Anderson School places in top 10 nationwide
By Laryssa Kreiselmeyer
UCLA now has more justification for boasting about its business
school.
The Anderson Graduate School of Management placed No. 9 in
Business Week magazine’s national survey of the top business
schools, which follows its goal to "achieve and maintain
preeminence among the world’s graduate schools of management," said
Dean William Pierskalla.
The Anderson School improved its Business Week rating more
dramatically than any other school in the survey, moving up seven
positions in this year’s ranking. Yet Pierskalla and students are
looking forward to further improvement.
"This puts us in striking range (of the top five)," said
External Affairs Director Sue Johnson.
To obtain the results, Business Week polled the most recent
graduates of the schools and corporations. The survey observed
annual tuition, applicants accepted and enrollment vs. the score
that graduates and corporations gave the institution.
The school’s class of 1994 rated UCLA as No. 2 in graduate
satisfaction, a category in which schools often receive low marks,
the report showed. The graduates also received an average of 2.74
job offers after graduation.
"It’s great to celebrate, and we will, but we have to stay
focused. There is a lot of work ahead of us and we can’t let up
now," said John Carmichael, president of the Associated Students of
Business.
In order to communicate the success of the school in the
Business Week survey, several students formed the Public Relations
Committee, designed to inform the undergraduate student body of the
function and continuing activities of the business school.
"It’s important that undergraduates know what’s going on over
here," said Ben Croce, a first-year graduate business student and
committee member.
Anderson School officials said they would like for the school to
become as well known as other business schools, such as
Pennsylvania’s Wharton and Northwestern’s Kellogg. Eventually, they
want the school to be recognized solely by the name Anderson and
without needed reference to UCLA, Croce said.
"The thought is that we are going to be moving up higher," Croce
said.
The Anderson School received 577 applications for admission in
1995, compared with 427 in 1994. It now admits 20 percent of all
applicants, but the number is expected to decrease in the next few
years with rising admissions standards, according to Mary Daily,
the school’s public and media relations director.
The average admitted student last year scored 640 on the
Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) out of a possible 800 and
the class grade point average was 3.5. Such competitive academic
standards match other improvements, such as a 70 percent increase
of alumni funding and a 33 percent increase of endowed chairs, or
positions for professors established by donations.
"One of the dean’s goals is to maintain and build a high quality
faculty," said Daily.
The survey reported Wharton as the best business school,
followed by Kellogg and Chicago respectively.