Press "Enter" to skip to content

Voices: Stern Reactions to U.S. News Ranking4 min read

 

I have seen members of three class years work hard to engage various areas of the administration to make changes we saw as fundamental to improving Stern as an institution, and as a community. Most of those initiatives were stymied by the school’s overarching comfort with the status quo. I’m confident that this rankings mess will be resolved – but it provides an exciting and important opportunity to reevaluate the role that students can have in moving the needle. Mutual trust between the student body and administration will be key to bringing us up to the top 10 and elevating us as an institution.

Kaitlin Ofman, MBA Class of 2016

 

I believe students have every reason to be upset with the administration over the USNews rankings, but I hope students remember that rankings are only a portion of Stern’s public image.  Ultimately, it is how students, not USNews and not the administration, choose to portray the school in public that will matter.  We need to put recent events behind us in order to avoid creating the self-fulfilling prophecy that Stern students are mediocre. We need to remind ourselves we go to one of the most respected MBA programs in the world.

Nicholas Salzman, MBA Class of 2017

 

We have an opportunity to transition from frustration to optimism. My hope is we can turn our energy into something productive – to galvanize the entire community into making some much needed changes so that Stern can become an even better place, both on campus and in the rankings.

Sarah Iz, MBA Class of 2017 

 

It seems that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Based on the reaction, I think there were some pent up frustrations that came to a head with this incident. This is a great opportunity to put into practice what is taught in our strategy and change management courses: to unify the students, alumni, faculty, and administration around a common cause not only to address this issue in the short term, but also to take Stern to the next level in the long term. What this vision is and how it will be communicated are yet to be seen, but the town halls and conversations beginning to take place are certainly a starting point.

Alexander Gorman, MBA Class of 2016

 

While the mistake that led to our precipitous drop in the rankings is unfortunate and could definitely have an impact on applicant quality in the short term, I am not overly concerned about this incident alone having a long-term impact on the institution. What does concern me is the clear lack of communication and transparency between the administration, faculty and students, which the rankings incident helped to bring forward. We have a great opportunity to address this transparency issue now and, by doing so, position Stern to be successful long into the future. I am pleased with the response by all members of the community to address the rankings and underlying transparency issue, but we still have a long way to go.

Max Krasilovsky, MBA Class of 2017 

 

When I first heard of the U.S. News situation, I thought the ranking didn’t accurately reflect the immense support I’ve received from Stern administrators, faculty and fellow classmates. I also thought about how heartbreaking it would be if someone passed up on this life-changing opportunity because of a technical error. While the error is significant, mistakes happen and this one was out of our control as students. However, as students, we have the power to respond first with forgiveness, then resilience, to ensure the world sees Stern as the top school we all know it to be.

Lourdes Zapata, MBA Class of 2016

 

I remain incredibly proud to be part of the Stern community.  Our students inspire and teach me every day.  As an institution, we are far from perfect, but I think we keep getting more courageous, more collaborative, more disciplined, and more innovative.  And, this crisis is a powerful catalyst to keep us moving in that direction.  Truth be told, my faith in who we are and who we can be is even stronger now than it was two weeks ago.

Dolly Chugh, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations

 

–We screwed up;

–We’ve addressed the problem;

–Next

Scott Galloway, Clinical Professor of Marketing

Mission News Theme by Compete Themes.