UCI rises on Forbes MBA list

UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business climbed 23 spots to take

38th place in Forbes’ list of the nation’s best business schools.

The list was published online Thursday. Forbes compiles rankings

of MBA programs every two years, and this was the fourth time the

lists were published. It was the school’s best-ever position in the

Forbes ranking.

The rankings were based on estimates of how much MBA graduates

would earn five years after earning their degrees. The value of

graduates’ degrees were calculated by comparing students’ salaries

before and after attending business school. After costs like tuition

were subtracted, Forbes estimated students with an MBA from UC Irvine

would enjoy a $73,000 return on their investment.

The top school on the list was the Tuck School of Business at

Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.

Graduates from that school’s MBA program enjoy an estimated

$134,000 return on their educational investment.

In an e-mailed statement, Andy Policano, dean of UC Irvine’s

business school, said members of the university’s business program

want to teach students to become skilled managers working in an

innovation-based economy.

When students look for jobs, employers will care more about

applicants’ skills than the ranking of their business school, said

David Ankenbrandt of the Ankenbrandt Group, a Newport Beach-based

job-placement agency. He said larger and older companies are more

likely to care about where an applicant went to school than an

entrepreneurial firm.

“If you’re a Fortune 100 company, it probably means a big deal. I

deal with entrepreneurs. They ... couldn’t care less,” Ankenbrandt

said.

Business schools can help graduates make contacts, and Ankenbrandt

said real estate developers like to see a USC degree on an

applicants’ resume. For most businesses in Orange County, though,

Ankenbrandt repeated his view that knowledge matters more than where

someone went to classes.

“UC Irvine is a good program. It’s what you learn about it,” he

said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at

o7andrew.edwards@latimes.comf7.