What defines a top MBA Program? Or rather, what pops in your head when someone mentions top MBA programs? Show
We can bet on something dear and precious that brand mammoths like Harvard, Wharton or the likes of Oxford Cambridge will be thrown around. But brand is just what comes after years of cultivating a culture of success and reputation. In the world of MBA, which is a much younger degree program compared to your engineering or humanities Master’s degrees out there, the reputation and success is derived not so much as from the years of being around, but rather a medley of parameters that drive success. Some of those are – brand (yes it still plays a big role!), faculty experience in academia and industry, class diversity, social and environmental responsibility, employment outcome measured well into years after graduation, and others. This is why the popularity of MBA programs have gone well beyond the legacy of traditionally well reputed schools. Programs like INSEAD and ISB are considered in the same breath as HBS, Stanford, Said, Judge and so on. At MBA Crystal Ball we are interested in finding out the answer to the question on every applicant’s mind – Which are the most consistently ranked MBA programs across the world? In this article, we have cooked up a homegrown methodology to rank MBA programs based on their consistency in performance in one of the most respected MBA ranking bodies – The Financial Times (FT). That is, after we explain the methodology that FT follows in ranking global MBA, we will proceed to create a weighted ranking of b-schools based on their performance in the latest three years on FT. MBA Crystal Ball can help you get into the top MBA collegesOur experienced MBA consultants can improve your odds of getting an admit from your dream school. We’ll help you:
Drop us an email: info [at] mbacrystalball [dot] com Need some inspiration? Read these MBA application strategies of successful MBA applicants. Methodology for the MBA Crystal Ball MBA RankingsChanging with the growing need to be socially and environmentally responsible, FT’s ranking has begun emphasizing diversity, sustainability, and positive impact by business schools, besides the overall outcome of MBA, in ranking considerations. Outcome, which still is the predominant factor, measures salary increases in combination with value for money, financial aid and expenses. It also measures alumni recommendation, strength of networking, alumni career progress, gender parity, international student and faculty strength, diversity in education and employment background of students, and finally the carbon footprint of the b-schools. All participating schools have accreditation from Equis or AACSB and the report is compiled using alumni surveys three years after graduation to track their progress and seasoned insights. In this list below, we have used the weighted ranks from the recent three years of Financial Times’ Global MBA Rankings and calculated an overall merit list from them. The rankings carry most weight for the latest FT list, progressively decreasing in the previous two years. The purpose of the ranking is to establish schools that have consistently performed well. So schools that are on top are top scorers over the latest years, descending to next, covering the top 75 business schools and their MBA programs. Top MBA Degrees in the World – MBA Crystal BallRank Business School Name Country 1 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton USA 2 Columbia Business School USA 3 INSEAD France/Singapore 4 Harvard Business School USA 5 Stanford Graduate School of Business USA 6 IESE Business School Spain 7 Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management USA 8 University of Chicago: Booth USA 9 MIT Sloan School of Management USA 9 University of California at Berkeley – Haas USA 11 Yale School of Management USA 12 London Business School UK 13 SDA Bocconi School of Management Italy 14 Cornell University: Johnson USA 15 HEC Paris France 16 Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business USA 17 CEIBS China 17 Dartmouth College: Tuck USA 19 New York University – Stern USA 20 University of Virginia: Darden USA 21 UCLA Anderson School of Management USA 22 National University of Singapore Business School Singapore 22 University of Cambridge: Judge UK 24 University of Southern California: Marshall USA 25 University of Michigan: Ross USA 26 University of Oxford: Saïd UK 27 International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Switzerland 28 Georgetown University: McDonough USA 29 Esade Business School Spain 30 Shanghai University of Finance and Economics: College of Business China 31 Washington University: Olin USA 32 IE Business School Spain 33 University of Washington: Michael G Foster USA 34 Indian School of Business India 35 HKUST Business School China 36 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler USA 37 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper USA 38 ESCP Business School France/UK/Germany/Spain/Italy 39 Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore Singapore 40 Imperial College Business School UK 41 Rice University: Jones USA 42 University of Florida: Warrington USA 43 Fudan University School of Management China 44 Emory University: Goizueta USA 45 Vanderbilt University: Owen USA 46 Alliance Manchester Business School UK 47 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs USA 48 Indiana University: Kelley USA 49 Indian Institute of Management Bangalore India 50 Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai China 51 HKU Business School Hong Kong 52 University of Rochester: Simon Business School USA 53 Ohio State University: Fisher USA 54 Warwick Business School UK 55 University of California at Irvine: Merage USA 56 Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad India 57 CUHK Business School Hong Kong 58 Singapore Management University: Lee Kong Chian Singapore 59 Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business USA 60 Pennsylvania State University: Smeal USA 61 Arizona State University: WP Carey USA 62 EDHEC Business School France 63 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza USA 64 George Washington University USA 65 Mannheim Business School Germany 66 Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) UK 67 University of St Gallen Switzerland 68 Indian Institute of Management Calcutta India 69 University of Maryland: Smith USA 70 WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management Germany 71 Boston University Questrom School of Business USA 72 University of Texas at Dallas: Jindal USA 73 ESSEC Business School France 74 Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Netherlands 75 Sungkyunkwan University GSB South Korea Don’t rely on MBA rankings aloneBest colleges have a tendency to show up in multiple ranking lists such as those provided by Financial Times, US News, QS Global MBA, Bloomberg Businessweek, etc. In that respect, rankings provide easy and reliable access to shortlist schools for applications. The idea is simple, if schools and their MBA programs have a habit of consistently featuring well on rankings, the fact that most methodologies involve parameters of success and effectiveness of the program can be used as a badge of credibility. The caveat is that completely relying on rankings alone without doing your due diligence can lead to misinformation. – Firstly, you need to be aware of the methodology of the particular ranking list you are referring to. If you are seeking a list for a particular specialty, or you want more weight on certain skills that employers want, how will that ranking address those in evaluating their list? As in our list here, our methodology is looking for consistent appearance in FT’s rankings and a drop in one year, for whatever reason unrelated to quality, can cause a drop from this ranking list. – Every ranking sources information from differently. Some rely on alumni feedback while others rely on employer feedback. Some rely on both but have specific weights to define which one is more important to them. How do they align with what you are looking for? And do you see the same schools showing up in multiple lists regardless of the source to indicate an overall good reputation? For instance, the lack of elite names from FT rankings in 2021, or Wharton’s exclusion in 2023, are not due to their sudden fall from grace in those years. FT’s 2021 ranking omitted a good number of typically popular schools for a lack of alumni survey participation during the Covid Pandemic. Many top b-schools, including M7 business schools, boycotted rankings in response to the job disruption during the pandemic. That is the reason stalwart names like Wharton, HBS, Stanford, etc. that are usual fixtures as best schools in business education, didn’t participate and hence didn’t appear in the 2021 FT MBA rankings. Ranking methodologies rely on surveys. In FT’s case, the lack of sufficient alumni responses, could be caused by reasons not necessarily related to quality of MBA education. – Also, how can you ensure a 100% that schools themselves re not resorting to tactics to inflate their reputation? Read How important are MBA Rankings? If you are using rankings to sort your best choice for MBA, you should understand what makes them feature in the list. And whatever school you choose, whether they rank high or not, you should definitely research them, drilling down to the factors that align with your interests (Read How to research business school and MBA programs?). MBA education should encompass a variety of aspects that help train future leaders. Beyond career and salary growth, it should transform students to become problem solvers, creative thinkers, communicators, and confident managers with hard and soft skills to match. And most of all the best fit MBA college, that may or may not feature among the toppers, will help position your needs in the program, regardless of the rank. What is the top ranked MBA in the world?1. Stanford Graduate School of Business. The top ranked business school for an MBA programme this year is Stanford Graduate School of Business. It scored highly for entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes, also scoring best in the world for this indicator. Which university MBA is best?The best MBA school in India is IIM Ahmedabad, followed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Kozhikode. In the most recent NIRF rankings for 2023, the institutes are rated 1, 2, and 3. Which MBA ranking is most reliable?Top 3 MBA Rankings That Help You Study at the Best Business Schools of 2023. Financial Times Global MBA ranking. ... . The Economist full-time MBA ranking. ... . Forbes best business schools ranking.. What are the top MBA colleges as per ranking?The list of top 10 Government MBA Colleges in India 2024:. |
