2022-2023 MBA Program Rankings

[Anonymous]

Business professor here.

Around 100 years ago, some enterprising dean started Wharton. It is not a bad idea to throw in little math/statistics, economics, accounting/bookkeeping, business law. Most undergrads know nothing about business. They don't know about antitrust law, the difference between a stock and a bond, corporate governance (board of directors, fiduciary responsibility, proxy votes). Many liberal undergrads don't even appreciate that businesses need to make money, and this happens when revenues exceed costs, including cost of capital. The classes in finance, marketing, organizational behavior, and manufacturing/supply chain help define the vocabulary and problems. This teaches students what business managers do.

In the 1970's and early 1980's, business schools were ranked by the Gourman report, according to academic standards. Then Businessweek started publishing an abominable list in the mid-1980's. It was just a hodgepodge of criteria. It was so erratic that Businessweek smoothed the calculations over multiple years to avoid ridiculous jumps in rank. The worst part is that the ranking was based on student reports, basically student happiness. Deans rushed to make students "happy". Chicago literally brought in the Second City Comedy Troupe to run orientation. Also, students rated their schools by area. But those students never attended other schools, so how would they know? I laughted when Yale was Top 5 in "Quantitative", because some Yale students struggled with high school algebra. By contrast, competing programs at Stanford, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon required calculus for admission. Businessweek unleashed a race to the bottom to dilute standards and improve short-run student happiness.

In 1985, the two-year M.B.A. was the only way to learn finance and other business applications. Microcomputers and software were new: spreadsheets, statistical packages, optimization. Now there are shorter, cheaper specialty masters in business. Many of the students are international (Chinese), with limited work experience. Decades ago, top M.B.A. programs had good students with 2-6 years of work experience. Obviously those students got better jobs than somebody fresh from undergrad. But if you know what you want, then you could enter a 1-year specialty masters program soon after undergrad, and take more courses in your specialty. While you might not get the same job as a 2-year M.B.A. who has 4 years of experience, you might surpass that career after 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Why spend more $$$ and time.
Borrowed below from another thread.
Top 50 Undergrad Schools for Top 50 Consulting Firms.
Northeeastern is #30 there if you are specifically interested.

This is a great list for Management Consulting targeted recruiting when limiting one's search to just MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group), but this excludes 54 other respected consulting firms including Deloitte, PwC and Oliver Wyman, etc.

If interested in management consulting including MBB and 54 other MC firms, the list created by Wall Street Oasis and endorsed by Poets & Quants shows 50 colleges & universities in this order (reprinting the list here for ease of comparison between the two lists):

1) Northwestern
2) U Penn
3) USC (lots of accounting students enter consulting)
4) Harvard
5) Michigan

6) U Toronto
7) Georgetown
8) U Texas-Austin
9) UCLA
10) NYU

11) Columbia
12) Virginia
13) Boston College (great for accounting firm consulting)
14) Duke
15) Vanderbilt

16) LSE (London School of Economics)
17) Rutgers (no campus specified)
18) McGill University (Canada)
19) U Chicago
20) UCal-Berkeley

21) Dartmouth College
22) Stanford
23) Cornell
24) Georgia Tech
25) Notre Dame

26) U Cambridge
27) BYU (among the top 3 best accounting programs in the nation)
28) Brown
29) Illinois
30) N'eastern

31) Purdue
32) Ohio State
33) Colgate
34) SMU (Southern Methodist University)
35) Yale

36) U Pittsburgh
37) Rice
38) U Warwick
39) Emory
40) National U. of Singapore

41) Wisconsin
42) Georgia
43) MIT
44) Princeton
45) Wesleyan

46) Indiana again see #25
47) Texas A&M
48) U Oxford
49) UC-Irvine
50) Amherst College

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why spend more $$$ and time.
Borrowed below from another thread.
Top 50 Undergrad Schools for Top 50 Consulting Firms.
Northeeastern is #30 there if you are specifically interested.

This is a great list for Management Consulting targeted recruiting when limiting one's search to just MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group), but this excludes 54 other respected consulting firms including Deloitte, PwC and Oliver Wyman, etc.

If interested in management consulting including MBB and 54 other MC firms, the list created by Wall Street Oasis and endorsed by Poets & Quants shows 50 colleges & universities in this order (reprinting the list here for ease of comparison between the two lists):

1) Northwestern
2) U Penn
3) USC (lots of accounting students enter consulting)
4) Harvard
5) Michigan

6) U Toronto
7) Georgetown
8) U Texas-Austin
9) UCLA
10) NYU

11) Columbia
12) Virginia
13) Boston College (great for accounting firm consulting)
14) Duke
15) Vanderbilt

16) LSE (London School of Economics)
17) Rutgers (no campus specified)
18) McGill University (Canada)
19) U Chicago
20) UCal-Berkeley

21) Dartmouth College
22) Stanford
23) Cornell
24) Georgia Tech
25) Notre Dame

26) U Cambridge
27) BYU (among the top 3 best accounting programs in the nation)
28) Brown
29) Illinois
30) N'eastern

31) Purdue
32) Ohio State
33) Colgate
34) SMU (Southern Methodist University)
35) Yale

36) U Pittsburgh
37) Rice
38) U Warwick
39) Emory
40) National U. of Singapore

41) Wisconsin
42) Georgia
43) MIT
44) Princeton
45) Wesleyan

46) Indiana again see #25
47) Texas A&M
48) U Oxford
49) UC-Irvine
50) Amherst College

I appreciated the post on MBB specifically, because those are the firms that people are really aiming for.

From https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/consulting-target-schools

Mega Targets:

Harvard
UPenn
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Stanford
Duke

Targets:

Columbia
Claremont McKenna
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Rice
UChicago
Williams
Amherst
Brown
Notre Dame
Georgetown
WashU
Davidson

Semi-Targets:

UVA
UMich
Johns Hopkins
Georgia Tech
Southern Methodist
Berkeley
London School of Economics
Queen’s
Cornell

[Anonymous]

Michigan is a target. Stop with this BS nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why spend more $$$ and time.
Borrowed below from another thread.
Top 50 Undergrad Schools for Top 50 Consulting Firms.
Northeeastern is #30 there if you are specifically interested.

This is a great list for Management Consulting targeted recruiting when limiting one's search to just MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group), but this excludes 54 other respected consulting firms including Deloitte, PwC and Oliver Wyman, etc.

If interested in management consulting including MBB and 54 other MC firms, the list created by Wall Street Oasis and endorsed by Poets & Quants shows 50 colleges & universities in this order (reprinting the list here for ease of comparison between the two lists):

1) Northwestern
2) U Penn
3) USC (lots of accounting students enter consulting)
4) Harvard
5) Michigan

6) U Toronto
7) Georgetown
8) U Texas-Austin
9) UCLA
10) NYU

11) Columbia
12) Virginia
13) Boston College (great for accounting firm consulting)
14) Duke
15) Vanderbilt

16) LSE (London School of Economics)
17) Rutgers (no campus specified)
18) McGill University (Canada)
19) U Chicago
20) UCal-Berkeley

21) Dartmouth College
22) Stanford
23) Cornell
24) Georgia Tech
25) Notre Dame

26) U Cambridge
27) BYU (among the top 3 best accounting programs in the nation)
28) Brown
29) Illinois
30) N'eastern

31) Purdue
32) Ohio State
33) Colgate
34) SMU (Southern Methodist University)
35) Yale

36) U Pittsburgh
37) Rice
38) U Warwick
39) Emory
40) National U. of Singapore

41) Wisconsin
42) Georgia
43) MIT
44) Princeton
45) Wesleyan

46) Indiana again see #25
47) Texas A&M
48) U Oxford
49) UC-Irvine
50) Amherst College

I appreciated the post on MBB specifically, because those are the firms that people are really aiming for.

From https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/consulting-target-schools

Mega Targets:

Harvard
UPenn
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Stanford
Duke

Targets:

Columbia
Claremont McKenna
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Rice
UChicago
Williams
Amherst
Brown
Notre Dame
Georgetown
WashU
Davidson

Semi-Targets:

UVA
UMich
Johns Hopkins
Georgia Tech
Southern Methodist
Berkeley
London School of Economics
Queen’s
Cornell

Just another example where per capita means nothing.

“ Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan and Yale appear to be the best overall schools when it comes to recruiting for undergraduate consulting jobs.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a target. Stop with this BS nonsense.

Agree that Michigan is a target school. The list I posted has Michigan at #5--just behind Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top MBA programs for Management Consulting placement to MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group) class of 2020:

1) INSEAD placed 156 new MBAs into MBB Class of 2020
2) Chicago-Booth 109
3) Northwestern-Kellogg 99
4) Harvard Business School 95
5) UPenn-Wharton 87

6) London Business School 62
7) Columbia Business School 59
8) Dartmouth-Tuck 55
9) MIT-Sloan 54
10) Virginia-Darden 45

11) Duke-Fuqua 39
12) Yale SOM 39
13) Michigan-Ross 39
14) NYU-Stern 32
15) Cornell-Johnson 23

16) UC-Berkeley Haas 19
17) UCLA-Anderson 19
18) Stanford GSB 18
19) Carnegie Mellon-Tepper 15
20) UNC Keenan-Flagler 10

21) U Texas-Austin (McCombs) 6
22) Georgetown-McDonough 5

Not sure why MBAs would still aspire to join McKinsey (unless for the money or connections) given the evil it has caused or exacerbated in our society (including the opioid crisis and deaths). This is based on the book, When McKinsey Comes to Town.

Money & exit options (connections).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a target. Stop with this BS nonsense.

Agree that Michigan is a target school. The list I posted has Michigan at #5--just behind Harvard.

I was referring to the listing which shows Michigan as a semi-target based on per capita outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a target. Stop with this BS nonsense.

Agree that Michigan is a target school. The list I posted has Michigan at #5--just behind Harvard.

I was referring to the listing which shows Michigan as a semi-target based on per capita outcomes.

Yes, I understood your post.

As noted,per capita is not meaningful; number of alumni connections is relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a target. Stop with this BS nonsense.

Agree that Michigan is a target school. The list I posted has Michigan at #5--just behind Harvard.

I was referring to the listing which shows Michigan as a semi-target based on per capita outcomes.

Yes, I understood your post.

As noted,per capita is not meaningful; number of alumni connections is relevant.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why spend more $$$ and time.
Borrowed below from another thread.
Top 50 Undergrad Schools for Top 50 Consulting Firms.
Northeeastern is #30 there if you are specifically interested.

This is a great list for Management Consulting targeted recruiting when limiting one's search to just MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group), but this excludes 54 other respected consulting firms including Deloitte, PwC and Oliver Wyman, etc.

If interested in management consulting including MBB and 54 other MC firms, the list created by Wall Street Oasis and endorsed by Poets & Quants shows 50 colleges & universities in this order (reprinting the list here for ease of comparison between the two lists):

1) Northwestern
2) U Penn
3) USC (lots of accounting students enter consulting)
4) Harvard
5) Michigan

6) U Toronto
7) Georgetown
8) U Texas-Austin
9) UCLA
10) NYU

11) Columbia
12) Virginia
13) Boston College (great for accounting firm consulting)
14) Duke
15) Vanderbilt

16) LSE (London School of Economics)
17) Rutgers (no campus specified)
18) McGill University (Canada)
19) U Chicago
20) UCal-Berkeley

21) Dartmouth College
22) Stanford
23) Cornell
24) Georgia Tech
25) Notre Dame

26) U Cambridge
27) BYU (among the top 3 best accounting programs in the nation)
28) Brown
29) Illinois
30) N'eastern

31) Purdue
32) Ohio State
33) Colgate
34) SMU (Southern Methodist University)
35) Yale

36) U Pittsburgh
37) Rice
38) U Warwick
39) Emory
40) National U. of Singapore

41) Wisconsin
42) Georgia
43) MIT
44) Princeton
45) Wesleyan

46) Indiana again see #25
47) Texas A&M
48) U Oxford
49) UC-Irvine
50) Amherst College

I appreciated the post on MBB specifically, because those are the firms that people are really aiming for.

From https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/consulting-target-schools

Mega Targets:

Harvard
UPenn
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Stanford
Duke

Targets:

Columbia
Claremont McKenna
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Rice
UChicago
Williams
Amherst
Brown
Notre Dame
Georgetown
WashU
Davidson

Semi-Targets:

UVA
UMich
Johns Hopkins
Georgia Tech
Southern Methodist
Berkeley
London School of Economics
Queen’s
Cornell

How many undergrads MBB pick up every year?

[Anonymous]

Wow this thread is something. If you are reading this and applying to business schools theres much more to the experience than “M7” or “MBB” - both of which are new terms to me. Really glad I turned down a top 5 for a better financial aid package at a top 15 so that i didnt have to go into consulting…..theres a great big world out there….

[Anonymous]

I have no idea why undergraduate rankings got pulled into a discussion about MBA programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these “rankings” are dumb. Everyone in business knows Stanford GSB and HBS are the best in terms of student caliber, job prospects, etc. Wharton is up there too but there’s still a gap. Generally schools with strong undergrad programs (like Yale, Duke) also perform really well for placing in top jobs regardless of rankings because the parent school name brand is so strong.

Tell me you have no idea about m7

His first statement is correct (HBS and GSB are the two best schools with Wharton as the generally accepted #3), his second statement less so.