Booth and Wharton leapfrog Stanford, which drops into third place this year tied with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan come joint fifth, while Yale School of Management, Columbia Business School, the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business, and Michigan Ross make up the top 10.
Chicago Booth & Wharton lead the US News MBA ranking
US News ranks AACSB-accredited MBA programs based on various metrics, with significant weight given to graduate employment rates, post-MBA salaries, and average GMAT and GPA scores to assess the quality of MBA classes.
Perhaps the most controversial factor, criticized by some industry experts, is the greatest weight that US News places on its quality assessment score.
This involves a survey of deans and directors of business schools, and corporate recruiters, who are asked to rank the academic quality of participating business schools.
Typically then, the best business schools in the US News MBA ranking are also those with the best reputations—the best peer and recruiter assessment scores.
While Booth recorded a relatively low class average GMAT score, at 680, the school’s ranking success is also down to its strong employment rate and the high average starting salary for Booth MBA grads—Booth was the only school to report an average starting salary of more than $180k.
Wharton, meanwhile, boasts the highest employment rate on graduation, at 89.9%, increasing to 96.8% three months after graduation, in a year when MBA graduate employability was impacted by the covid pandemic.
Wharton’s latest ranking success comes off the back of another number one position in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking earlier this year.
Michigan Ross enters the top 10 best US MBAs & Something’s up with Harvard’s employment rate
Many of the business schools that feature in this year’s US News MBA Ranking top 10 have changed position. Yale School of Management climbs to seventh from ninth, while Michigan Ross returns to the top 10 after placing 13th last year.
At over $171,000, Michigan Ross MBA can expect to earn higher average starting salaries than graduates from MIT Sloan, Yale, and Berkeley Haas.
Out of the top 10, only Chicago Booth and Wharton boast a better post-MBA employment rate than Michigan Ross, at 88.2%, rising to 96.1% after three months.
Harvard and MIT rank joint fifth for a second consecutive year. But, within the ranking data, one data point stands out: Harvard’s post MBA-employment rate, at 69%, is significantly lower than the rest of the top 10.
Harvard declined to comment on this. However, this is not likely to be a major cause for concern. Harvard’s low employment rate may in fact demonstrate how Harvard graduates feel so confident in their ability to get jobs that they’re willing to wait for their ideal positions.
Harvard also has a stellar reputation—it’s among the best ranked for its recruiter assessment score—and Harvard’s graduate employment rate improves to 92.3% three months after graduation.
Top 10 Best Business Schools In The USA
Next Read:
Full US News MBA Ranking Breakdown | The Best Business Schools In The USA
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