Top 30 U.S. Business Schools of 2010 (2008 rankings are parenthetical.)

1. Chicago Booth (1)
2. Harvard Business School (2)
3. Wharton (4)
4. Northwestern Kellogg (3)
5. Stanford GSB (6)
6. Duke Fuqua (8)
7. Michigan Ross (5)
8. UC Berkeley Haas (10)
9. Columbia (7)
10. MIT Sloan (9)
11. UVA Darden (16)
12. Southern Methodist Cox (18)
13. Cornell Johnson (11)
14. Dartmouth Tuck (12)
15. CMU Tepper (19)
16. UNC Kenan-Flagler (17)
17. UCLA Anderson (14)
18. NYU Stern (13)
19. Indiana Kelley (15)
20. Michigan State Broad (2T)
21. Yale SOM (24)
22. Emory Goizueta (23)
23. Georgia Tech (29)
24. Notre Dame Mendoza (20)
25. Texas-Austin McCombs (21)
26. USC Marshall (25)
27. Brigham Young Marriott (22)
28. Minnesota Carlson (2T)
29. Rice Jones (NR)
30. Texas A&M Mays (NR)

Top International Business Schools

1. INSEAD (3)
2. Queen’s (1)
3. IE Business School (2)
4. ESADE (6)
5. London Business School (5)
6. Western Ontario Ivey (4)
7. IMD (7)
8. Toronto Rotman (8)
9. York Schulich (2T)
10. Cambridge Judge (2T)
11. McGill Desautels (2T)
12. IESE (9)
13. Cranfield (NR)
14. HEC Paris (2T)
15. HEC Montreal (HR)
16. Oxford Said (10)
17. Manchester (2T)
18. SDA Bocconi (NR)

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys, as well as what they call “intellectual capital,” or school research output. For more information on how the rankings are determined, read BW‘s “How We Rank Business Schools.”

Other articles in the report that may interest you include:

• “The Best U.S. Business Schools 2010” – This article highlights ways that business schools are dealing with the sour job market—putting a new emphasis on job placement, reaching out to alumni for job leads, using technology to connect with recruiters, and bolstering career services departments.
• “Top Global Business Schools” – Read about how the Great Recession has affected the international MBA scene, why new schools have popped up on the top 10, why students are being drawn to emerging markets, and more.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings, a free special report on how you should interpret the rankings in your own b-school quest.
• Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report that will help you determine whether an international MBA program is right for you.

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Let’s start with the actual rankings.

Top 15 International EMBA Programs

1.   Kellogg / Hong Kong UST Business School – China

2.   Columbia / London Business School – USA / UK

3.   Trium HEC Paris / LSE / NYU Stern – France / UK / USA

4.   INSEAD – France / Singapore / UAE

5.   University of Chicago, Booth – USA / UK / Singapore

6.   London Business School – UK

7.   IE Business School – Spain

8.   University of Pennsylvania, Wharton – USA

9.   Duke University, Fuqua – USA

10.  Chinese University of Hong Kong – China

10.  City University Cass – UK

12.  IMD – Switzerland

13.  UC Berkeley Haas / Columbia – USA

14.  Kellogg / WHU-Otto Belsheim School – Germany

15.  Columbia Business School – USA

15.  ESCP Europe – France / UK / Germany / Spain / Italy

You can tell simply by looking above where the EMBA “hot spots” are—the USA, UK, China, Singapore, Paris, France, and Spain—or you can take a look at the FT‘s interactive map: Hot spots: the most popular cities in the world for Executive MBAs.

For an analysis on how the rankings were determined, check out “The ranking decoded.”

For an explanation on the challenges business schools face with this executive degree, see the lead article in the report, “Business schools face EMBA challenge.” (Just to give you clue—it has something to do with the economy and companies becoming less than willing to shell out $100,000+ in sponsorship funds. Surprise, surprise.)

Yet challenges aside, many EMBA programs (especially those in countries that have been, until recently, underserved by business schools) are seeing an increase in enrollment. For more on EMBA success, read “Rising demand: executive MBA sector shows healthy growth.”

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• The demand for business school graduates has increased 32% in the Asia-Pacific region. This is compared to a 9% increase in North America and a 3% increase in Europe.
• The highest paying industry for MBA graduates post-financial crisis is in the field of pharmaceuticals. Recent recruits into pharmaceutical companies earned about $92,274 per year. The average salary of someone in financial services, the second highest paying industry, is $90,926.
• Across all industries, the average salary for an MBA graduate is $87,500.
• Most of the highest paid graduates hailed from European b-schools, with the exception of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Duke’s Fuqua School of Business which also made it into the top 10 schools with the highest salaries. The reason why these schools churn out higher paid MBAs than graduates from, say, HBS (an otherwise high ranked program) is because these programs accept students with more substantial pre-MBA work experience. When they graduate, they not only have an MBA from a top-ranked program, but have the work experience that will help move them into more senior, higher paid positions.
• Employer demand was up 24% in MBA hiring in 2010. In 2009 there was a 5% decline in MBA job opportunities.
• The QS report ranked top business schools based on the preferences of 2,145 employers. The following schools were chosen based on the value attributed to the graduates, regardless of total salary amount: Harvard Business School, Wharton, INSEAD (Fontainebleau), London Business School, INSEAD (Singapore), and Melbourne Business School.

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• Chicago Booth
• MIT (Sloan)
• UC Berkeley (Haas)
• Michigan (Ross)
• Duke (Fuqua)
• UCLA (Anderson)

GMAT to Applying Time – is applying 5 years after the GMAT a disadvantage?
Inspiring You Tube Videos – Updated Weekly – Inside the HBS Case method, Bill Gates’ speech, and the next Lebron James

Fuqua’s new program is intended “to give a bit of business know-how to recent graduates in subjects as varied as philosophy, modern languages and maths,” reports a Financial Times article on the subject, “Masters of the universe: the rise of ‘pre-experience’ degrees.”

And the program won’t be limited to Duke’s North Carolina campus, but will become the basis of similar programs at Duke campuses in Brazil, China, India, Singapore, and the Middle East.

Other American business schools offer a MiM degree as well, including Case Western Reserve University, Rochester, and Thunderbird, but the Fuqua School’s adoption of the program “may be the tipping point for MiMs in the U.S.”

A new MiM was also launched at the London Business School last year, and according to its executive director Julia Marsh, the program recruits a clear prospect. “Recruiters are looking more for analytical skills than the big, strategic skills of an MBA,” she says.

Although these programs are pricy — $30,000+ for a one-year degree is high for anyone, but especially for students who have not yet entered the workforce — graduates from both the MiM programs at Duke and at LBS have not found post-degree employment an issue. In fact, at Fuqua, recruitment from the MiM program has been on par with the school’s regular MBA program.

When asked what the value of the masters in management degree is, both to students and to business schools, Ángel Cabrera, president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, explains, “It is clear that there is great demand from companies for entry- and mid-level managers with solid business skills. The Thunderbird masters in management degree provides aspiring young professionals – who may not have significant work experience – the opportunity to launch their careers and to compete successfully in a rapidly changing and competitive marketplace.”

The FT article provides more views on the pre-experience MiM from administrators at business schools in France, Turkey, Russia, Canada, Sydney, and others.

Are you thinking about going global with your MBA? Download Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report, to explore the increasingly global canvas of leading MBA programs in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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Some of the concerns the center plans on addressing include:

• What are the most effective and sustainable ways of meeting the global energy demand and the growing demand for other resources?
• How can we transform current industrial systems to a more sustainable model?
• How can leading firms work towards such a transformation across value chains?
• Which partnerships are needed to facilitate such changes?

“Business sustainability has evolved from a regulatory or ethical concern to a central strategic priority for many firms,” says Daniel Vermeer, executive director of EDGE. “The risks associated with environmental and social issues are increasingly material, but so are the opportunities to capture savings, drive innovation and create new markets by taking sustainability seriously.”



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Global strategies include opening campuses/facilities at international location, employing staff throughout the globe, and connecting prospective students with international alumni.

Fuqua also gave application discounts to students who attended information sessions; instead of $200, these applicants paid only a $50 application fee.

Fuqua’s EMBA programs also saw a jump in application volume: the Cross-Continental program experienced a 42% increase in applications; the Global Executive program received 11% more applicants; and the Weekend Executive MBA program saw a 12% application increase.

According to Liz Riley Hargrove, Fuqua’s associate dean for admissions, Fuqua didn’t just experience an increase in application volume, but an increase in quality as well. Average GMAT scores among applicants increased nine points last year, from 688 to 697. Also, the program saw a 6% decrease in its acceptance rate, from 30% to 24%.

Fuqua’s application increases are viewed as the exception to an otherwise downward trend in business school application numbers. According to a recent Businessweek article, 10 of the top 30 business schools reported a decrease in application volume, including Wharton and UC Berkeley Haas. Another nine of the top 30 declined to supply data on the subject.

Sam Silverstein, GMAC’s manager of media and public affairs, explains that job availability is hugely taken into account when determining the economy and whether or not a break from work and a stint at b-school make sense: “When people make the calculations and say, ‘OK, I’m going to give up my job and go to school,’ the calculation might be that when people start to see the economy get worse, the [motivation] to take a breather from working and go to business school is higher.”



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Top 10 Schools for Consulting:

1. Northwestern Kellogg
2. Harvard Business School
3. Chicago Booth
4. Wharton
5. Michigan Ross
6. Columbia
7. Duke Fuqua
8. MIT Sloan
9. Stanford
10. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in New York

1. HBS
2. Columbia
3. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Boston

1. HBS
2. MIT Sloan
3. Dartmouth Tuck

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Washington, D.C.

1. UVA Darden
2. Wharton
3. Northwestern Kellogg

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Atlanta

1. Emory Goizueta
2. HBS
3. Duke Fuqua

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Silicon Valley

1. UC Berkeley Haas
2. MIT Sloan
3. Michigan Ross

Note the role of geography in determining top schools in specific regions. Something to keep in mind if you know where you want to live.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report
• The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission, an instantly downloadable ebook



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Top 10 Schools for Consulting:

1. Northwestern Kellogg
2. Harvard Business School
3. Chicago Booth
4. Wharton
5. Michigan Ross
6. Columbia
7. Duke Fuqua
8. MIT Sloan
9. Stanford
10. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in New York

1. HBS
2. Columbia
3. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Boston

1. HBS
2. MIT Sloan
3. Dartmouth Tuck

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Washington, D.C.

1. UVA Darden
2. Wharton
3. Northwestern Kellogg

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Atlanta

1. Emory Goizueta
2. HBS
3. Duke Fuqua

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Silicon Valley

1. UC Berkeley Haas
2. MIT Sloan
3. Michigan Ross

Note the role of geography in determining top schools in specific regions. Something to keep in mind if you know where you want to live.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report
• The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission, an instantly downloadable ebook



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