????異常情況是統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)分析常見的問題，而Poets&Quants的系統(tǒng)可以減少任何單一排名中出現(xiàn)的異常,。正是這些奇怪的異常情況導(dǎo)致《美國新聞與世界報道》和《彭博商業(yè)周刊》的排名出現(xiàn)了較大的分歧,。例如,，在《商業(yè)周刊》的排名中，維克森林大學(xué)（Wake Forest University）商學(xué)院排在第11位,，但《美國新聞與世界報道》卻將其排在第34位。而《美國新聞與世界報道》將加州大學(xué)伯克利分校排在了第2位,，《商業(yè)周刊》卻把它排在了第15位,。

????其他學(xué)院在兩個排名中的差異更加顯著。以東北大學(xué)（Northeastern University）達(dá)莫爾麥金商學(xué)院（D’Amore-McKim School of Business）為例,。它在《美國新聞與世界報道》的排名中排在第72位,，但《商業(yè)周刊》卻將其排在第19位，相差了53個名次,。而著名的麻省理工學(xué)院（MIT）斯隆商學(xué)院（Sloan School of Management）在《美國新聞與世界報道》中與另外兩所學(xué)院并列第二,，僅次于沃頓商學(xué)院。但在《商業(yè)周刊》今年的排名中,，斯隆商學(xué)院竟然未能上榜,。去年，麻省理工學(xué)院從前10名下滑至第19位,，主要原因是斯隆商學(xué)院的商業(yè)專業(yè)本科學(xué)生少于125人,，僅占本科生總?cè)藬?shù)的2%。而其他學(xué)院都有數(shù)千名商業(yè)專業(yè)本科生,?！渡虡I(yè)周刊》給出的解釋是：“如果潛在雇主希望雇傭大量商業(yè)專業(yè)學(xué)生，而斯隆商學(xué)院的學(xué)生人數(shù)過少,，就不值得去那里舉行校園招聘,。”

????為什么兩個排名會出現(xiàn)如此顯著的差異,？罪魁禍?zhǔn)资遣煌呐琶椒?。《美國新聞與世界報道》的結(jié)果以雜志對商學(xué)院院長和資深教學(xué)人員的調(diào)查結(jié)果為依據(jù),，許多人會根據(jù)課程的聲譽進(jìn)行投票,，而不是課程質(zhì)量。受訪者被要求從1（無價值）到5（優(yōu)秀）對他們熟悉的所有課程質(zhì)量進(jìn)行評分,。

????《商業(yè)周刊》的方法則更加復(fù)雜,，也更具包容性。它的排名以對學(xué)生,、雇主和學(xué)院的調(diào)查結(jié)果為依據(jù),。僅學(xué)生調(diào)查部分就包括44個問題，分別涉及教學(xué)質(zhì)量,、師資力量,、學(xué)院設(shè)施,、職業(yè)服務(wù)等。922位受訪雇主中,，有301人完成了公司招聘人員調(diào)查,，回復(fù)率為32.6%。此外,，《商業(yè)周刊》還根據(jù)學(xué)院和學(xué)生提供的數(shù)據(jù),，嘗試對學(xué)院的學(xué)術(shù)質(zhì)量進(jìn)行評估，采用的要素包括最新一屆學(xué)生的SAT平均分,，以及師生比例等,。

????兩種評分系統(tǒng)均有各自的缺點?！睹绹侣勁c世界報道》被指責(zé)其排名就是一場“人氣大賽”,，因為它只是根據(jù)幾百人的意見就得出了最終的排名結(jié)果。而《商業(yè)周刊》調(diào)查的學(xué)生知道他們的回答將被用于學(xué)院排名,，因此,，最終得到的可能也只是一片叫好聲。

????Poets&Quants將《商業(yè)周刊》的排名,、《美國新聞與世界報道》的本科商業(yè)課程排名,，以及《美國新聞與世界報道》的美國大學(xué)排名進(jìn)行了公平地對比，并將三個排名與一種計分系統(tǒng)相結(jié)合,，得出了每所學(xué)院的基礎(chǔ)指數(shù),。以下是10大本科商業(yè)課程。

????The Poets&Quants system tends to diminish anomalies in any one ranking, a common problem with statistical analysis. Those odd effects lead to some fairly divergent results between the U.S. News and Bloomberg BusinessWeek rankings. While Wake Forest University’s business school is ranked No. 11 by BusinessWeek, for example, U.S. News puts it at No. 34. And while U.S. News gives UC-Berkeley’s business school a highly impressive No. 2 ranking, BusinessWeek ranks the same school at No. 15.

????There are even more dramatic differences among other schools. Consider Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. U.S. News has it at No. 72;BusinessWeek gave it 19th place. That’s a difference of 53 places. Then, there is MIT’s prestigious Sloan School of Management. U.S. News has it in a three-way tie for second place, behind only Wharton. Shockingly, however, the school failed to make this year’s BusinessWeek ranking at all. The year before, MIT fell out of the top 10 to 19th place largely because Sloan has fewer than 125 undergraduate business majors, about 2% of its undergraduate student body. Other schools have thousands of students studying business. “For a potential employer looking specifically to hire a large number of business majors, this isn’t enough students to make a campus visit worthwhile,” explained the publication.

????Why are such dramatic differences so common among the two ranking systems? The inconsistencies can be chalked up to significantly different ranking methodologies. U.S. News’ results are entirely based on the magazine’s survey of business school deans and senior faculty, many of whom vote on the basis of a program’s reputation, not its true quality. They are asked to rate the quality of all programs they were familiar with on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).

????The BusinessWeek methodology is much more complicated and inclusive. It is based on surveys of students, employers, and schools. The student portion of the survey alone includes 44 questions about teaching quality, access to faculty, school facilities, career services, and more. The corporate recruiter survey was completed by 301 of the 922 surveyed employers, a response rate of 32.6%. An attempt to size up a school’s academic quality, using such factors as average SAT scores for the latest entering class and the ratio of faculty to students, is also used based on both school- and student-provided data.

????Both systems have their flaws. U.S. News has been accused of conducting a popularity contest with its ranking because it is simply based on the opinions of a few hundred people. By surveying students who know their answers will be used to rank their schools, BusinessWeek risks getting little more than cheerleader responses.

????Poets&Quants weighed three rankings equally—the BusinessWeek list, the U.S. News ranking of undergraduate business programs, and the U.S. News list of nationally ranked universities, combining these lists with a scoring system that resulted in an underlying index number for each school. Below are the top 10 programs.