Like the US News MBA rankings, it focuses on business schools within the United States, ranking them based on MBA graduates’ starting salaries, the brand recognition of the business school, and alumni career outcomes.
The list of the Best MBA Programs for 2024 ranks a total of 80 programs, with the somewhat predictable trio of Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and The Wharton School in first, second, and third place respectively.
Here’s what you need to know about the Fortune MBA rankings and how to use them in your business school search.
Fortune MBA Rankings 2024: The Top 10
The Fortune MBA rankings broadly follow the trends seen in other US MBA rankings, with the famed M7 business schools making up the majority of the top 10.
This is no doubt thanks to the rankings’ focus on starting salaries and school reputation, both of which are strong at the M7 schools. The lowest starting salary in the top 10 is over $160,000.
The non-M7 schools that made it into the top are Yale School of Management in fourth place, NYU Stern School of Business in ninth, and University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 10th.
The 10 best MBA programs in the US, according to the Fortune MBA rankings 2024
How are the Fortune MBA rankings decided?
The Fortune MBA rankings give schools a score in three key areas:
⇨ Outcomes Score (65%)
⇨ Brand Score (25%)
⇨ Fortune 1000 Score (10%)
The Outcomes Score makes up the majority of the overall ranking and is based primarily on graduates’ weighted mean and median base salaries directly after graduating. This does not include additional pay like signing bonuses.
The Outcomes score also incorporates the percentage of new graduates who accepted roles within three months of graduating.
A school’s Brand Score makes up a quarter of its overall grade. In partnership with Ipsos, Fortune surveyed thousands of professionals and hiring managers to evaluate the strength of different business schools’ brands among employers.
The rationale behind this score is that the better a school’s brand, the more willing hiring managers are to recruit its graduates, and therefore, the better career prospects it can offer.
Finally, the Fortune 1000 Score aims to assess which schools are creating the “future leaders of business.” To calculate this, Fortune looks at the number of MBA alumni from each school who are C-suite executives at Fortune 1000 companies. The higher the C-level placement, the higher the score.
This is quite a different system to an MBA ranking like the Financial Times, which examines numerous factors including alumni salary three years after graduation.
So, what does this mean for the usefulness of this MBA ranking?
Should I choose my MBA based on the Fortune MBA rankings?
MBA rankings like this one can be helpful when choosing an MBA because they give you an idea of a school’s reputation and often show you a lot of data to help you compare different schools. However, no MBA ranking is one-size-fits-all.
In the case of the Fortune MBA rankings, the methodology’s strong focus on starting salaries, reputation, and graduates’ C-suite success may limit how useful it is to certain aspiring B-school students.
For example, if you are an entrepreneur hoping to launch your own business straight out of business school, these metrics may not help you find the right program. This is because you are not looking for corporate employment and your starting salary will likely be small. The same may apply if you want to work in the nonprofit sector or government.
It also doesn’t account for career growth after graduation. You may start on a high salary but not progress very fast; by contrast, rankings that include average salaries three years after graduation do measure this.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the results are inaccurate: the Fortune MBA rankings are not drastically different to other US rankings out there. However, it does limit their usefulness as a research tool.
The Fortune MBA rankings are useful if you:
⇨ Want to study and work in the USA
⇨ Are targeting a corporate career with a Fortune-listed company, for instance, in one of the “big three” MBA sectors of finance, technology, or consulting
⇨ Want to earn a high salary immediately after the MBA
If you are more invested in other factors – for instance, having startup incubators on campus, a strong sustainability curriculum, or exposure to international business contexts – you should widen your research to include:
⇨ Our “Best Business Schools For…” lists
⇨ The curriculum pages of different programs
⇨ Meeting and networking with schools in person at MBA tours
⇨ Talking to alumni on LinkedIn or at on-campus events
⇨ Individual schools’ employment reports
