There are a lot of MBA rankings out there, so we’ve gathered the top lists and put them all in one handy place. We’ll also take a look at the methodologies of each ranking, along with how you can use MBA rankings to find your ideal program. P.S. We update this article whenever new MBA rankings are released, so remember to bookmark this page so you can easily keep track of the latest rankings.
The most popular and prestigious MBA rankings are published by the Financial Times, QS, Bloomberg Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes.
We’ve gathered the top 10 schools from each of these rankings and included them all in this one handy article.
Here are the top 10 schools in the latest Financial Times Global MBA Ranking:
View the full Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2022.
Here are the top 10 schools in the latest QS Global MBA Ranking:
View the full QS Global MBA Ranking 2022.
The Bloomberg Businessweek ranking is divided into four different regions: USA, Europe, Canada, and Asia-Pacific. Here are the top schools from each region:
View the full Bloomberg Businessweek U.S. MBA Ranking 2021-22.
View the full Bloomberg Businessweek Europe MBA Ranking 2021-22.
View the full Bloomberg Businessweek Canada MBA Ranking 2021-22.
View the full Bloomberg Businessweek Asia-Pacific MBA Ranking 2021-22.
Here are the top 10 schools in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools Ranking. Note: This ranking only includes American business schools.
View the full U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools Ranking 2023.
Here are the top 10 schools in the latest Forbes Best Business Schools Ranking. Note: This ranking only includes American business schools.
View the full Forbes Best Business Schools Ranking 2019.
Each MBA ranking arrives at a different conclusion because their methodologies differ. It’s useful to know how their methodologies differ so you can figure out which ranking is most relevant to what you’re looking for. For instance, if you value things like diversity and research output over salary increase then you may be more interested in the Financial Times ranking.
Here’s a quick rundown of how each publication gathers its data, devises its final ranking, and how it’s different from other lists.
How does it gather its data? The Financial Times gathers the data for its ranking through a student survey (61%), school data (29%), and its own measure of a school’s research output (10%).
How is the ranking devised? The Financial Times uses a total of 20 different ranking indicators to reach its final list. The most important indicators are centered around salary (40%), diversity (25%), and research output (10%). You can see a full list of the ranking indicators on the FT website.
What does it do differently? The Financial Times ranking is the only list that does not contain any input from recruiters or employers. It is also the only MBA ranking to include research output as part of its methodology.
How does it gather its data? QS sends out three surveys to employers, academics, and business schools to gather the majority of its data. These are the QS Global Employer Survey (35%), QS Academic Reputation (10%), and a separate survey completed by business schools. The remaining data comes from QS’ own research and school data.
How is the ranking devised? The QS Global MBA Ranking is centered around five key indicators: employability (40%), Return on Investment (20%), entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes (15%), thought leadership (15%), and Diversity (10%). You can see a full list of the ranking indicators on the QS website.
What does it do differently? The QS Global MBA Ranking places a great deal of importance on the opinions of recruiters. Their Global Employer Survey makes up 35% of the total weighting.
How does it gather its data? Bloomberg Businessweek gathers all of its data from surveys sent out to students, alumni, and recruiters. These surveys are 70% qualitative and 30% quantitative.
How is the ranking devised? The ranking’s five main indicators are based on salary (35.7%), learning outcomes (25.8%), networking potential (17.8%), entrepreneurship (12%), and diversity (8.6%). You can see a full list of the ranking indicators on the Bloomberg Businessweek website.
What does it do differently? The ranking is notable for the high importance it places upon networking potential. It also gathers 70% of its data based on a qualitative survey, which is a much higher figure than the other rankings.
How does it gather its data? U.S. News & World Report gathers 25% of its data from a business school peer assessment survey, 15% from an employer survey, and 60% from quantitative school data.
How is the ranking devised? The ranking is based on three main criteria: qualitative assessment (40%), placement success (35%), and student selectivity (25%). You can see a full list of the ranking indicators on the U.S. News & World Report website.
What does it do differently? The U.S. News & World Report peer assessment survey, which makes up 25% of the ranking weighting, asks business schools to rate fellow institutions. This means the ranking attaches much greater weight to the opinion of business school deans and directors than other rankings.
As we’ve already mentioned, each ranking is different because they all use different methodologies to arrive at their final list. With that in mind, it’s important to assess which ranking best reflects your own priorities.
Before starting your search for an MBA, you should first decide what you want to get out of it. Ask yourself the following questions:
Whatever your priority is, use that to guide your search.
Let’s say you are laser-focused on finding an MBA that will give you a salary boost upon graduation. You looked at QS Global MBA ranking and picked out a number of top programs to apply to – but wait a minute. That ranking places much less importance on salary increase than other lists. So, although you might have picked a top school according to QS, it might not deliver that salary increase you desire. In that case, you might be better off looking at the Forbes MBA ranking, which is based almost entirely on financial considerations.
To take another example, let’s say you want to find a school that is highly regarded by employers. We can see that the QS Global MBA Ranking places more importance on the opinion of employers than any other ranking, so you may want to prioritize this ranking over others. It’s all about aligning your career objectives with the right ranking.
That being said, you should still dig deeper into each ranking and explore all of the data available to you. If you want to find a program that provides the biggest salary increase, for example, the Financial Times ranking includes that specific data within their ranking.
Once you’ve figured out your own motivations for completing an MBA, it’ll be much easier to match with a suitable program. Now that you know a little more about the most popular MBA rankings, you can use them to your advantage to find the program for you. Good luck!
