What to Make of The Financial Times 2014 Global MBA Rankings

The Financial Times released its 2014 global MBA rankings! Read on for the list, the facts, the analysis, and the sources. The List: 2014 Rank 3  Year (Avg)   School Country   1 1 Harvard Business School USA 2 2 Stanford Graduate School of Business USA 3 4 London Business School UK 4 3 U Penn Wharton USA 5 5 Columbia Business School USA 6 6 INSEAD France/Singapore 7 8 IESE Business School Spain 8 8 MIT Sloan USA 9 10 Chicago Booth USA 10 15 Yale School of Management USA 11 12 UC Berkeley Haas USA 12 15 IMD Switzerland 13 11 IE Business School Spain 14 11 Hong Kong UST Business School China 15 15 Northwestern Kellogg USA 16 19 Cambridge Judge UK 17 17 Duke Fuqua USA 17 18 NYU Stern USA 17 19 CEIBS China 20 18 Dartmouth Tuck USA To truly understand the rankings, much less use them, please see the methodology so you’ll know what’s being ranked. While there are twenty factors considered in the FT rankings, the FT methodology puts the most weight on increase in salary in $US PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) and weighted salary in $US PPP. Poets and Quants criticizes the FT rankings for absurd results in calculating â€Å"Value for Money† as well as for having too many criteria and several criteria that really don’t reflect the quality of education. Others say that it is biased against U.S. programs. Regardless of the criticism’s validity, the FT ranking is arguably the most cited ranking of global programs because it compares U.S. and international programs in one ranking and seems to do a better job of it than the alternatives. That prominence doesn’t mean these rankings are Gospel. It does mean you have a lot of data in a format where you can easily compare MBA programs from around the world on designated criteria. The Facts: Here are some fun facts about FT’s 2014 rankings: †¢Ã‚  7 of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20 programs ranked are US schools. †¢Ã‚  Big jumpers this year include Boston University’s business school and Washington Forster, which each jumped 20 spots, to 75th and 58th place, respectively. Another big US jumper this year was USC Marshall which jumped 17 spots to 65th place. UNC Kenan Flagler jumped up 12 slots this year from its 3-year average rank, moving from #45 to #33. †¢Ã‚  The biggest losers this year include Dublin’s Smurfit School (dropped 27 spots to 91st place) and Vlerick Business School (fell 16 places to 100th place), as well as the schools which disappeared off the list entirely: U of Iowa’s Tippie School (74th last year), Korea University Business School (86th last year), Incae Business School in Costa Rica (90th last year), Case Western’s Weatherhead School (94th last year), and others. †¢Ã‚  Newcomers to the list include: UC Davis (98th), Wake Forest (94th), BYU’s Marriott School (93rd), and ESMT European School of Management and Technology in Germany (89th). †¢Ã‚  In terms of geographic representation, the top 20 schools are all in the US, UK, Europe (France, Spain, Switzerland), China, and Singapore, but further down the list, other countries gain their spots: India comes in at 30th place with the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad; SDA Bocconi in 31st place represents Italy; South Korea appears in 45th place with Sungkyunkwan University’s GSB; Canada’s first school on the list is Toronto Rotman at 51st place; Portugal follows with The Lisbon MBA in 52nd place (new to list); South Africa’s U. of Cape Town GSB comes in at 59th place; in the 62nd slot we have Australia’s Australian Graduate School of Management; and Brazil’s Coppead is in 79th place. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  The city with the highest concentration of schools in the top 100 is (of course) Boston with six top b-schools – Harvard (1), MIT Sloan (8), Hult International Business School (61), BU School of Management (75), Boston College Carroll (82), and Babson Olin (95). The Analysis: While it’s fun to look at the changes – who climbed and who sank – for me the real lessons from this ranking are: 1.  The top programs move and change very slowly. That lack of drama in these rankings is a better reflection of reality than the gyrations one sees outside the top twenty. Significant change takes time so sharp jumps and dives probably mean nothing. Sustained change in ranking has greater credibility – if you value the same qualities as the FT. 2.  The one point made repeatedly in the commentary on this ranking, and it is the same conclusion I draw from both the FT ranking and the Forbes ranking, which both emphasize ROI and increase in salary, is this: The MBA education at top programs provides a solid return on investment for most students. The MBAs surveyed for the FT rankings started their MBA in 2008, just as the Great Recession hit, and graduated in 2010. These MBAs still report on average a 100% increase in salary over what they were making before they started business school. There are obviously critics of graduate business education, specifically the MBA, and those detractors either believe an MBA isn’t valuable or that the value has declined. I agree with the latter group. However, the questions for today’s applicants are: 1.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Given my current professional background and salary and my anticipated salary after I earn an MBA, do the anticipated financial rewards plus increased job satisfaction justify the investment (both out of pocket and opportunity costs)?† The fact that those entering b-school ten or twenty years ago could anticipate a higher ROI is irrelevant. It is merely a historical curiosity and for you an unfortunate one. 2.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Is the full-time MBA – or whatever flavor you are considering – the optimal way for me to attain my MBA goals?† FT, to its credit, also has an article on those claiming the MBA is not worth the effort. Sometimes they are right. Each one of you individually needs to examine your circumstances and goals to see if for you the MBA is an expensive waste of time and effort, or if for you it is likely to be worth both. Clearly, most of the people surveyed by Forbes, the Financial Times, and GMAC are in the latter group. In this video   Della Bradshaw, FT’s Business Education Editor, discusses the results of this year’s FT Global MBA rankings including the finding that MBAs in the class of 2010 are now enjoying salaries double those they were earning before they entered b-school. The Sources †¢Ã‚  FT Global MBA Ranking 2014 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  FT: MBA Ranking 2014: Key Methodology †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  FT: Big Names Dominate FT MBA Ranking Top Spots †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  PQ: Winners Losers in 2014 FT MBA Ranking †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Accepted: 4 Ways You Should NOT Use the MBA Rankings †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Accepted: MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

The Magic of Cinema Fate and Free Will in Stranger Than Fiction - Literature Essay Samples

The medium of film has no limits, showcasing engaging characters, captivating story, and being able to manipulate an audience’s emotions towards a specific theme explored, to the point that us as an audience are aware of the manipulation in the film. This is seen in Marc Forster’s ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, where he incorporates language and film techniques in the film to engage and manipulate the audience’s emotions towards the key theme of fate or free will. In the opening scene, we are introduced to a â€Å"story about a man named Harold Crick, and his wristwatch†, through narration, confirming that the protagonist, Harold, is within a narrative, unknowingly a part of a chain of events, thereby establishing his character as a symbol of fate. The motif of duty and routine, as symbolized by Harold’s wristwatch, is introduced through a close-up, with the watch sitting on Harold’s bedside table. â€Å"Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would brush each of his thirty-two teeth, seventy-six times†, conveys Harold’s life as being ruled by routine, and manipulates us as an audience to feel sympathetic towards his character. The depiction of an uneventful life through his importance of numbers is conveyed through an over-the-shoulder shot, where we see he is browsing a magazine on calculators, and the use of digital and mathematical imagery showing patterns, mathematics, ratios etc. This shows Harold’s thinking process, and manipulates the audience to feel discouraged about his life ruled by numbers, routine, and fate. Finally, Harold is revealed to, â€Å"live a life of solitude. He would walk home alone, he would eat alone, and at precisely eleven-thirteen PM every night, Harold would go to bed alone.† This again manipulates the audience to feel sympathy for Harold, having been introduced as a symbol of fate with no real purpose in life besides his job, numbers and routine. The opposite of Harold, and fate, is introduced in a following scene as Ana Pascal, who is presented as a symbol of free will through her charitable and independent nature, being socially aware, and most importantly her occupation as a baker, with her baking and cookies being a symbol for love. In her introduction, she is being audited by Harold, failing to pay her taxes because of personal beliefs, and immediately both characters are represented as polar opposites. Her aggressive nature towards Harold is shown through her angrily shouting, â€Å"Taxman†, showing her disgust towards government and hierarchy. Her rebellious views towards tax, and the amount spent on military, are clear when she states, â€Å"I didn’t steal from the government; I just didn’t pay you entirely.† Harold argues that she can’t â€Å"not pay your taxes†, but Ana simply responds, â€Å"Yes, I can.† Her views are most powerfully expressed when Harold asks whethe r she is part of an anarchist group, with her asking, â€Å"Anarchists have a group? Do they assemble? Wouldn’t that completely defeat the purpose.† This use of dialogue, rhetorical question and irony compares the government to an anarchist group, and shows Ana’s personal views. Forster’s characterisation of Ana immediately manipulates the audience to be fond of her due to her independent, fun and friendly personality, while being able to connect with the general audience in regards to her social views, and manipulates the audience to be supportive of free will. Following introducing the symbols of fate and free will, Forster experiments by showing both working cohesively, which is seen when Harold makes a move on Ana, due to his growing feelings towards her. Forster uses the romantic film clichà © ironically, with Harold professing he brought Ana, â€Å"Flours. I brought you flours.† This clever play on words creates a beautiful moment shared between the two, manipulating the audience to feel supportive of the characters. Forster’s choice of using silence in the background, mid-shots, two-person mid-shots, pairing angles and slow editing helps depict the scene as very intimate. When Ana states that there’s rules against a possible relationship, Harold tells her that he â€Å"doesn’t care†, â€Å"because I want you.† Forster’s use of techniques and dialogue manipulates the audience into supporting the relationship, feeling emotions of awe, romance, and warm satisfaction, while also connecting to the key theme of fate or free will, with Forster ultimately manipulating the audience into supporting his idea that fate and free will can work together. In the climax, rather than presenting his concept of fate or free will physically through symbolism, Forster presents them philosophically. He uses pairing, cross-cutting editing and narration to show Ana waking up, Karen writing the protagonist’s final fate, and Harold walking towards the bus stop, while Karen’s voice informs us of Harold’s last living moments as they play out. This manipulates the audience into feeling worried for Harold, due to the building suspense, and makes the audience expect Harold’s fate to come true. The motif of the watch, symbolising duty and routine, returns in this scene through the use of a quick close-up, with Harold using it to shield himself from the impact of the bus. The key part of this scene occurs when the boy on the bike falls onto the street, with Harold sacrificing himself to save him, thereby accepting his fate. When Harold accepts his fate, however, he immediately makes his own decision, and thus exercises free will, due to Harold knowing his fate prior to it occurring. With this, Forster shows to us that it is eventually his watch, but more importantly, free will and fate, that saves Harold, manipulating the audience to accept that fate and free will work together, as without one or the other, Harold would not have survived. The true wonder of cinema is being able to control an audience’s emotions and mood towards characters, key themes and social issues, which is exercised by Forster in the specific sequences from ‘Stranger Than Fiction.’ Forster’s idea of fate or free will is cleverly explored in particular through symbolism of Harold and Ana, and it is through their characterisation that the audience are manipulated to support them, as well as the key theme. Forster has expressed his clear and wondrous ideas on fate and free will in the film, and shows how simple it is to manipulate an audience’s emotions, to the point that we are personally aware of it, and accept without hesitation.