It seems like there is, or has been, an MBA ranking from every publication covering every conceivable subject. ComputerWorld ranked digitally related programs during the tech boom, while Working Woman tracked the best programs for its readers before shutting down a couple of years ago.

No one is quite sure how many surveys exist. Bschool.com, a reasonably comprehensive list of rankings (it includes a link to a gay-related survey), cites more than a dozen, past and present, but that's just a beginning. It doesn't include trade magazine rankings, for example, or several foreign-based surveys. The Graduate Management Admissions Council, a business-school trade group, estimates some schools complete as many as 30 surveys.

Some of the most interesting surveys that aren't among the four majors include:

BEYOND GREY PINSTRIPES This biennial project, a joint effort of the Aspen Institute and World Resource Institute think tanks, rates schools on whether they offer programs in environmental and societal issues. It's one thing to teach students about business, says World Resource's Meghan Chapple. It's another to teach them how to do business within the confines of global warming, population increases, and water shortages.

Schools aren't ranked, but divided into groups according to the types of socially conscious programs they offer: cutting-edge, significant, moderate, or other. Interestingly, most of the usual suspects show up in the cutting-edge category, but others - Loyola Marymount and Tulane, for example - are also there.

HISPANIC BUSINESS This annual magazine survey covers Hispanic enrollment, graduation rates, and support services, as well as rankings in BusinessWeek and U.S. News</>. The University of Texas' McCombs School of Business, mostly a top-20 school elsewhere, ranked first in 2002.