<p>Admitone,
Sorry, but the Northeast does not have a lock on intelligence. There are plenty of talented folks and great colleges/grad schools elsewhere throughout the USA. A sample of five grad programs for each discipline is a complete joke and a very biased sample. </p>
<p>Just as people in Boston are rightfully proud of Harvard or people in Philly are proud of U Penn, so too are people in other major cities like St. Louis (Wash U), Raleigh-Durham (Duke, U North Carolina), any of the major Texas cities (U Texas, Baylor), Atlanta (Emory), Pittsburgh (U Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon), Washington DC (Georgetown), Nashville (Vanderbilt), Seattle (U Washington), etc, etc, etc. Yet none of these terrific places are included in any of the measurements. </p>
<p>Kwu,
I would respectfully disagree with your limitations. IMO, there are at least 15 (and maybe as many as 25) grad business schools that are very high quality, both in terms of students and faculty. Think about the enrollment size of these schools and then think about American business, both in terms of size and breadth. There are lots of good folks coming out of many more places than just the relative handful you cite. </p>
<p>Anyway, while we may disagree on how many and which graduate business schools belong on the “elite” list, I hope you will agree that their admissions process is heavily dominated by the applicant’s work history and not his/her undergraduate college. And that was really my more important point in # 8.</p>