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UGA’s Terry College of Business rises in Wall Street Journal ranking of the top business schools

UGA’s Terry College of Business rises in Wall Street Journal ranking of the top business schools

Athens, Ga. — The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business improved its standing in The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive’s seventh annual survey of the top business schools.

The Terry College’s full-time MBA program is ranked 34th in the country among MBA programs with regional recruiting patterns. That’s up from 43rd in 2006. Among all U.S. public business schools, the Terry College is ranked 23rd.

“This ranking is based on the experiences of corporate recruiters with our students and is a positive reflection of how our graduates are competing in the job market and how well the faculty and staff who guide our MBA programs are serving the needs of employers,” said Robert T. Sumichrast, dean of the Terry College of Business.

The Wall Street Journal ranking is the only business school ranking that is based solely on the opinions and behaviors of MBA recruiters who hire full-time business school graduates. The rankings criteria include recruiters’ perceptions of a particular school and its students based on 21 separate attributes that can influence a recruiter’s decision to visit a particular campus or hire its graduates. This year, those perceived student attributes included leadership potential, strategic thinking, communication skills and the ability to work well within a team, as well as the recruiters’ perception of the faculty’s expertise.

In addition, the Journal rankings also factored in the sheer number of recruiters who reported that they recruit and hire from a particular school (“mass appeal”) and the recruiters’ stated intent to recruit and hire from a particular school in the future (“supportive behavior”).

The Journal survey commended the Terry MBA program for fostering a team environment among the students and graduating “well-rounded” professionals.