Smith is Rated #1 by Management Consulting Industry Recruiters
in Latest Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Survey

The M.B.A. program at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business was ranked #1 by management consulting industry recruiters in The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Guide to Business Schools, published September 22. The survey also shows the Smith School is the #3 pick of corporate recruiters in the technology, telecommunications and Internet industry. Corporate recruiters from all industries rated Smith the worlds #7 school for information technology and the #10 school for entrepreneurship. And in a grouping of the worlds top 44 regional schools, as defined by the Journal, Smith earned the #4 spot on the list.

The report notes that the Smith School received high scores for students' integrity, teamwork skills and good fit with the corporate culture and quotes one recruiter as saying there has always been a sense of community and teamwork at the school, a quality that I think is so important in the business world, where cross-functional teams abound in many different industries.

The Smith School was also featured prominently in a profile article accompanying the rankings. Recruiters especially praise Maryland for giving students practical experience during their M.B.A. studies, notes the article. Smith students, for example, take part in a consulting program for business and government clients, including Procter & Gamble Co. and the U.S. Postal Service.

Harris Interactive conducted a survey of 2,849 M.B.A. recruiters to determine the rankings. The survey measures recruiters perceptions of the schools and their students, as well as the schools mass appeal the number of recruiters attracted to each school.

An M.B.A. is a major investment, and our readers need to know which business schools are most appealing to corporate recruiters, said Ronald J. Alsop, the Journal news editor who heads the survey. You go to business school to advance your career, and our mission is to inform potential students about what leading recruiters think about the programs they're considering.

Other Recent Rankings:

Top Entrepreneurial School
#1 By Alumni
Entrepreneur magazine, 2004

#20 Undergraduate Program
#7 Management Information Systems
#8 Supply Chain Management/Logistics
#12 Entrepreneurship
#13 Management
#15 Production/Operations Management
#18 Finance
U.S.News & World Report, 2004

#18 MBA Program, U.S.
#1 Value for Money (In Top 25 U.S.)
#4 Public B-School (U.S.)
#10 N. American Salary Increase
#26 Doctoral Rating
#27 MBA Program (World)
Financial Times, 2004

Graduate Business Specialties
#7 MIS
#13 Supply Chain/Logistics
#16 Entrepreneurship
#22 Management
#17 Part-time MBA Program
U.S.News & World Report, 2004