A Comparison Of Rankings For Top 20 MBA Programs Worldwide

This is the first of two posts on MBA Rankings. The second post is here. See also my ranking of these programs by acceptance rate.
Click here for all of my rankings tables together in one post.

MBA Rankings are important because applicants, recruiters, students, and the schools themselves pay great attention to them. As to their basis in reality, I am not a statistician, so I can't judge their validity as measurements. I won't even try.

For me the chief value in MBA rankings is that they provide lists of schools that are generally thought to be superior by enough people and institutions so that the authors of the rankings are taken somewhat seriously. Applicants take them seriously enough when selecting where to apply. B-Schools take them seriously enough to mention their rankings.

If you are told that your company will only sponsor you for a "Top 20" MBA program, then you will have to take these lists seriously. Every year I have had Japanese clients who have been under such constraints. I hope the following is somewhat helpful to them.

What I have done here is simply take all the major lists and look only at the rankings for top 20 programs as ranked by Businessweek, the Financial Times, US News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Following this table, you see each ranking list. Note: If less than 20 programs are listed that is because less than 20 were ranked.
To best view the following table, click on it.


The rankings lists:

BUSINESSWEEK
New Businessweek rankings will be coming in October 2008, this are the rankings from October 2006.

Top 20 US
1 University of Chicago
2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 Harvard University
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 MIT (Sloan)
8 UC Berkeley (Haas)
9 Duke University (Fuqua)
10 Columbia University
11 Dartmouth (Tuck)
12 UCLA (Anderson)
13 Cornell University (Johnson)
14 NYU (Stern)
15 University of Virginia (Darden)
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Indiana University (Kelley)
19 Yale University
20 University of Texas - Austin

Non-U.S. Top 10 MBA Programs
1 Queens University
2 Western Ontario (Ivey)
3 Toronto (Rotman)
4 IMD
5 London Business School
6 INSEAD
7 ESADE
8 IESE
9 York (Schulich)
10 HEC - Montreal


US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
March 2008
1. Harvard University
1. Stanford University
3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
4. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4. University of Chicago
7. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
7. University of California--Berkeley (Haas)
9. Columbia University
10 . New York University (Stern)
11. University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)
12 .University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross)
13. Yale University
14. Cornell University (Johnson)
14. Duke University (Fuqua)
14 . University of Virginia (Darden)
17. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
18. University of Texas--Austin (McCombs)
19. University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
20. Indiana University--Bloomington (Kelley)


FINANCIAL TIMES
Top Twenty Worldwide
2008
1. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
2. London Business School
3. Columbia Business School
4. Stanford University GSB
5. Harvard Business School
6. INSEAD
7. MIT: Sloan US
8. IE Business School
9. University of Chicago GSB
10. University of Cambridge: Judge UK
11. CEIBS
12. IESE Business School
13. New York University: Stern
14. IMD Switzerland
15. Dartmouth College: Tuck
16. Yale School of Management
17. Hong Kong UST Business School
18. HEC Paris France
19. University of Oxford
20. Indian School of Business


WALL STREET JOURNAL RECRUITER'S POLL

National Ranking: Recruiters hiring for jobs in the US
2007
1. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
2. University of California, Berkeley (Haas)
3. Columbia University
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
5. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
6. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
7. University of Michigan (Ross)
8. Yale University
9 . University of Chicago
10. University of Virginia (Darden)
11. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
12. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
13. Duke University (Fuqua)
14. Harvard University
15. University of California, Los Angeles (Anderson)
16. Cornell University (Johnson)
17. New York University (Stern)
18. University of Southern California (Marshall)
19. Stanford University

Recruiters Hiring for Jobs Primarily Outside of the US
2007
1. ESADE
2. IMD
3. London Business School
4. IPADE
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
6. Columbia University
7. ESSEC
8. Tecnológico de Monterrey (EGADE)
9. HEC Paris
10. Thunderbird
11. York University (Schulich)
12. University of Western Ontario (Ivey)
13. University of Chicago
14. Instituto de Empresa (IE)
15. INSEAD
16. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
17. Bocconi University
18. Erasmus University (Rotterdam)
19. IESE
20. Northwestern University (Kellogg)


ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT:
2007 Ranking
1. Chicago, University of - Graduate School of Business
2. Stanford Graduate School of Business
3. IESE Business School - University of Navarra
4. Dartmouth College--Tuck School of Business
5. IMD - International Institute for Management Development
6. California at Berkeley, University of--Haas School of Business
7. Cambridge, University of - Judge Business School
8. New York University - Leonard N Stern School of Business
9. IE Business School
10. Henley Business School
11. Cranfield School of Management
12. Michigan, University of - Stephen M Ross School of Business
13. Harvard Business School
14. Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management
15. London Business School
16. MIT Sloan School of Management
17. INSEAD
18. Columbia Business School
19. Ashridge
20. Hong Kong UST -- School of Business and Management

FORBES
2007

Top US

1. Dartmouth (Tuck)
2. Stanford
3. Harvard
4. Virginia (Darden)
5. Pennsylvania (Wharton)
6. Columbia
7. Chicago
8. Yale
9. Northwestern (Kellogg)
10. Cornell (Johnson)
11. NYU (Stern)
12. Duke (Fuqua)
13. UC Berkeley (Haas)
14. Texas-Austin (McCombs)
15. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
16. Iowa (Tippie)
17. MIT (Sloan)
18. Brigham Young (Marriott)
19. Michigan State (Broad)
20. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)

Top Non-U.S. One-Year Business Schools

1. IMD
2. Instituto de Empresa
3. Cranfield
4. SDA Bocconi
5. University of Oxford
6. Lancaster
7. City University, Cass
8. Queen's
9. HEC-Montreal

Top Non-U.S. Two-Year Business Schools
1. IESE
2. London Business School
3. Manchester Business School
4. York
5. IPADE
6. Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM)
7. UBC, Saunder
8. ESADE
9. CEIBS
10. HEC-Paris
11. McGill


Read the second post in this series for the Averaged Ranking of the 54 "Top 20" Programs.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.

-Adam Markus
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HBS: What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

This post is on the forth of the four "Question 3" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2009 Admission. You must answer two out of four of these questions. To see all the posts in this series: Overall Strategy 1 2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4.

3-4.What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you? (400-word limit)

While I think it is important that the MBA Admissions Board understand what motivates you, I don't believe that you necessarily have to answer this question to tell them that. While many applicants are likely to want to answer this question, if you want to set yourself apart from the pack, don't do it unless your answer is really very compelling.

The reason they made it optional is because they don't want to read standard obligatory goals essays. This has been part of trend at HBS which began when they stopped asking about why applicants want to attend there. I think they decided that asking that particular "Why HBS?" question was not interesting and probably not sufficiently helpful in selecting who would necessarily succeed at HBS. As I have mentioned in my post on Strategy, it is possible to express your future academic and professional objectives in another essay question.

At a strategic application level, I suggest you still should go through the process of analyzing your goals in detail. Chances are quite high that if your are interviewed by HBS, you will be asked about your goals. Hence, having essays that account for your goals even indirectly or in limited detail is an important part of having an overall application strategy.

Even if your career vision is absolutely clear to you, I suggest going through a formal process of MBA goals formulation. You can use my GAP, SWOT, AND ROI TABLE FOR FORMULATING GRADUATE DEGREE GOALS for this purpose (see below). I think Gap, SWOT, and ROI analysis are great ways for understanding what your goals are, why you want a degree, and how you will use it. (Click here for the Businessweek MBA ROI calculator. Click here for a GMAC report on MBA ROI. )

(To best view the following table, click on it. For a word version, please email me at adammarkus@gmail.com)

How to use this table:

Step 1. Begin by analyzing your "Present Situation." What job(s) have you held? What was/is your functional role(s)? What was/are your responsibilities?

Next, analyze your present strengths and weaknesses for succeeding in your present career. REMEMBER: WHEN YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS DON'T ONLY THINK ABOUT WORK, THINK ABOUT OTHER ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE. In particular, some of your greatest strengths may have been demonstrated outside of work, so make sure you are accounting for them.
Strengths: What are you good at? Where do you add value? What are you praised for? What are you proud of?
Weakness: What are you bad at? What are you criticized for? What do you try to avoid due to your own limitations? What do you fear?

Next, analyze the environment you work in right now. What opportunities exist for your growth and success? What threats could limit your career growth?

Step 2. Now, do the same thing in Step 1 for your "Post-Degree" future after you have earned your graduate degree. IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE STEP 2, YOU HAVE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PLANNED FOR YOUR FUTURE and therefore you need to do more research and need to think more about it.

Step 3. If you could complete step 2, than you should see the "Gap" between your present and your future. What skills, knowledge, and other resources do you need to close the gap between your present and future responsibilities, strengths, and opportunities?

Step 4. After completing Step 3, you now need to determine how an MBA will add value to you. It is possible that an increased salary as a result of job change will be sufficient "ROI" for the degree to justify itself, but you should show how a degree will allow you to reach your career goals. How will the degree enhance your skills and opportunities and help you overcome your weaknesses and external threats? If you can complete Step 4, then you should be ready to explain what your goals are, why you want a degree, and the relationship between your past and future career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. If you know about HBS, you are ready to write about your goals, whether in Question 3-4 or elsewhere in the essay set.

The above table will also help you answer such common interview questions as: Where do you want to work after you finish your degree? Why do you want an MBA (or other degree)? What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your goals?

Formulating goals is not enough to answer 3-4 effectively because HBS is especially focused on understanding the "why," not just the "what." Simply stating what your goals are and why HBS is the best place for you to accomplish them is not exactly what you need here. Instead, you need to articulate a vision related to your goals. You need to focus on your motivations as well as your idealized career outcomes.

Making your career goals sound exciting requires thinking about whether these goals are compelling. Admissions committees ask applicants to write about their goals after graduate school, but can applicants actually know what will be on the cutting-edge in two or three years? While many applicants will be able to successfully apply with relatively standard goals ("I want to be a consultant because..."), putting together a truly outstanding career vision is one way of differentiating your application. But how?

Be informed. HBS Admissions needs to believe you know what you are talking about. If you are changing careers, no one expects you to be an expert, but you should come across as having a clear plan based on real research into your future. If are planning on staying in your present industry, you should be well informed not only about the companies you have worked for, but the industry as a whole. If you are not already doing so, read industry related publications and network.

Those changing fields should most certainly read industry related publications in their intended field. Additionally, I suggest conducting informational interviews with at least one peer level and one senior level person in that field. Conduct a peer-level interview to get a good idea of what it would be like to actually work in that industry. Conduct a senior-level interview to get the perspective of someone who can see the big picture and all the little details as well.

Don't know anyone in your intended field? Network! One great way to start that is through LinkedIn. Another is by making use of your undergraduate alumni network and/or career center.

LEARN WHAT IS HOT. No matter whether you are changing fields or not, learn what is hot now and try to figure out what will be hot by the time you graduate. Now, of course, this is just a plan and chances are that what is hot in your industry or field now, may very well be cold in the future. The point is to come across to the Harvard Business School as someone who is not only well informed, but has CUTTING-EDGE knowledge. Some great general sources for learning what is hot:

HBS Sources: One of the best places to learn about what HBS perceives as cutting-edge is through HBS. You should most certainly visit Harvard Working Knowledge, Harvard Business Review, and Harvard Business School Publishing.

Beyond HBS: Additionally, other great business school sources include the University of Chicago GSB's Working Papers, The University of Chicago's Capital Ideas, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Knowledge @ Wharton, and MIT Sloan Management Review.

LinkedIn Answers: I would suggest that everyone join LinkedIn and make use of LinkedIn Answers. LinkedIn Answers is a great way to tap into cutting edge expertise (including my admissions advice!). Follow LinkedIn's rules and you will often be able to obtain excellent information.

Hoovers: For information about specific companies, Hoovers is just a great way to learn about key facts including competitors (a very useful way of knowing who else you might want to work for and to learn about an industry). While primarily focused on the US, Hoovers does have listings for companies worldwide.

Vault: For scope of coverage, this site is a must. Vault includes both career and admissions information. It includes both company specific and industry-wide information.

Other sources: Read magazines, websites, and books that relate to your intended field.


The writing process: After going through a process of reflection and analysis, prepare a version of essay 3-4 that includes everything you want to say. If you have previously prepared a goals essay for another school this may serve as a foundation, but modify it to tell admissions everything you would want them to know about your career vision. Next begin the process of revision. Here are a few key things to consider when revising:

1. Think about the most important thing you need admissions to know about your career vision. Begin your essay with that. Chances are good that on your initial draft the most important thing is somewhere in the middle or end of your essay.

2. Prioritize the rest of your content: What do they really need to know? You probably have lots of details that can be cut.

3. Make a formal argument: Your essay should be neither a set of disembodied points or a summary. Instead, it should be a formal statement about your career vision. It may very well partially take the form of a memo or it may be rather creative. The important point is that the reader should be able to understand it clearly and be convinced by it.

Finally, once you have put together your career vision, consider how the rest of your application supports what you say in it. Without over-marketing yourself, or even necessarily writing it directly in the essays, make sure that your past accomplishments and other aspects of your application show how your potential will contribute to your future career vision.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
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HBS: What area of the world are you most curious about and why?

This post is on the third of four "Question 3" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2009 Admission. You must answer two out of four of these questions. All my posts in this series: Overall Strategy 1 2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4.

Question 3: 3.What area of the world are you most curious about and why? (400-word limit)

I really like this question. It is new for this year. And as far as I know, HBS is the first to ask it. It is so refreshing to see a question that is so open-ended and yet so potentially revealing. While many will assume that this question applies only to those with an international focus, it actually would apply to any location that you are curious about. Clearly the curiosity consideration is key here.

As with other HBS questions, the "why" is just as important as the "what." Since curiosity is about what you don't know, the overall focus of this question should be future oriented. That is to say, it would be wrong to write this essay about something you WERE curious about; instead it must be about something you ARE curious about.

But curiosity is not enough! What area of the world you are curious about must be something related to your future. Otherwise, why does HBS need to know about it? Most likely it will relate to what you want to study at HBS, what you want to do after you graduate from HBS, and/or to your values.

This question is not for everyone, but for those whose goals and/or values are connected to specific geographic location, it is an ideal question.

It also a question that one can use to focus on internationalism. This is the second year in a row that HBS has asked a question related to having a global perspective. To understand more about how a global perspective fits into HBS overall, I suggest taking a look at The Global Initiative.
Additionally, you should investigate the Immersion Experience. Future Immersion Experiences are being planned for China, India, the Middle East, and New Orleans.

If you use this essay to discuss your professional goals, please refer to my analysis of 3-4 as I discuss how to articulate a career vision there in great detail.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
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HBS: Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.

This post is on the second of four "Question 3" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2009 Admission. You must answer two out of four of these questions. All my posts in this series: Overall Strategy 1 2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4.

Question 3: 2. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
(400-word limit)

This year, HBS has provided a leadership question that anyone can answer. "Community" and "organization" are such inclusive terms that one might be referring to a small local community, a virtual community, a specific ethnic/religious community, a corporation, a small company, a worldwide NGO, a school, etc. Engagement means involvement, contribution, making a difference. To do so is to show the potential for leadership that HBS is looking for. If you don't write on this question, your leadership potential must be accounted for elsewhere in the HBS application.

HBS is about leadership. The HBS mission statement makes that clear: The mission of Harvard Business School is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. As such HBS places a very high premium on applicants' leadership potential:
A Habit of Leadership
We recognize—and welcome—leadership that may be expressed in many forms, from college extracurricular activities to academic or business achievements, from personal accomplishments to community commitments. We appreciate leadership on any scale as well, from organizing a classroom to directing a combat squad, from running an independent business to spearheading initiatives at work. In essence, we are looking for evidence of your potential — a portfolio of experiences, initiatives, and accomplishments that reflect a habit of leadership.
Harvard thus has a very open-ended conception of leadership, but they are rigid in the necessity that applicants demonstrate it. I think this is true for other schools to a varying extent as well. For example, like HBS, "INSEAD is looking for applicants who can demonstrate their potential as leaders." Even if a set of business school essay questions does not necessarily explicitly ask for you to show your potential for leadership, it had better be expressed.

Leadership is no easy thing. Nor is it obvious. The worst possible thing is to conceive of leadership as simple formal responsibility or a title because this conveys nothing about the person in that position. While some applicants will, in fact, have held formal leadership positions, many will not.

Formal leadership positions are great to write about if they involve the applicant actually having significant impact, making a difficult decision, being a visionary, showing creativity, or otherwise going beyond their formal responsibility, but the same is true for those showing leadership without having a formal title.

If you are having difficulty really understanding leadership, I have a few suggestions.

First, one great place to read about leadership, and business in general, is Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.

Second, find out what kind of leader you are by taking this quiz based on Lewin's classic framework. I think leadership is more complicated than Lewin's framework, but this quiz is a great way to get you started thinking about yourself, a key part of answering any leadership essay question effectively.

Third, if you have not done so, I suggest reading relevant essays in 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays: With Analysis by the Staff of the Harbus, The Harvard Business School Newspaper. Reading through the essays on leadership should help you to understand the great diversity of topics that are possible.

OK, now that we have grounded ourselves in understanding the importance of leadership and begun to develop some possible leadership stories, how should you proceed?

I have developed the following grid to help you outline your leadership story. The categories this grid employs may go beyond any particular school's essay requirements. Filling it out completely will help you write about your leadership in a way that will convince admissions of your leadership potential.
CLICK TO ENLARGE. EMAIL me at adammarkus@gmail.com if you want the original excel version.

How to use the grid:
1. Decide on a specific story. HBS 3-2 is asking about "a community or organization,"so select only one.
2. Identify the most significant things you did in the situation, these are you action steps.
3. For each action step identify:

• What skills or qualities you demonstrated to complete this step.
• The strengths you demonstrated to complete this step.
• The kind of leadership you demonstrated.
• What you still need to learn about leadership.

4. Think about the results and identify how they relate to your action steps. So at minimum, you should be able to state the impact on the community or organization. Additionally you may find that you are able to state the impact on yourself.

5. After completing the chart you will see that some aspects of your action steps may be repeated. If there is a total duplication and nothing new is shown, either you need to redefine the action step or you may decide not to focus on it very much.

6. Once you think you have two to four fully worked-out action steps, start writing your essay.

7. Next, start re-writing. Eliminate duplicate points made between action steps. Make choices about what parts of each action to step to highlight. Given that there are usually word limits, you will have to make some decisions about what to include.

Simply providing a description of your engagement, is not enough. Think about what it signifies about you. Think about what your engagement reveals about your leadership potential, your professional or personal goals, and/or your skill set.

Finally, thinking and writing about leadership is an important part of preparing for interviews because you can be certain that you will have to talk about leadership. So you might find that the parts of the outline you jettison now will become valuable when you will want to have alternative stories for your HBS interview.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
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HBS: What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

This post is on the first of four "Question 3" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2009 Admission. You must answer two out of four of these questions. Here are all the posts in this series: Overall Strategy 1 2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4.

Question 3: 1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience? (400-word limit)

It is rather obvious that the questions an MBA program asks you reflect its admissions strategies. This is as true for the Harvard Business School as for any other school. For example, when HBS introduced the this question in 2005, it was directly connected to an effort to recruit younger applicants.

This question is obviously ideal for an applicant to the 2+2 program, a graduating senior or someone with 1 or 2 years of work to answer.It is no surprise that they ask this question. Consider the emphasis that HBS puts on academic ability:

"Harvard Business School is a demanding, fast-paced, and highly-verbal environment. We look for individuals who will thrive on sophisticated ideas and lively discussion. Our case-based method of learning depends upon the active participation of prepared students who can assess, analyze, and act upon complex information within often-ambiguous contexts. The MBA Admissions Board will review your prior academic performance, the results of the GMAT, and, if applicable, TOEFL and/or IELTS, and the nature of your work experience. There is no particular previous course of study required to apply; you must, however, demonstrate the ability to master analytical and quantitative concepts."

More generally, I think that this question is great for any applicant who learned something valuable in their undergraduate academic program. You don't need a high GPA to answer this one and, in fact, those who don't have a high GPA, but actually did something meaningful as part of their program of study, should consider writing on this topic to help mitigate the impact of a weak GPA.

For those who have been out of school for a while or would prefer to emphasize other aspects of their background, this question need not be answered as long as some other aspect(s) of your application- GMAT score, GPA, transcript, your resume, or perhaps one of your substantial accomplishments- demonstrates your academic potential to succeed. You must demonstrate your academic potential somewhere in your application (Yes, a solid GPA and GMAT are enough for that purpose), so if you find that have not done so effectively elsewhere and have an important story to tell about your undergraduate experience, you should most certainly consider writing an essay on this question.

Additionally for those whose undergraduate academic experience connects to their career vision and/or reasons for obtaining an MBA, part of this essay may very well serve that explanatory purpose. If you do find that you can best relate your career vision and/or reasons for pursuing an MBA on this topic, I still suggest you closely review my analysis of 3-4.

Finally, I should point out that I don't see any advantage to using this essay to explain a bad GPA or GMAT. Instead focus not such an explanation, but on making a clear argument for why you are strong candidate. There is an additional information section on the application which is long enough to provide a brief explanation of anything problematic in your academic background.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
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カウンセリング コンサルティング エッセイMBA留学 ハーバード