Chicago’s Booth School of Business remaining at the top of The Economist’s ranking of the world’s top MBA programs for the second year in a row is only one of a few stable things in this year’s ranking, according to the Poets & Quants website. This is the seventh time Booth has taken the top spot in The Economist ranking in the past nine years.
This year’s ranking shakeup is widespread. Nineteen of the top 100 MBA programs faced leaps or falls of at least 10 spots since last year. Seven schools have dropped out of the ranking completely, leaving room for seven new schools.
The biggest winners and losers
HEC Paris made the biggest gain in the Top 10. It jumped 10 places to #3, behind just Chicago Booth (#1) and Harvard Business School (#2).
UVA Darden (#9 in 2018) and Columbia Business School (#10 in 2018) are no longer found in the Top 10 (they’ve dropped to 16th and 15th, respectively).
University of Maryland (#81 in 2019) and Northeastern University (#82 in 2019) are no longer ranked in the Top 100.
Why are these rankings so volatile?
The Economist looks at 21 different metrics to determine their rankings. This is the most metrics of any ranking. They place heavy emphasis on compensation and career placement, including salaries, pre-MBA versus post-MBA pay increases, and the percent of grads who find jobs through the career management center. These comprise 45% of the methodology.
The Economist also relies quite a bit on student satisfaction, which is determined by an annual survey of current MBA students and recent alumni. These survey results comprise 20% of the ranking and are composed of:
- New career opportunities (35%)
- Personal development/educational experiences (35%)
- Increasing salary (20%)
- Potential to network (10%)
The Economist’s Top 25 MBA programs
| 2019 Rank | School | YOY Change | 2018 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Booth | - | 1 |
| 2 | Harvard Business School | +1 | 3 |
| 3 | HEC Paris | +10 | 13 |
| 4 | Northwestern Kellogg | -2 | 2 |
| 5 | UPenn Wharton | -1 | 4 |
| 6 | UCLA Anderson | +2 | 8 |
| 7 | UC Berkeley Haas | +4 | 11 |
| 8 | Stanford GSB | -3 | 5 |
| 9 | Michigan Ross | -2 | 7 |
| 10 | IESE | -4 | 6 |
| 11 | Duke Fuqua | +4 | 15 |
| 12 | Dartmouth Tuck | - | 12 |
| 13 | SDA Bocconi | +11 | 24 |
| 14 | Cornell Johnson | +6 | 20 |
| 15 | Columbia | -5 | 10 |
| 16 | Virginia Darden | -7 | 9 |
| 17 | New York University Stern | - | 17 |
| 18 | USC Marshall | +10 | 28 |
| 19 | MIT Sloan | -3 | 16 |
| 20 | Washington Foster | +2 | 22 |
| 21 | Yale SOM | -7 | 14 |
| 22 | INSEAD | -3 | 19 |
| 23 | Georgia Tech Scheller | +8 | 31 |
| 24 | Warwick | -6 | 18 |
| 25 | London Business School | +2 | 27 |
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Related Resources:
• Are You a Competitive Applicant at Your Dream School? [The MBA Selectivity Index]
• Do MBA Rankings Matter?
• Are You a Good Fit for Your Target MBA Programs?