Quite a few prime U.S. business faculties are skipping common M.B.A. rankings this calendar year, upending an once-a-year ceremony for courses and prospective learners.

Harvard Company Faculty, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Columbia Enterprise College and the Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise, among the other folks, opted to skip the most the latest rankings by the Economist and the Monetary Periods. Numerous educational institutions stated Covid-19 manufactured it challenging to collect the facts they have to post to be rated.

Much more than bragging rights hang in the balance—though there are a good deal of those, too. Educational institutions say a good showing in rankings can draw desire from possible college students, stoking software volumes, as very well as plaudits or pans from alumni who carry on to track their alma mater prolonged after leaving campus.

Overall, 62% of courses approach to participate in some rankings, even though 10% don’t plan to cooperate for any lists this yr, according to a survey of business enterprise-school admissions officials by Kaplan, the education and learning subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Co.

Bloomberg Businessweek suspended its 2020 rating, the only big list to do so. Dozens of notable faculties were being missing from the Economist’s checklist revealed past month. Nine colleges that usually take section in the FT’s checklist chose not to participate, a spokeswoman stated.