Peer assessment

Peer assessment is a survey score in which business-school deans, directors, and sometimes senior faculty rate other MBA programs’ academic quality. U.S. News uses a 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding) scale and tells respondents to mark “don’t know” when they cannot judge. The 2026 business methodology applies a trimmed mean and counts the peer score as 12.5% of the overall rank.

It is prestige measured by people who run rival programs.

How it is measured

U.S. News asks two recipients per school in the business survey. Schools that skipped the statistical survey can still receive a peer score; their ratings of others may not count. The trimmed mean drops the highest and lowest ratings to blunt vendettas and homers.

Because the same people vote every year and because few deans deeply know 130 programs, scores move slowly. That stickiness is why informal clusters like M7 persist even when a placement year is noisy.

Example: School A jumps 8 places on starting salary and stays flat at 4.2 peer. School B is flat on salary and rises 0.1 on peer. Next year’s overall table may still prefer B’s reputation. Applicants who only read salary will not see why.

How it differs

Recruiter assessment is a separate U.S. News survey of people who hire. FT uses alumni surveys and research counts, not a dean 1–5. A class profile is a fact sheet, not a peer score.

Common errors

Treating 4.4 vs 4.3 as a quality chasm. Assuming peers sit the other school’s classes. Using peer score as a part-time ranking.