The mba.com User’s Guide To MBA Rankings

Rankings are important in many of the decisions we face in our daily lives. Trying to find a new TV show? Check out a ranking of the best new series streaming today. Searching for somewhere to eat? A quick Google will bring up rankings of restaurants in your local area. Looking for a new vacuum cleaner? There are rankings for that, too.

When it comes to choosing where to study your MBA degree, business school rankings are a major part of the decision-making process. Indicators of elements such as prestige, reputation, and career performance, MBA rankings can give a flavor of why you might want to study at a particular institution.

But, with a wealth of rankings to choose from, each with their own unique methodologies, it can be difficult to know which one to put your faith in. Arguably a more important challenge is knowing how much a business school’s ranking position should dictate your choice.

Choosing your business school is a hugely important, potentially life-changing decision—you want to make sure you’re using rankings to inform your decision in the right way. So, here’s our mba.com user’s guide on how to use MBA rankings to find your best-fit business school.

Review school performance across multiple rankings

The sheer number of rankings available today is one reason why using a school’s ranking position in your decision-making process can be confusing.

Just last year, LinkedIn launched its own MBA ranking, joining an already large list of rankings providers that included respected names such as US News and World Report and the Financial Times.

However, LinkedIn took a novel approach, using its own employment and connection data and focusing almost exclusively on career outcomes, taking into account factors like promotions, network strength, and alumni ability to reach the C-suite.

In a densely populated space, admissions consultants welcomed the new ranking for the unique insights it offered to business school candidates. The key message here? Different rankings can offer you distinct insights, so your best approach is to review your target schools’ performance across multiple lists, rather than relying on one.

For example, the Financial Times MBA Ranking—widely regarded as being among the most prestigious—places a significant focus on graduate earning potential, with the two highest-weighted ranking metrics being average alumni salaries three years after graduation, and the average increase in salary between pre- and post-MBA.

The US News MBA Ranking also lists graduate salaries among its most important metrics, however this list places significantly more emphasis on a school’s reputation among both recruiters and its peers. Average scores in admissions tests like the GMAT are also a key metric for US News, while they’re not listed among the ranking criteria by the FT.

Different approaches to ranking business schools explain why schools’ positions can vary between lists. While it’s inevitable that certain institutions will generally feature near the top of most lists, others can fluctuate—NYU Stern School of Business, for example, ranks seventh in the 2024 US News Ranking, but 14th in the US according to the latest FT list.

To get the best possible idea of where your target school ranks overall, check out its performance across the various respected rankings that are available. If a particular metric is more important for you—prestige or alumni reviews, for example—make sure to pay more attention to the ranking that places the most weight on that category.

Look at school ranking performance over time

Just as you’re better off looking at a school’s performance over multiple rankings, it’s also a good idea to track a school’s performance over a number of years.

Looking at MBA ranking performance over time will show you how a school is trending. If its ranking position has increased in each of the previous five years, that school’s name could carry more weight when it comes to searching for jobs in a few years once you’ve graduated.

Similarly, if a school’s position has been in free fall over the last few years, you may have some concerns over what’s causing that change, and whether that institution will have the same prestige as your career progresses.

Looking at MBA rankings this way will also help you avoid getting caught up in any short-term ranking shocks as ranking releases are sometimes accompanied by big headlines. While these occurrences often make big stories, they don’t necessarily indicate that those schools are no longer worth applying to.

For a full picture of how your target school compares with others, look at its position over the past five years or so, and see which schools tend to rank near to it to get an idea of the types of institutions it is generally up against.

Incorporate rankings into your overall view of a school

Perhaps the most important thing to note here is that MBA rankings are not the be-all and end-all when it comes to making your business school decision. They should play a small part in a wider decision-making process that takes into account a whole host of other factors, including: location, cost, cultural fit, your desired career path, and the experiences on offer.

If you’re looking for an MBA program that can help you enter the consumer goods sector, a highly-ranked program that sends half of its graduates into consulting might not be the best fit for you.

Likewise, if you’re looking to immerse yourself in the business school environment and live on-campus, an MBA that offers an entirely campus-based learning experience would likely be your preferred choice over one that’s located in the middle of a city, even if the latter ranks higher.

Take the time to really get to know a school before you make your decision. Speak with alumni, attend open days, and try to spend time on campus if you can. While researching, you should be able to build a holistic picture of everything that a business school can offer you, and how it can help you achieve your goals. Ranking position should be just one in a long list of data points informing your choice.

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