“When HBS students don’t get their first or second choice job, they feel a need to point a finger at someone,” said Robinson. “They tend to associate their disappointment with the school.”

Clark agreed. “We always have very high recruiter rankings and comparatively lower graduate rankings,” he said. “That stems from the fact that our students have tremendously high expectations of us, which sets them up for disappointment.”

“The graduate survey is simply a measure of the students’ experience relative to their expectations,” Clark added.

Though Business Week has listed HBS between third and fifth over the last decade, many HBS students questioned the importance of these rankings.

“It’s really a number shuffle. All these surveys are volatile. It’s hard to give them credence,” Robinson said.

Sanford Kreisberg, founder of Cambridge Essay Service, an admissions consulting firm for applicants to elite business schools, dismisses the Business Week rankings.

“From an applicant’s point of view, the top three schools are still Harvard, Stanford, Wharton,” he said. “And that is not likely to change year to year, as these rankings seem to do. Those places are, and remain, the hardest to get into and have the most clout with peers.”