As I have been doing since 2008, I wanted to provide my Global Top 100 MBA Rankings for 2013. The rankings below should hopefully be of value for both those engaged in initial school application selection and for admitted applicants who have been accepted to multiple programs and need to determine where to go. Programs are ranked in many ways, so certainly look at other rankings lists. There is no one objective measure of an MBA programs’ value and no ranking that can account for an individual student’s positive or negative return on their investment of time and money for a graduate business education.
"Methodology": All FT “Global MBA Rankings 2013” Data was ranked in order of " Weighted Salary ($)." No other methods were employed. I have included the FT 2013 rankings as well.
Justification #1: Whatever they pay you when you graduate is the market value of your degree, all other factors are mere conjecture.
Justification #2: One may very well value an MBA beyond mere salary calculations, but salary will certainly be a factor for almost everyone.
Justification #3: Since each school reports its own data, assuming that data is good, the ranking is based on objective criteria that all programs have in common. (Note: This a big assumption because it is based on the belief that schools are not manipulating their data).
Disclaimer #1: I could use some other accumulation of salaries for this same purpose, but FT’s list is global, so I decided to use it. If your school is not included on this list of the top 100, please don't be offended. If FT ranked more programs, so would I.
Disclaimer #2: Actual market value will very much depend on your situation. The numbers below are only averages.
Disclaimer #3: Salary is but one measure of ROI. This survey does not account for relative increase in salary, opportunity costs, or other less tangible, but important factors.
Disclaimer #4: These rankings in no way measure the value of the educational experience at any of these programs, merely the reported average weighted post-MBA salary outcome.
School Selection Strategy for Those Admitted to Multiple Programs: Go to the highest salary ranked program if you want to obtain the most market value.
School Application Selection Strategy Based on Salary Approach: Simply compare salaries to rates of admission which are available for all US programs listed in BusinessWeek and US News and World Report and for some non-US programs.
1. Apply to the highest ranked programs you think you can get it into.
2. Find bargains: Schools with a high salary and a high rate of admission.
3. Avoid application to schools with a relatively low admissions rates and lower salaries.
4. Caveat emptor. Don’t assume schools are necessarily reporting data with 100% accuracy.
School Selection Strategy for Those Considering Staying Local versus Going for a Globally Recognized Brand: If you are deciding between going to your local MBA program instead of moving to a new city and/or country, look closely at the expected post-MBA salary rates to determine which programs are worth moving for.
1. If you are planning on studying in the US and/or Europe and are a non-resident, assume the real possibility, based on present economic circumstances, that you will likely need to return to your home country because of tightened visa restrictions and limited job opportunities.
2. If your objective is stay in your present locality, closely scrutinize whether the higher-ranked, but non-local option will actually prove to be of significant benefit to you in the future. For example, an MBA alumni network that consists of a large number of local graduates may be worth significantly more to you than association with a prestigious internationally famous brand if you intend to stay local.
3. If your professional objectives are global, you will likely benefit much more from an MBA with global brand value rather than a program with local brand value even if the post-MBA salaries are not significantly different.
One advantage of a salary-based list of programs worldwide is that it helps to see the rising global market value of MBA programs. It also means that those of us who help applicants considering worldwide application, start to pay more attention to such national leaders and not just to dominant US and European programs.
For those with a US MBA bias, this ranking should be humbling because so many of what are usually ranked quite highly in the US, don’t, at least at the weighted salary level, look as attractive as rankings might suggest.
From a school selection perspective, I think looking at the stark reality of the expected financial outcome is critical. Looking at this solely helps to put the outcome into focus. “The 100″ is only one possible way of doing this.
I am well aware that applicants don’t simply make selection choices on the basis of salary, but I think evaluating programs on this basis is one important consideration.
Finally, I would like to thank “my team” at FT for doing all of the hard work. They have this nifty way of generating excel documents that really reduced my work by hours.
The Top 100 Global MBA Programs
| Adam’s Ranking | School name | Country | Weighted salary (US$) | FT Rank in 2013 |
| 1 | Stanford Graduate School of Business | US | 194645 | 2 |
| 2 | Harvard Business School | US | 187223 | 1 |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania: Wharton | US | 180772 | 3 |
| 4 | Columbia Business School | US | 174347 | 5 |
| 5 | Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad | India | 171188 | 26 |
| 6 | University of Chicago: Booth | US | 162363 | 10 |
| 7 | Northwestern University: Kellogg | US | 161269 | 13 |
| 8 | London Business School | UK | 160988 | 4 |
| 9 | MIT: Sloan | US | 160414 | 9 |
| 10 | Yale School of Management | US | 159370 | 14 |
| 11 | IE Business School | Spain | 157054 | 11 |
| 12 | Dartmouth College: Tuck | US | 156765 | 16 |
| 13 | INSEAD | France / Singapore | 153992 | 6 |
| 14 | University of California at Berkeley: Haas | US | 151952 | 12 |
| 15 | Cornell University: Johnson | US | 147799 | 24 |
| 16 | IMD | Switzerland | 147380 | 19 |
| 16 | UCLA: Anderson | US | 147125 | 23 |
| 18 | IESE Business School | Spain | 146049 | 7 |
| 19 | University of Cambridge: Judge | UK | 145169 | 16 |
| 19 | Duke University: Fuqua | US | 145147 | 18 |
| 21 | New York University: Stern | US | 144586 | 19 |
| 22 | University of Virginia: Darden | US | 142657 | 35 |
| 23 | University of Michigan: Ross | US | 140195 | 30 |
| 24 | University of Cape Town GSB | South Africa | 137361 | 74 |
| 24 | University of Oxford: Saïd | UK | 136609 | 24 |
| 26 | Hong Kong UST Business School | China | 132685 | 8 |
| 27 | The Lisbon MBA | Portugal | 132606 | 61 |
| 28 | CEIBS | China | 131362 | 15 |
| 29 | Carnegie Mellon: Tepper | US | 131294 | 43 |
| 30 | Georgetown University: McDonough | US | 130676 | 40 |
| 31 | University of Texas at Austin: McCombs | US | 128711 | 46 |
| 32 | Cranfield School of Management | UK | 127911 | 38 |
| 33 | Esade Business School | Spain | 126699 | 22 |
| 34 | Emory University: Goizueta | US | 124918 | 49 |
| 35 | Korea University Business School | South Korea | 124419 | 86 |
| 36 | HEC Paris | France | 123571 | 21 |
| 37 | Indian School of Business | India | 123470 | 34 |
| 38 | University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler | US | 123004 | 45 |
| 39 | Rice University: Jones | US | 122832 | 37 |
| 40 | University of Southern California: Marshall | US | 120251 | 82 |
| 40 | Warwick Business School | UK | 120111 | 28 |
| 42 | Vanderbilt University: Owen | US | 119178 | 53 |
| 43 | Australian School of Business (AGSM) | Australia | 118050 | 48 |
| 44 | City University: Cass | UK | 117195 | 40 |
| 45 | Babson College: Olin | US | 116212 | 80 |
| 46 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | US | 115493 | 44 |
| 46 | Manchester Business School | UK | 114769 | 29 |
| 48 | University of Rochester: Simon | US | 114312 | 59 |
| 49 | University of Hong Kong | China | 114119 | 31 |
| 50 | Indiana University: Kelley | US | 112932 | 54 |
| 51 | SDA Bocconi | Italy | 112673 | 39 |
| 52 | University of Maryland: Smith | US | 112552 | 50 |
| 53 | Hult International Business School | US / UK / UAE / China | 112520 | 57 |
| 54 | Georgia Institute of Technology: Scheller | US | 111683 | 59 |
| 54 | Pennsylvania State University: Smeal | US | 111359 | 77 |
| 54 | Boston College: Carroll | US | 111051 | 93 |
| 57 | Texas A & M University: Mays | US | 110765 | 69 |
| 57 | University College Dublin: Smurfit | Ireland | 110099 | 64 |
| 59 | Wisconsin School of Business | US | 109878 | 91 |
| 59 | Tulane University: Freeman | US | 109334 | 81 |
| 61 | Washington University: Olin | US | 109119 | 54 |
| 62 | University of Washington: Foster | US | 108899 | 78 |
| 62 | University of Strathclyde Business School | UK | 108601 | 87 |
| 64 | Boston University School of Management | US | 108474 | 95 |
| 64 | University of California at Irvine: Merage | US | 107582 | 54 |
| 66 | Michigan State University: Broad | US | 107453 | 62 |
| 66 | SMU: Cox | US | 107264 | 98 |
| 68 | Imperial College Business School | UK | 107032 | 42 |
| 69 | Melbourne Business School | Australia | 106887 | 62 |
| 69 | Sungkyunkwan University SKK GSB | South Korea | 106864 | 51 |
| 71 | Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University | Netherlands | 105546 | 33 |
| 72 | University of Iowa: Tippie | US | 105063 | 74 |
| 72 | Purdue University: Krannert | US | 104362 | 68 |
| 74 | CUHK Business School | China | 103423 | 27 |
| 74 | University of Western Ontario: Ivey | Canada | 103112 | 78 |
| 76 | Ohio State University: Fisher | US | 103064 | 72 |
| 77 | College of William and Mary: Mason | US | 102842 | 97 |
| 78 | Nanyang Business School | Singapore | 102683 | 32 |
| 78 | University of St Gallen | Switzerland | 100814 | 82 |
| 80 | George Washington University | US | 100600 | 84 |
| 81 | University of Bath School of Management | UK | 99916 | 72 |
| 82 | Arizona State University: Carey | US | 99796 | 87 |
| 82 | Case Western Reserve University: Weatherhead | US | 99343 | 94 |
| 84 | University of California, San Diego: Rady | US | 98556 | 95 |
| 84 | Mannheim Business School | Germany | 98262 | 69 |
| 86 | University of Toronto: Rotman | Canada | 97652 | 46 |
| 87 | Coppead | Brazil | 96621 | 66 |
| 87 | Lancaster University Management School | UK | 96080 | 71 |
| 89 | Vlerick Business School | Belgium | 94829 | 84 |
| 90 | EMLyon Business School | France | 94394 | 92 |
| 91 | National University of Singapore Business School | Singapore | 94340 | 36 |
| 92 | Tilburg University, TiasNimbas | Netherlands | 93859 | 64 |
| 93 | York University: Schulich | Canada | 93207 | 52 |
| 94 | University of South Carolina: Moore | US | 91878 | 99 |
| 95 | University of British Columbia: Sauder | Canada | 90833 | 57 |
| 95 | McGill University: Desautels | Canada | 90440 | 76 |
| 97 | University of Alberta | Canada | 86666 | 100 |
| 98 | Incae Business School | Costa Rica | 86060 | 90 |
| 99 | Fudan University School of Management | China | 80154 | 89 |
| 100 | Peking University: Guanghua | China | 77044 | 66 |
-Adam Markus
I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.
