lgellar

So instead of U.S. News's current system of having "top academics...presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions" do the ratings for their peer assessment score, wouldn't it make more sense to have people from Fortune 500 companies rate the schools? After all, they're the ones actually hiring graduates.

I'm sure someone will say that the academics are good people to consult with because of graduate school, but it seems that graduate schools are very flexible about where you went for undergraduate.

The people involved with academia have already said that they don't really know what goes on at other schools, and maybe employers don't either, but at least employers' opinions actually mean something.

noobcake

Not a bad idea

Junglebrain

Uh...if you're rating business schools.

barrons

Big business only employs a small minority of all grads.

RedTapePatrol

Yes that would only be valid for ranking business schools. For all the other departments of a giant conglomerate, regional recruiting/hiring is very very heavy.

collegehelp

Bad idea. Business people at Fortune 500 companies don't necessarily know much about the quality of education. I wouldn't trust their opinion. They hire the graduates with the whitest teeth.

hawkette

Of course this is a brilliant idea.

Anyone who has worked for longer than six months can tell you how important the undergraduate brand name really is. Prestige is greatly overrated and faculty prestige as measured by PA is a multiple of this.

As for the relevance of business to graduating college students, I would guess that something like 90%+ of the students go on to the real world. You can argue whether the Fortune 500 is the right group to make this judgment, but businesses definitely have more than a clue of the quality of the product coming out of various colleges. And for graduating students, knowing what their prospective employers think of their college is extremely relevant.

tulsadem

As a prospective political science major, I probably won't darken the door of a Fortune 500 company. I think it sounds like a great idea if you wanted to get more specific and rank undergrad business education. But to incorporate it into the US News' general assesment of undergrad education is a bad idea.

GoBlue81

They are already doing that. It's called "Recruiter Assessment" (or Residency Director; Superintendent Assessment, etc.)

UCBChemEGrad

Who do you survey in Fortune 500 companies? CEOs? HR Managers? In-line regional managers? I'm just wondering what survey would give the broadest, well represented opinion that eliminates biases.

Speaking of biases, I happen to have my copy of Fortune 500 for 2008 right here:
Headquarters by State:
1. Texas 58
2. New York 55
3. California 52
4. Illinois 33
5. Ohio 28
6. Pennsylvania 25
7. New Jersey 23
8. Michigan 22
9. Minnesota 19
10. Virginia 19
...
33. Oregon 2
34. Rhode Island 2
35. Alabama 1
36. Delaware 1
37. Iowa 1
38. Maine 1
39. South Carolina 1
40. Utah 1

Most managers will be familiar with their alma mater and a few grads they've worked with.

Let me think...in my working experience I've worked closely with/reported to grads from:
Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Rice, Colorado, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly SLO, Rose Hulman, WUSTL, UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford and a high school graduate...I couldn't begin to tell you how to rate their alma maters based on my experience...all had their strengths and weaknesses (mostly due to character/habits vs. smarts).

The high school graduate was one of the wittiest/hardest working guys I've met and has very savvy business sense...He's done very well for himself...college can be an overrated experience.

florus

Why not have the top graduate and professional schools provide an assessment (wouldn't be 'peer' of course) of the quality of the students they admit?