Harvard Named World’s Best Business School in QS Rankings

The 2024 QS World University Rankings for Business and Management studies named Harvard University as the premiere institution for studying business. INSEAD (France) and the London Business School followed Harvard, while Stanford University and MIT ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. The top five ranked universities did not change from 2023. 

QS bases its business school rankings on an aggregate of four indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and H-indices (a measure of the productivity and impact of a university department’s research). Harvard’s top ranking stemmed from a perfect score (100) on the employer reputation indicator, and a near-perfect score (98.4) on academic reputation. INSEAD received a perfect score for academic reputation while London Business School fell just short of perfect with an academic reputation score of 99.1. 

The University of Pennsylvania was the final U.S. school to rank in the top ten, taking the seventh spot. In total, ten of the top 25 programs were U.S.-based programs. Below, we’ve listed the top ten, and the U.S.-based schools ranked in the top 50. Check out the full ranking here.

Top Ten:

1. Harvard University

2. INSEAD, France

3. London Business School, United Kingdom

4. Stanford University

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

6. University of Oxford, United Kingdom

7. University of Pennsylvania

8. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

9. Bocconi University, Italy

10. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

U.S.-based Schools Ranked in the Top 50:

13. University of California, Berkeley 

15. New York University (NYU)

16. University of Chicago

17. Northwestern University

20. Columbia University

25. Yale University

33. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

37. University of California, Los Angeles

38. Cornell University

Washington Foster Releases MBA Rankings Calculator 2.0

If you’re currently evaluating MBA programs, we recommend you head over to the recently re-released Washington Foster MBA Rankings Calculator to inform your process. The calculator creates a personalized MBA program ranking for each user, by allowing them to prioritize the metrics that matter most. The data underlying the calculator comes from business school rankings by Poets & Quants, Businessweek, Financial Times, Forbes, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Andrea Bowers, Director of Marketing Analytics at Foster, and a driving force behind the creation of the calculator, explained to Poets & Quants that most prospective students use the calculator three times. They are able to hone in on the factors that are most important to them as they create their own school list reflective of their priorities and goals. And they can create a ranking of all the schools by selecting the max prioritization for all of the metrics. 

Tech Companies Seek MBA Hires Who Excel in Entrepreneurial Culture

Technology companies have taken a large hold on MBA recruiting, with a particular interest in those students who can thrive in ambiguity and have a proven track record of creative problem solving. In turn, students are attracted to these companies for their generous compensation packages, the opportunity to take ownership over popular products, and the culture of innovation.

Liz Arnold, associate director for tech, entrepreneurship and venture capital in the Career Management Center at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management, said “I encourage all students interested in tech to build their entrepreneurial skill set, to really understand how to take the initiative on their own to go from idea to launch. I think that particular skill set is valued at most tech companies, because the tech companies want students to be autonomous and take projects and run with those ideas and move them forward.”  Similarly, Sarah Eytinge, MBA University recruiter at Microsoft, describes the company as having an entrepreneurial culture, and as seeking MBA recruits who can thrive in ambiguity, learn and adjust their course, and take creative approaches to complex problems. “We have a lot of teams in an innovative culture trying new things and failing fast,” she says. “They have the benefit of working for a large company like Microsoft so we have the resources to make those investments and take those risks. For those MBAs who are interested in entrepreneurship, they are surprised by what they have access to – they thought it was just a big company.”

Recruiter Insights on Top-Tier Programs for Entrepreneurship and Creativity

The Recruiter Insights Rankings, a component of the 2018 Bloomberg Businessweek Best B-Schools ranking, include deep-dives into recruiters’ views of the best programs based on entrepreneurial reputation and training, as well as the most creative and innovative graduates. The rankings include the responses of 3,698 employers that recruited MBA graduates, and focus on specific survey questions. Bloomberg Businessweek analysts then assigned scores to the top 30 schools with a score of five being the highest and one being the lowest. Below are the top ten for the three categories relevant to entrepreneurship.  

What schools have the best reputation for entrepreneurship?

What schools provide the best training in entrepreneurship?

What schools are producing the most creative graduates?

Prospective students interested in expanding their entrepreneurial skill-sets for an interest in a technology career or who are among the 27 percent of prospective full-time two-year MBA students who listed entrepreneurship/self-employment as a primary career goal post-graduation in GMAC’s Prospective Students Survey 2018, should carefully consider the top programs listed above. Additionally, during the school selection or interviewing period, prospective students should proactively engage with administrators and professors from specific MBA programs to see how they support students in achieving these strong outcomes.

See full listings for each of the categories below:

What schools have the best reputation for entrepreneurship?

What schools provide the best training in entrepreneurship?

What schools are producing the most creative graduates?

MBA School Selection: Important Considerations When Building Your School List

According to the 2017 AIGAC MBA Applicants Survey, 39 percent of MBA Applicants reported that their admissions consultant advised them to apply to a school they would have otherwise never considered.

At Apply Point, we work closely with our clients to create a school list that is both compatible with their interests and goals and also sound in terms of acceptance likelihood. We know we’ve succeeded when an applicant has the luxury of choice between multiple programs at the end of the admissions cycle. While there are numerous factors to consider when finalizing school selection, we believe the following three criteria are the most important.

Rankings/Prestige

While we discourage clients from judging schools on rankings alone, US News & World Report’s list of Best Business Schools, for example, is still important to consider when gaining an in-depth understanding of how potential employers will view your investment. Many rankings are also based on algorithms that incorporate various factors of interest to students such as quality assessments, placement success, and student selectivity.

Geography/Network

The second, and perhaps somewhat surprising aspect to consider when putting together a school list is geography. Place will play a crucial role in your ability to network. Thus, we often encourage students who know they want to end up in a certain location to consider the top MBA programs in that city, or within the geographic region. Similarly, if your goals are related to a certain industry, it can be invaluable to attend a school near one of the industry’s hubs.

Career Placement

The last, but perhaps most critical component, is to develop a thorough understanding of which companies are recruiting and hiring employees from the MBA programs you are interested in. We suggest prospective students gain a thorough knowledge of the information contained in each school’s career placement report and also engage with the school’s counselors in the career center to learn more. It can also be helpful to look for student clubs or associations within a business school relevant to your goals (e.g., Finance Club, Luxury Goods Club, Marketing Club), as they will often host events connecting potential employers with interested students, as well as providing other resources.

During the school selection period of the application process, we encourage prospective students to keep an open mind and fully explore the many options that exist. Speaking with professors, career placement professionals, current students, alumni, and admissions directors at different programs is a wonderful way to start.  Your personal MBA rankings may not look exactly like those in US News and World Report or Financial Times. And that is just fine.