If you've looked into an MBA at all, you may have looked at some of the rankings that are out there. Currently, US News and World Report, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal are the most popular rankings out there. If you compare the three rankings, you'll see some differences in both methodology and results, but you'll see similar trends.

The answer to the question "Are MBA rankings important?" is yes...and no. Yes, because a number of schools have well-deserved reputations for academic excellence (and for producing business leaders). No, because the difference between, say 1 and 2, or 6 and 8 in a given ranking is probably not significant. As with law and medicine, it's useful to think of a tiering system, where the top 10 are the first tier, maybe the top 25 are next, then the top 50, and then, well, everybody else. This leads to a lot of hand-wringing among deans about why their school is 11, and how they can get to 10. But the lines are fuzzy. The number 11 school is probably about as good as number 10.

The tiers matter. People who make hiring decisions will have at least a rough idea of what they consider top-tier. Harvard, though not always at the top of the different rankings, is still the gold standard for an MBA; their various review publications are extremely influential and they have a ton of alumni in positions of power across the world. Also, at Harvard, you will have the opportunity to make connections with people of extreme wealth and power; these could be useful!

Pretty much any other ivy-league MBA will be well-respected. Also MIT's Sloane School, Northwestern's Kellogg School, the Univeristy of Michigan, and a few others we can't think of off the tops of our heads.

The second tier is even fuzzier, but it includes a lot of programs that are perfectly good academically, but maybe haven't produced quite as many "future leaders of America." These schools may be more regional, part of athletic conferences such as the Big Ten, Big Twelve, SEC, etc. After that, you start to get into smaller schools, more "trade" oriented schools, and schools you've just never heard of. There are even accredited on-line programs.

The reason rankings matter is that people think they matter. For a long time, Goldman Sachs had a policy of only hiring graduates of Ivy League schools. Other prestigious firms will have lists of "acceptable" schools. Whether this is fair or not, it is fairly common; these firms are simply playing the percentages.

If you have a good idea of what subject area you will major or specialize in, it's a good idea to look at schools' departmental or subject rankings as well as their overall. US News and World Report publishes its basic information on-line (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/mba/mbaindex_brief.php). Take a look at NYU's Stern School of Business, for example: although only ranked 13th overall, it is ranked 3rd in finance. So, if you plan to major in finance, Stern starts to look more attractive.

In short, rankings are something you have to pay some attention to, but try to use them for grouping, not for obsessing over a certain number.