The subject of rankings comes up a lot with MBA applicants. I’m always surprised by the extreme interest in rankings, which are, after all, rather fleeting. You may have your sights set on the “No. 1″ school, but a decade from now, that same stellar program might have slipped to number 10.

For that reason, I don’t like to encourage clients to focus too heavily on rankings when they’re making their MBA program selections, since placing a heavy emphasis on rankings can actually become a distraction for some applicants. Have you ever wondered how major news websites like Bloomberg Businessweek come up with their rankings in the first place? Although the methodology is always explained for interested readers, I doubt too many applicants research the subject in detail.

Earlier this week, Conrad Chua of the Cambridge MBA Admissions Blog shared his perspective of the rankings process from the school’s point of view. I found his comments quite informative and wanted to share a few of the highlights here.

Chua points out that many surveys, like that of Businessweek mentioned above, are extremely U.S.-focused, so that the data gathered naturally skews against MBA programs located abroad. Participating in these rankings are also unbelievably  time-consuming for the admissions officers. Schools are asked to submit answers to more than 100 questions, says Chua, who notes that there are 200 cells to fill in for the salary data information alone, and that just accounts for five of the 100 questions.

The statistically-minded among you will be asking yourself what algorithm could combine so much disparate data into a score that can be used to rank different schools. And the simple answer is that none of this information matters in the final analysis because Business Week does not use any of the data that the school provides.

Forty-five percent of the Business Week ranking is determined by student survey responses, 45% from a survey of recruiters, and 10% from the number of publications, books and articles published by the school’s faculty.

At the heart of the issue, Chua says, is whether it makes sense at all to rank one school as being better than another in such a one-dimensional sense as rankings.

While rankings can inform your decision of where to apply, I think applicants would do well to focus more on a program’s culture, size, or the strength of its alumni network. When Stacy Blackman Consulting surveyed 652 business school applicants in February 2012 to find out what matters most to today’s applicants and why, fewer than 12 percent of survey respondents considered culture a top priority, and a mere handful noted that program content was the most important factor influencing the decision to attend a particular business school. I find these results troubling, because it means people aren’t paying enough attention to the program that’s truly a good fit for them.

As for Chua, he says, “I would encourage people to ask what is the objective(s) of an MBA education (and it is still an education). That’s a more enriching discussion than why alums in the East Coast from one school has a higher median salary than alums in the Pacific Northwest from another school.”

Wondering which MBA programs boast the best track record for MBA job placement? The results of Bloomberg Businessweek‘s recently released study of job placement rates among the top-30 U.S. business schools may surprise you.

With only a tiny fraction of 2012 graduates still out of work three months after graduation, the top spot goes to Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, which saw just 2 percent of students without job offers within that time frame.

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business ranks second, and I’m happy to see my alma mater Kellogg School of Management nab third place. Only 4 percent of Kellogg graduates had no job offers within three months of earning their degrees—a steady improvement over the 6 percent without an offer in 2011 and the 10 percent in 2010.

Top Ten Business Schools in 2012 for MBA Job Placement

1. Emory University: Goizueta Business School

2. University of California at Berkeley: Haas School of Business

3. Northwestern University: Kellogg School of Management

4. MIT Sloan School of Management

5. Columbia Business School

6. Rice University: Jones Graduate School of Business

7. University of Chicago Booth School of Business

8. Indiana University: Kelley School of Business

9. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School

10. Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and Harvard Business School, tied

Several stellar programs make up the other end of the spectrum, which will no doubt come as a shock to many readers. In the bottom five, the study reports Yale School of Management is 25th, Stanford Graduate School of Business is 26th, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School at 27th, UM Ross School of Business at 28th, and Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in 29th place.

The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California came in last at no. 30. Twenty-three percent of USC business school graduates did not have a job offer within three months of earning their degree.

According to the business publication, consulting was the most popular industry, followed closely by financial services. Other hot industries for graduates this year were technology, consumer products, and energy.

Meanwhile, employers such as Boston Consulting Group, Amazon.com, and McKinsey were active on the recruiting scene, snapping up many of this year’s most promising MBA graduates and ranking as top employers on many business school campuses, Bloomberg Businessweek reveals.

Editors note that the job placement report refers to job offers received within three months. Though some may argue that jobs offered isn’t the same as job offers accepted, associate editor Louis Lavelle points out that at three months out, the percentage of offers and acceptances is virtually identical at every school. “There aren’t a whole lot of MBAs sitting around collecting offers all summer without jumping on one,” Lavelle says.

The Economist announced its 2012 full-time MBA rankings yesterday, and the Chicago Booth School of Business came out way ahead in one area the MBA students polled believe is most important:  Booth is a program that opens an array of new career opportunities.

Despite Booth’s reputation for finance and “super quants”, The Economist found it to be a well-rounded MBA program, with graduates gushing about finding employment in the widest range of industries, and students believing the Chicago Booth career services were top-notch.

Last year’s first-place winner, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, slipped into second-position in 2012, and Darden School of Business crept up a notch to third place this time around. Some schools made big moves in this latest round of rankings, with Cornell’s Johnson School jumping ten spots to come in 15th, and Switzerland’s IMD dropping into 10th place after coming in third in 2011.

The Economist Top Ten Full-Time MBA Programs

1. Chicago Booth School of Business
2. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
3. Darden School of Business
4. Harvard Business School
5. Columbia Business School
6. UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
7. MIT Sloan School of Management
8. Stanford Graduate School of Business
9. IESE Business School
10. IMD

Looking at an initial selection of 135 leading business schools around the world, the ranking criteria The Economist uses is based on how well the program opens new career opportunities (35%), one’s personal development/education experience (35%), increase in salary (20%), and the potential to network (10%).

Data were collected during spring 2012 using two web-based questionnaires, one for business schools and one for students and recent graduates. A total of 15,550 students and graduates participated.

The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine have announced the results of the Princeton Review’s annual survey of the top entrepreneurship programs in the nation. From more than 2,000 schools reviewed, Babson College in Massachusetts captured the #1 spot on both the undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship program ranking lists this year.

“It’s the age of the everyday entrepreneur,” says Amy Cosper, VP and editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine.

The polling of school administrators took place from April through June 2012 and employed a wide range of data to evaluate the programs and tally the rankings. The survey looked at the schools’ levels of commitment to entrepreneurship inside and outside the classroom, the percentage of their faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors, and the number and reach of their mentorship programs.

Princeton Review also considered their funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects, and their support for school-sponsored business plan competitions.

Top 10 Graduate Programs for Entrepreneurship

1. Babson College, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship

2. University of Michigan, Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies

3. Bringham Young University, Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

4. Rice University, Jones Graduate School Entrepreneurship Program

5. University of Texas at Austin, Herb Kelleher Center of Entrepreneurship

6. Washington University in St. Louis, Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

7. University of Chicago, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

8. University of Virginia, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

9. University of Arizona, McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship

10. University of Washington, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

“Thanks to a mash-up of economic forces and rising business stars finally getting mainstream play, entrepreneurship has evolved from an alternative ‘career’ to a practical choice for the wider set,” Cosper adds. “Many with the passion already in play are looking to school to get started right. Our annual ranking gives them the perfect kick-off point to finding the program that can nurture their dreams into reality.”

While English may still be the language that dominates the business world, Spanish is the second-most widely spoken native language worldwide after Mandarin Chinese. But getting Hispanic applicants to the table isn’t easy, as representation on campus and outreach efforts vary widely.

Earlier this week, Hispanic Business revealed its annual ranking of the top business schools, based on the effectiveness of these programs in attracting Hispanic students. Schools were ranked in terms of Hispanic diversity according to the following criteria:

• Percent of Hispanic student enrollment.
• Percent of Hispanic faculty members.
• Percent of degrees conferred to Hispanics.
• Progressive programs aimed at increasing enrollment of Hispanic students.

Of the top ten B-schools highlighted by Hispanic Business, six fall into the elite category and rank highly across the board.

1. University of Texas at El Paso
2. UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
3. University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management
4. UT McCombs School of Business
5. NYU Stern School of Business
6. UV Darden School of Business
7. University of Texas at San Antonio
8. University of Miami School of Business
9. Yale School of Management
10. Stanford Graduate School of Business

As more and more companies conduct business internationally, the ability to communicate effectively and with sensitivity across cultural boundaries is crucial. Editors at Hispanic Business seem to appreciate the efforts made by the above schools, but point out that more needs to be done to “prime the pipeline from the community to the classroom” to make sure Hispanic students have access to all of the resources and opportunities that are out there.