UA’s Manderson Graduate School Among 15 Listed in Princeton Review

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Manderson Graduate School of Business at The University of Alabama is among the 15 graduate schools of business named to The Princeton Review’s Second Annual “Student Opinion Honors for Business Schools” list in the marketing, accounting and operations categories.

The lists are reported in the April 2010 issue of Entrepreneur magazine, now on newsstands. The Honors salute the 15 graduate schools of business that were most highly rated by students evaluating their MBA program’s preparation in specific categories. The six categories are: accounting, finance, general management, global management, marketing and operations.

“This is a great testament to the strength of our faculty and to the esteem in which it is held by the students,” said Susan West, director of the Manderson Graduate School of Business and a graduate of the MBA program.  “We have a wonderful graduate school faculty across the spectrum,” West said, “not just in accounting and marketing. Their publishing record is superb, but more than that, they are excellent teachers who care deeply about their students and work hard to bring them a real-world education.

“The listing also speaks very highly of the students who provide a rich exchange of ideas in the classroom,” West said, noting that this is the second consecutive year the programs have been listed in the top 15 nationally.

The Princeton Review compiled the lists using data from its national survey of 19,000 MBA students attending 301 business schools profiled in its book, Best 301 Business Schools: 2010 Edition (Random House/Princeton Review, $22.99) published in October 2009.

The 80-question survey asked students to report on their classroom and campus experiences at their schools and evaluate their MBA programs in several areas. The  Princeton Review tallied the “Student Opinion Honors” lists based on students’ assessments of how well (on a five-point scale) they felt their business school courses had prepared them to succeed in each of the six areas.

The business schools appear in alphabetical order on the lists, and are not ranked 1 to 15.  In addition to appearing in the magazine, the lists will also be posted on the Web sites of both Entrepreneur and The Princeton Review.