Financial Times MBA Ranking 2024

Find out which business schools top the Financial Times MBA Ranking 2024, including big names such as Wharton, Columbia, and INSEAD

The Wharton School is the best business school in the world—that’s according to the latest Financial Times Global MBA Ranking.

Wharton tops the coveted list just one year after controversially dropping out of the ranking after failing to gather enough alumni survey responses. It beat off stiff competition from top global schools such as second-placed INSEAD and last year's leader Columbia Business School, which came third.

US business schools still dominate the market for full-time MBA programs, with Wharton and Columbia part of six US schools placing in the top 10. Three other M7 business schools sit among the top 10: Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and MIT Sloan School of Management, which came joint sixth, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

The remaining M7 schools did not make it into the top 10 this year, with big surprises as Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business—both former top-ranked schools—dropped to record lows this year with Harvard placing 11th and Stanford taking 23rd.

See the FT’s full rankings table

FT MBA Rankings | Winners & Losers

The FT ranks schools based on a range of criteria with particular weight given to employment rates and alumni salaries three years after graduation. Other key...

s include the diversity of students and faculty and the quantity of research published in recognized journals.

After the Financial Times changed its ranking methodology last year, it introduced further tweaks for the 2024 list. The ESG rank, which is based on the proportion of core teaching hours that focus on ESG topics, has been updated to include alumni evaluations of a school's ESG teaching. The carbon footprint rank was also changed to provide more granular analysis of a school's performance.

A particularly contentious year of rankings saw a number of losers, with Stanford and Harvard at the top of that list. Other disappointments will be University of California's Berkeley Haas School of Business, which dropped 12 places and out of the top 10 after rising to seventh last year. Yale School of Management, which placed ninth last year, dropped to 15th.

MIT Sloan School of Business rose to joint sixth, joining the top 10 once more after placing 11th in 2023. London Business School, a former number one-ranked school, placed 16th in 2023 but rejoined the top 10 in eighth this year.

Italy's SDA Bocconi, which has steadily risen up the ranking over the last five years, ranked joint third among the best business schools in the world in 2024, according to the FT. It ranked ahead of Spain's IESE Business School, which drops from third to fifth.

Overall European schools claimed four spots among the ranking, an increase of one compared with last year.

Among the largest climbers in the top 20 schools was Spain's ESADE Business School, which rose 13 spaces to take the 17th spot. HEC Paris, which has historically been among the top European schools within the ranking, rose five spaces to place joint 12th.

Business schools in India continued to perform well this year, with five appearing on the list: Indian School of Business and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, and Lucknow.

FT MBA Ranking: Top 20 Business Schools

*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

Best Business Schools For...

Based on the FT’s various ranking metrics, the best business school in the world for its integration of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors continues to be IE Business School in Spain.

You can get the largest salary increase at the Indian School of Business, which boasts a 229% salary increase.

Swiss schools dominates for international mobility with University of St Gallen placing first followed by IMD; the best MBA for international course experience is IIM Calcutta; and the best MBA for value for money is University of George Terry College of Business.

The leading school when it comes to careers services is Georgia Tech's Sneller College of Business. SDA Bocconi is the school that tops the carbon footprint ranking.

Three business schools achieve gender parity: Wharton is the sole US representative to achieve this alongside Europe's ESCP Business School and Audencia Business School.

George Washington University boasts 65% female MBA students, leading the best MBA programs for women by that metric.

Stanford MBA graduates continue to earn the highest MBA salaries available, with an average weighted salary of around $250,000 in the FT’s list.

Stanford is also top for graduates who achieved their aims by completing an MBA and for student satisfaction.

In terms of career progression, the MBA has its transformative impact in Asia—mainly China and India—and the US. Many of the best business schools in Asia rank highly for career progress, which measures changes in seniority and the size of organizations' alumni work for from pre-MBA to today.

As many as four of India's top MBA colleges rank among the top 10 for career progress, led by IIM Ahmedabad at the top. China's Fudan University School of Management and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics College of Business rank among the top five for career progress, as do Stanford and Harvard.

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