While the ranking leaders from 2024 and 2023, The Wharton School and Columbia Business School, remained top of the ranking, taking the first two places, six of the following seven positions were occupied by business schools based in Europe.
They were Spain's IESE, INSEAD (which has campuses in France and Singapore), Italy's SDA Bocconi School of Management, the UK's London Business School (LBS), Spain's ESADE Business School, and France's HEC Paris.
The ranking saw just four of the M7 Business Schools—an elite group of highly selective institutions based in the US—listed among the top 10.
INSEAD, Harvard & HEC Paris: FT MBA Ranking analysis
The top spots in the FT MBA ranking have historically been largely occupied by leading US institutions, including the M7, however the ranking has shifted in recent years. In 2023, seven US schools ranked among the top 10, this proportion dropped to six last year as Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business—two previous ranking leaders—stooped to record lows.
This year, the FT MBA ranking saw just four US business schools represented among the top 10. While Wharton secured the top position for a record 13th time, Harvard dropped further down the ranking from 11th to 13th and Stanford disappeared from the ranking altogether after failing to gather enough responses for the FT ranking’s alumni survey, a repeat of Wharton’s situation in 2023.
Meanwhile, the likes of HEC Paris (ninth) and ESADE (eighth) performed strongly, entering the top 10 after placing 12th and 17th the previous year. IESE and LBS both outperformed their 2024 positions by one, rising to third and seventh, respectively. After placing second and third in 2024, INSEAD and SDA Bocconi were joint fourth this year.
The US schools that remained within the top 10 were MIT Sloan School of Management in sixth, and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in 10th, both of which were tied for sixth position in 2024.
While European business schools held the majority of the ranking’s top places, US institutions occupied seven of the positions between 11th and 20th. This included prestigious names that have featured prominently within the top 10 in the past, including Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, which dropped from ninth to 13th. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, also fell significantly from 10th to 17th.
Other prominent declines were experienced by Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, which dropped from 12th to 20th, and Yale School of Management which fell nine positions to 24th.
CEIBS and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics College of Business (SUFE), two leading business schools based in Asia, rose significantly to enter the top 20 spots in the 2025 FT MBA ranking. CEIBS jumped from 24th to place 12th this year, while SUFE increased nine spots to place 15th.
FT MBA Ranking: Breaking down the results
The Financial Times MBA Ranking is based on a range of criteria, with the highest weighting attributed to the average salaries alumni earn three years after graduation and the percentage increase they see in salary between pre and post-MBA. Research, value for money, and international student mobility also contribute strongly to each school's overall position.
Wharton ranked as the best business school in the world in 2025 in part because of the strong earning potential it offered students. The school placed third among the salary category, with grads earning $241,522 on average. Only those from Columbia ($242,747) and Harvard ($257,734), earned more. The highest earning graduates in Europe were found at SDA Bocconi, with average salaries of $217,241.
Despite its strong salary performance, Harvard’s overall ranking can be attributed to lower-than-rival positions across several categories including research, where it placed fifth, and placement success, where the school’s rate of 77% marked a 13% drop compared to 2023.
With 88% of job-seeking students securing roles within three months of graduation, Wharton’s placement rate was higher than many of its rival business schools. SDA Bocconi (91%) and ESADE (90%) were the only top 10-ranking schools to outperform Wharton for placement success.
Wharton’s global reputation for research excellence was also recognized by the FT, which placed it top of this category, ahead of Columbia and Chicago Booth. INSEAD (fourth) was the highest-ranking European school for research.
European business schools dominated the ranking for international student mobility, which is measured according to the locations where alumni worked before their MBA, on their completion date, and after three years. IMD in Switzerland and France’s Emlyon Business School and HEC Paris were top in this category.
The salary percentage increase category has historically been led by business schools in Asia and this year was no exception. The top five schools were all based in India and China, with top performer Xavier School of Management achieving salary growth of 249% on average. However, ESADE Business School was the highest-ranked business school in this category based outside of Asia, helping graduates earn salary increases of 173%.
With most of the world’s top-ranked MBA programs coming at significant cost, overall ranking leaders typically place low in the value for money category, however the FT listed SDA Bocconi and INSEAD 15th and 30th in this category, respectively. Wharton, IESE, and LBS all placed in the bottom 10 business schools for value for money.
Financial Times 2025 MBA Ranking: Top 20
*Weighted salary refers to the average salaries graduates earn three years after graduation. Brackets in the 'Employed at three months' column indicate the percentage of graduates who were seeking jobs
Financial Times MBA Ranking methodology
In total, 125 schools took part in this year's FT ranking process. All were accredited by either AACSB or EQUIS. The FT records data from schools and also surveys their alumni, three years after graduation.
This year's alumni surveys were from the class who completed their studies in 2021, meaning the FT allowed for a lower survey response rate due to disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. The total number of survey respondents was 6,299.
Alumni responses are given a 56% weighting towards a school's final ranking. School data makes up 34% of the rest of a school's ranking while 10% is allotted to its research ranking.
Weightings for each of the metrics are provided below:
Alumni Responses: | School Data: |
|---|---|
⇨ Weighted Salary: 16% ⇨ Salary Increase: 16% ⇨ Value For Money Rank: 5% ⇨ Career Progress Rank: 3% ⇨ Aims Achieved: 4% ⇨ Alumni Network Rank: 4% ⇨ Careers Service Rank: 3% ⇨ Employed At Three Months: 2% | ⇨ Sector Diversity Rank: 3% ⇨ Female Faculty: 3% ⇨ Female Students: 3% ⇨ Women On Board: 1% ⇨ International Faculty: 3% ⇨ International Students: 3% ⇨ International Board: 1% ⇨ International Mobility Rank: 5% ⇨ International Course Experience Rank: 3% ⇨ Faculty With Doctorates: 5% ⇨ FT Research Rank: 10% ⇨ Carbon Footprint Rank: 4% ⇨ ESG & Net Zero Rank: 3% |
