Marshall falls in rankings, but No. 1 in student satisfaction

Though it achieved a No. 1 ranking in undergraduate satisfaction, USC’s Marshall School of Business fell four spots to No. 21 in BusinessWeek’s annual undergraduate business school rankings announced last week.

The rankings were compiled by the magazine along with College Prowler, a website that uses a formulaic methodology as well as student input to grade quantitative and qualitative aspects of American universities.

“We look at things across the board such as faculty to student ratio, overall academics, how many parking spaces there are, etc.,” said Luke Skurman, CEO of College Prowler. “And then there’s the qualitative side, where we ask students for their input on these various aspects of campus life.”

According to BusinessWeek’s evaluation of its rankings, USC achieved its position in the undergraduate satisfaction list based on its favorable location, “top-notch” career facilities and the supportive alumni network, which it described as “a valuable commodity, especially in light of the current job market.”

BusinessWeek also cited the faculty as being one of Marshall’s greatest strengths.

Abby Chao, a freshman majoring in business administration, said she agreed with the magazine’s evaluation of the school.

“I’m only a freshman, but I know that Marshall has a lot of great programs, and they ensure that you don’t get ‘lost’ even though it’s the largest [professional] school at USC,” she said.

William Crookston, a professor of entrepreneurial studies, said he was also enthusiastic about the rankings.

“It’s terrific — I’m not excited about being 21st overall, but having a positive student satisfaction is great, and I believe it,” he said.

Having graduated from Marshall himself with a bachelor’s and a master’s in 1967 and 1974, respectively, Crookston was able to compare Marshall’s present goals and achievements with those from his time at USC.

“At that time, there was no need to compete nationally; we dominated the West Coast region in

undergraduate education at Marshall,” Crookston said. “Now we’ve got pretty strict competitors, but the overall goal of Marshall is the same as it was when I was here.”

Crookston also said the school could still improve its overall performance in rankings by turning some of the primary focus from master’s candidates to the

undergraduate students.

“It’s important to keep the students, or ‘products,’ happy,” Crookston said. “Though we can’t just let them slide through — it has to be rigorous. However, we must apparently be doing something right. Number one in student satisfaction is terrific.”