 2002.
• Student satisfaction with academic program quality was at 94 percent for first-year students in the program in 2006-07. 
• Career placement was at 95 percent for the class of 2006, up from 92 percent for 2005 graduates. The average salary for 2006 graduates was $82,917, compared to $76,500 for 2005 graduates.

“This increase in our ranking reflects the success of the career-focused MBA strategy that we are currently implementing,” said School of Business Dean Michael M. Knetter. “This is especially satisfying because the ranking is based on the responses of our first class of students to complete the new Wisconsin MBA model.”

The Wisconsin MBA is at the forefront of a trend toward specialized MBA programs. The mission of the program is to be the school of choice for students who have a clear career objective. The career specializations deliver programs that are enriched by dedicated faculty, staff, alumni support and external advisory boards. The focused program facilitates real-world experiences and effective career networking. To learn more about the Wisconsin MBA, visit www.bus.wisc.edu/mba.