• Another article about the Wharton School (this time from London’s Times Higher Education) focuses on the changes the top b-school has made to increase its global footprint. The MBA program has established week-long modules that take students to places around the globe and that provide them with a first-hand look at global business issues. An emphasis on social impact is another key element to Wharton’s recent curriculum overhaul and is further discussed in the article.

• Last but not least, BusinessWeek recently published an article about how to make the most of business school rankings, a subject that we at Accepted.com have discussed quite a bit (for example, see our free special report, MBA Rankings). According to the BW article, b-school applicants rely too heavily on the published rankings — that is, the numbered position of each school on the list — rather than the information that accompanies the rankings. Linda Abraham, CEO of Accepted.com, is quoted in the article saying, “Stop thinking of them as rankings of anything. They are collections of data and surveys. They are opinions.” Later on in the article Linda advices applicants to use the information only in their preliminary school research and only alongside additional research like the programs’ websites and conversations with students and alumni. Please read the BW article and the MBA Rankings special report for more information on how you should approach the rankings.

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Such rankings allow schools that don’t always make it to the top 10 for overall marks to finally see what it feels like to be on top regarding specific impressive elements of their program.

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Accounting

1. Chicago Booth

1. Texas-Austin McCombs

3. Rochester Simon

3. Boston College Carroll

5. U. of Washington Foster

5. Vanderbilt Owen

5. Babson Olin

5. Arizona State Carey

9. Harvard Business School

10. Wharton

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Finance

1. Wharton

2. Chicago Booth

3. Columbia

4. Northeastern

5. Boston College Carroll

5. Case Western Weatherhead

7. Harvard Business School

8. Minnesota Carlson

8. Wisconsin-Madison

8. George Washington

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Most Innovative Curriculums

1. Stanford

2. Chicago Booth

3. Indiana Kelley

4. Yale

4. USC Marshall

4. Texas A&M Mays

4. Tulane Freeman

8. Boston University

8. Rochester Simon

8. George Washington

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Most Improved

1. Georgia Tech

1. Boston University

1. Northeastern

4. Indiana Kelley

5. Wake Forest

5. Arizona State Carey

7. Dartmouth Tuck

7. Brigham Young Marriott

7. Texas A&M Mays

7. Pittsburgh Katz

For rankings based on global competition, general management, communication skills, teamwork, or operations, as well as for an analysis on how the rankings were determined, please see the BW article. There is also a section there on global MBA programs ranked by specialty.

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10 Best European Business Schools

1. HEC Paris
2. London Business School
3. INSEAD
4. IMD
5. IE Business School
6. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
7. ESCP Europe
8. Esade Business School
9. IESE Business School
10. EM Lyon Business School

Other articles in the report of interest include:

• “Challenge for European business schools as US goes global” – an interesting article on the increasing globalization of US business schools and the threat they pose to European schools.
• “HEC Paris at the top” – an analysis of this year’s ranking winners and losers.
• “New ideas in tough times” – an article on how the changing face of the economy has affected business school and the business world. Note the emphasis on the role of overseas expansion.
• “The Bologna Accord: a revolution by degree” – an analysis of the impact of the Bologna accord on the European rankings.

Are you thinking about pursuing an international MBA? Check out our new special report, Internationalizing the MBA, by Accepted’s internationally-based consultant and editor, Tanis Kmetyk. (P.S. It’s free!)

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 school reports that its position should be considerably higher.

In the Economist rankings, which were released late last week, an error was made in the recording of MBS student salaries.

While the true exiting salary of MBS students is $91,772, the figure used by the Economist was 22% lower, at $71,200.

Jennifer George, MBS Dean, explains, “Our record in the Economist ranking is outstanding with a rank of 26 in 2008 and 17 in 2009. There were no substantial shifts in the data reported by the School this year. While exiting salaries were slightly affected by the financial climate, our career placement results were comparable to or better than most other business schools around the world, therefore we expected a similar ranking to last year.”

George continues by expressing how unfortunate it is that such an error can so seriously affect the school’s reputation.

Both this year and last year, even with the error, the Melbourne Business School was ranking number one in the Asia Pacific.

“We’re confident that when the error is corrected our rankings will fully reflect the excellence of the education provided at Melbourne Business School,” Dean George said.

Not sure what the rankings mean to you? How much should you take them into account when applying to b-school? Download Accepted’s special ranking report now to learn about how the rankings affect you.



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This year, Chicago Booth took the cake with the number 1 slot, at least in part, if not entirely, because of its top-ranked career service department. (The $300 million donation by David Booth in 2008 helped the school achieve this goal, something most schools haven’t been able to accomplish in this economy.)

Here are the top ten full-time international MBA programs:

(Click image to enlarge.)

And here are the top ten schools by category:

(Click image to enlarge.)

For more information on how these schools were chosen, check out the Methodology section of The Economist‘s report.

Meanwhile, a Poets & Quants article on The Economist rankings (“The Economist’s Roller Coaster MBA Ranking“) points to the fact that the this year’s rankings are slightly flawed, mainly in that the job/salary data was gathered from the class of 2009, not the latest graduating class of 2010. The 2010 data, which won’t be ready for a few weeks, would have presented a much more current and fair perspective on how b-school graduates are actually doing job/salary-wise, especially since the economy has improved in the last year.

The P&Q article refers to a number of “roller coaster-like” jumps and plummets, including:

• UVA Darden “leapfrogged” 13 spots from last year’s 24th spot to this year’s 11th.
• Columbia moved up 8 spots from 20th to 12th.
• CMU Tepper jumped 22 spots from 33rd to 21st.
• London Business School ranked the third best in the UK, a shock that came to most people, especially given its number 1 placement by The Financial Times. According to The Economist, LBS is ranked lower than the Cranfield School of Management and Henley Business School.

P&Q states that of the five major MBA rankings (U.S. News, Businessweek, Forbes, Financial Times, and The Economist), “the Economist‘s methodology is considered the least credible.”

Not sure what the rankings mean to you? How much should you take them into account when applying to b-school? Download Accepted’s special ranking report now to learn about how the rankings affect you.

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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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I have tremendous respect for John Byrne, but the choice is rarely between two schools. While he turned the tables on business school education and may do it again, I would like to see a ranking that takes into account consumer behavior.  In other words, if offered admission to multiple schools, what school does the consumer choose and why?  This information is not revealed in aggregated data currently reported by schools for rankings like yield, selectivity and number of total applications.

I would like to see a ranking that answers the questions of how and why a candidate that is offered admission to 5 schools selects his/her school of choice. No ranking captures this data. They capture highest GMATs, satisfaction, best reputation, but they don’t capture the nuances of consumer behavior.  Over 20 years, I have been analyzing data of why my students chose my school and why some students I admitted chose another school. This data is not shared with the public, but all schools collect this data and across all schools the information would make for a great ranking.

How about it, John?

For more information on using the rankings, please see  The Rankings, an Accepted.com special report By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, former Admissions Dean/Director at 3 top business schools. Natalie would be happy to help you choose your top 5 schools.