The full-time graduate business programs at Chapman University in Orange returned to a national ranking this year, and University of California-Irvine said graduates of its graduate business program ranked in the same report found improved job prospects from the year earlier.
In all, the two universities’ graduate programs in business and law trail those at other schools in Southern California and statewide, but administrators found silver linings in the latest rankings.
The U.S. News & World Report survey of full-time U.S. graduate programs in business and law was released March 10.
“It’s our best result ever,” said Chapman Chancellor Daniele Struppa of the No. 83 ranking of the university’s business school after being unranked last year. The list ranks 100 schools.
He attributed the jump to Chapman increasing scholarship support so that more good students opt to attend.
“Whenever you improve, it’s because you invest in the quality of students and in selectivity,” he said.
UC Irvine’s full-time MBA program came in 30 spots above Chapman, down four notches from last year to No. 53.
Gerardo Okhuysen, associate dean for MBA programs, said it’s a good problem to have: Rankings are based in part on students finding employment within 90 days of graduation. For last year’s list, 92% had taken jobs, he said, but this time the number was 82%.
This time, “92% had offers, but with an improving economy they didn’t necessarily accept or begin in 90 days,” he said.
U.S. News & World Report ranks the top 100 full-time graduate business programs and the top 150 full-time law schools based on criteria that also include test scores and grade point average.
It ranks part-time law and business programs and executive MBA offerings on separate lists, surveying several hundred graduate schools in all.
Other rankings released last week cover graduate programs in engineering, medicine, nursing and education.
All Business
Chapman and UCI’s graduate business programs ranked below most other schools across the state that made the list. Numerous schools in California and elsewhere are listed but unranked by U.S. News.
Stanford University came in at No. 1. UC institutions in Berkeley, Los Angeles and Davis, as well as the University of Southern California, also outranked both OC schools. University of California-San Diego ranked below UCI but above Chapman.
“We are younger in terms of effort” in areas that contribute most to rankings, Struppa said.
Forty percent of a graduate program’s ranking is based on its reputation with deans at other business schools and with corporate recruiters, he said, with 35% on employment and salary figures, and 25% on graduate entrance exam scores and grade point averages.
“People’s perceptions are hard to change,” Struppa said. “Improvement is slow, based largely on word of mouth.”
He lauded business school Dean Reggie Gilyard for his efforts in that area. Chapman and Gilyard hosted the annual deans’ conference for the Western Association of Collegiate Schools of Business in October, bringing in local business executives to lead sessions.
“We expect we will continue our ascent,” Struppa said.
Okhuysen said UCI increased its standing in its part-time MBA program in which students are fully employed. UCI ranked No. 37, up from No. 46 on that list.
“For that list, [U.S. News] looks more at salary increases,” Okhuysen said.
He said rankings help UCI learn what works and what needs to be improved but that the school has its own goals.
“We have to ask if it’s consistent with … what we’re trying to achieve.”
Students do the same, according to Okhuysen.
“There’s no substitute for students asking, ‘Which of these schools is the best fit for me?’ ”
He said rankings make business schools more visible, boosting applications from highly qualified students.
“We want 30 more outstanding students,” he said. “But to get those, we have to get 300 more applications.”
Legal Analysis
UCI’s law school made the rankings in its first year of eligibility for the 6-year-old institution.
“Just being ranked for the first time will increase our applications dramatically,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the school’s dean.
The school achieved American Bar Association accreditation in June and debuted on the U.S. News list at No. 30, the highest debut ranking for any law school in the list’s history.
“It was the highest by far,” Chemerinsky said.
The school expects to double the number of applicants in the next two to three years based on its debut ranking, according to Janice Austin, assistant dean for admissions.
It received about 1,600 applications for the 2014-15 academic year, accepted about 350, and enrolled about 90.
Chemerinsky had marked a goal of debuting in the top 20 but said he was pleased with the results.
“I still very much believe we’ll be in the top 20,” he said. “It bodes well for the future.”
He said the law school was fourth-best in the country in terms of student-to-faculty ratio, 11th-best in its clinical programs, and No. 23 of 25 ranked on one of the law specialty U.S. News lists: this one covering schools that teach intellectual property law.
He pointed to employment numbers that were due last Friday for next year’s U.S. News list: 84% of UCI’s 2014 graduates were employed in jobs that require a law degree within nine months of earning their degrees—the cutoff period for law school rankings—compared with 67% the previous year.
“Employment nine months after graduation is 20% of the ranking,” he said. “Just that will boost it. We will move up significantly next year.”
Chapman’s 20-year-old law school improved from No. 140 to No. 127.
Struppa said, “I suspect we will keep improving there, as well,” noting that the bar pass rate for Chapman law school graduates is 76%, better than some California schools that placed higher than it in the rankings. Last year, its bar pass rate was 77%.
“If I were a student, a degree in law would be about bar pass, because that’s the only way you’re going to be a lawyer, and employment would be next.”
In California, UCI’s law program ranked below only UC schools in Berkeley and Los Angeles, and USC.
Chapman came in below those schools; UC law schools at Davis and Hastings; and programs at Pepperdine and Santa Clara. It ranked above the University of San Francisco.
