Merrimack was ranked 11th nationally last year when the list was known as The Financial Engineer, and 15th in 2016 after finishing 23rd in 2015, said Girard School of Business interim Dean Julie Fitzmaurice. Merrimack came in just behind the University of Southern California and just ahead of Pepperdine University this year.
TFE’s methodology included the weighted mean GMAT scores, the mean starting salaries and bonuses of graduates, mean undergraduate GPAs, acceptance rates, students who had jobs by the time they graduated and students who landed full-time jobs within three months of graduation.
“I’m very happy,” Fitzmaurice said. “It’s very gratifying for such a small, select business school that just started its graduate program five years ago to be recognized.”
Merrimack’s MSM program is a one-year degree that was designed using the best parts of the 20 best MBA programs in the country, she said.
“We looked at the content and looked at what they do and decided if we’re going to launch master’s programs they must start off being completely different from undergraduate programs,” Fitzmaurice said. “They weren’t envisioned as continuations of our undergraduate programs.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology was first in this year’s rankings. Merrimack finished higher than Boston University at 11, Catholic University of America at 12, the University of Notre Dame at 14 and Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 18.
