H2N2：我是新手，天天在CD上看大家都说申请M7学校. 请问M7是指什么啊？

橘子皮：

7所学校

-HBS
-Wharton
-Columbia
-Kellogg
-Chicago
-Stanford
-MIT Sloan 

Cova：引自BW权威解释

The actual answer to your question:

1. The Endowment, the Capital Campaign and the Class Gift
By Ariadne Velissaropoulos

When Dean Feldberg arrived at Columbia Business School eleven years ago, the School was in the red. Our endowment was $16 million.  Today the endowment of Columbia Business School stands at approximately $130 million. This is a vast improvement over the last decade, but a far cry from our peer schools. Columbia ranks seventh among the seven self-anointed top business schools in the U.S.

2. The Magnificant Seven Meet: Safwan Goes to the Semi-Annual Vice Dean’s Meeting
By Wendy Rockman

The top seven business schools share information several times a year. The Deans of each school meet twice a year and the Vice Deans meet separately twice a year (in case you’re wondering, the schools are Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Stanford, Kellogg, MIT, and Chicago). Here is Safwan’s account of the most recent Vice Deans meeting, which took place here at Columbia two weeks ago:

BL: What is this group?

SM: The group consists of the seven self-anointed great private business schools. We meet with our peers twice a year, primarily to benchmark against one another, to discuss topical issues that affect us all, and to collaborate. The schools rotate hosting the meetings; the school that is hosting manages the agenda and the meeting. All schools contribute to the agenda. Some of the items on our agenda this past meeting included the current job market and how each school is responding, what schools are doing in the wake of September 11th, the ethics of human subject research, EMBA programs, ethics courses at business schools, on-line feedback and teaching evaluation forms, wireless technology policies, and on-line pre-term programs. Schools often have specific items put on the agenda to get input from their peers on particular issues they might be facing at the time. For example, Kellogg was interested in other schools’ experiences in revising MBA curricula.

3. Vice Dean Masri Discusses the Tuition Increase
By Julie Vicinus

Vice Dean Safwan Masri met with me last Friday to discuss the 5.5% increase in our tuition that will take effect starting this summer. He put the increase in context, and provided me with the numbers and information below. The following summarizes our conversation.

Last year's increase made us the most expensive business school in the country. Of course, Dean Masri did not emphasize this fact. He noted instead that, although we are the most expensive, the spread between the top seven schools is fairly narrow. Masri noted that Dean Feldberg thought hard about the decision to move into 1st. Feldberg decided it was justified since the proposed tuition would not put us a significant margin ahead of the other top seven.

One might wonder how the schools manage to rank so closely in numbers each year. The Vice Deans of the self-appointed Top Seven schools meet each year to discuss myriad things, but, Masri

4. The Dean's Forum – "See you Later. I am off to the Beach."
By Kevin Shacknofsky

Dean Feldberg is happy to report that both student and academic complaints about students’ in-class behavior has declined this year (less cell phones are ringing and web surfing has declined). From his meetings with the other super seven Business Schools’ Deans (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT and Chicago) he can report that they all are having problems (especially Stanford), but the professionalism of the Columbia student body is comparatively at a very high standard. The Dean struggled to restrain the glee in his voice when he expressed his opinion that web surfing during class has declined — probably as most of the day traders have been wiped out.

maxdaddy：

M7 doesnt necessarily mean all these 7 bschools are the best in US. One can make a case for Tuck easily. Tuck concentrates on only one program -  MBA, there's no EMBA, part-time, online, or accelerated MBA. Personally, I don't believe Tuck is not worse (if not better) than some of the M7 bschools.

M7 is too much a general yet not generalized enough group. You can say the same for Ivy-league schools. Are Ivy schools the best undergraduate schools?

topmba2009：接着Cova, 再次借用BW上的一个总结：

The label M7 is a far less official term than "ivy league".

The ivy league itself is an athletic conference in which members set high standards for student athletes. People have come to associate it with academics.

The forum legend is that "M7" was coined by a Columbia dean who referred to a meeting of top business schools.  It is a challenge to find any business school that uses that term in their admissions materials or  websites (contrast this with the use of the 'ivy league' name).

To be blunt, people use these terms to associate their schools with better ranked schools.  How often do you hear HBS bragging about being in the M7? Or Yale reminding people it's in the Ivy League?

Here's a quick guide:

If someone describes their school as the top ranked school, they go to HBS or Stanford
If someone says they go to a "Top 3" school, they go to Wharton
If someone says they go to a "Top 5" school, its either Chicago, Kellogg, or MIT Sloan
If someone says they're in the "M7", they go to Columbia
If someone says "Top 10", they mean Tuck, Ross, Haas, or <insert whatever school you insist belongs in the top ten, thus proving my point>