Every year, US News gathers data from various sources to rank the Top Business Schools. All 406 Master"s Programs in business that are accredited by AACSB International were surveyed with 382 programs responding and 113 providing the data necessary to formulate the rankings. The rankings are current for 2008 and are comprised of the following three categories of which the weight is noted: Quality Assessment (40%), Placement Success (35%) and Student Selectivity (25%).

Quality Assessment is measured by a Peer Assessment Score (25%) and a Recruiter Assessment Score (15%). The peer assessment score asks business school deans and directors to rank programs accredited by AACSB on a scale of 1 to 5. The recruiter assessment score is based on the same ranking scale and is comprised of the rankings of corporate recruiters and company contacts who hire MBA graduates.

Placement Success measures the mean starting salary and bonus (14%) and employment rates for business graduates in full-time master's programs both at graduation and three months after graduation (21%).

Student selectivity takes into account the mean GMAT score (16.25%) and undergraduate GPA (7.5%) of students entering a full time program in fall 2006 as well as acceptance rates for fall 2006 (1.25%).

Source: US News