Beyond the Rankings: How to Find the Right MBA Program for You
You’ve outlined your goals and evaluated your qualifications, and now it’s time to dive into the next stage of your MBA journey: program research. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, via rankings, MBA fairs, school websites, Poets&Quants, student blogs, school open houses, and even casual conversations with your neighbor’s sister’s boyfriend’s dad. It’s a lot to process, but rankings often serve as a natural starting point.
Where MBA Rankings Factor In
If you’ve followed our blog, read our admissions guides, or listened to our podcasts, you know that we advise against basing your school selection on rankings alone. Applying to the top five MBA programs simply because they’re so highly ranked is not a strategy that will work out for everyone.
However, rankings do have value, especially when you are just beginning your research. They can help you narrow down your options. But the key is to use them wisely.
Six Ways to Effectively Research Your School Options
The following six-step approach to researching MBA programs will not only yield meaningful information for you to use in making your list of target schools but will also make the process more efficient and focused, thereby conserving and respecting your precious time.
Step 1: Start with the rankings.
Begin your research by reviewing several broad MBA rankings, keeping your competitive profile in mind. Consider where you would be a good match in terms of your qualifications, and then think about reasonable reach schools and perhaps a few safety options. It’s crucial to consult multiple rankings, such as U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Poets&Quants. Sometimes a program might be ranked lower or higher than you expected but would still be worth applying to for other reasons. Use the various rankings to get a sense of what’s out there, but keep your options open.
Step 2: Talk to people — especially those with MBA experience.
Once you have an initial sense of where you might be competitive, the next step is to get some qualitative feedback. Talk to colleagues, friends, mentors, and/or alumni who have firsthand experience with MBA programs. Their impressions and insights can help you understand a school’s culture, fit, and reputation beyond the numbers.
Ask about their experiences and whether the school lives up to its rankings. For example, you might learn that a program with a lower ranking offers a surprisingly strong network in your field of interest. These conversations help add nuance to what the rankings alone can’t tell you.
Step 3: Explore industry- and function-specific rankings.
If you have a particular career goal or industry in mind (e.g., finance, tech, entrepreneurship, healthcare), it’s wise to look into specialized rankings for those areas. Certain programs might not rank as highly overall but could offer top-tier opportunities in your field.
There might be programs in your competitive range that would meet your academic needs but don’t show up on specialization rankings. For example, Kellogg isn’t known as a finance school but offers much in this area and might be great for someone in private equity who will be doing a lot of managing. And Columbia Business School doesn’t often appear on entrepreneurship rankings, but its offerings in this area are quite strong. So, indulge in some unstructured exploring to “see what you might see.”
Step 4: Dive deeper into program details.
Once you’ve identified some schools that seem like a good fit based on the rankings and your discussions, you’ll need to dig into the details. Visit the different schools’ websites and review their curriculum structure, specializations, faculty, student body, and career placement support.
Pay attention to such elements as flexible program options, the focus of different concentrations, and whether the school offers resources that align with your goals. For example, if you’re interested in social impact, does the program have a strong track in sustainability or nonprofit leadership?
You’ll also want to compare the average GMAT/GRE scores of admitted students with your own scores. While standardized tests aren’t everything, they can help you gauge your competitiveness. Are your scores within range?
Step 5: Attend MBA events and visit schools.
At this point, you should start attending MBA events and school information sessions, which offer a wealth of useful data and allow you to meet representatives from various programs in person or online. These opportunities are a great way to get a sense of each school’s unique culture, as well as its academic and career support offerings.
If possible, visit the programs you’re seriously considering. Campus visits give you the chance to experience the environment firsthand and help you determine whether a school feels like a good fit. A program might look perfect on paper, but if you don’t connect with the campus culture, it might not be the right place for you.
Step 6: Finalize your list based on all the information.
By now, you should have a clearer picture of which programs are the best fit for your goals and qualifications. Refine your list by continuing to read admissions blogs, connect with students, and attend informational sessions. You should now have a finalized or near-finalized list of programs to apply to.
While rankings can provide useful context, your final school choices should be based on a blend of your own research, input from others, and how well the programs align with your specific needs.
This process is fluid, so stay open to new discoveries along the way. You might stumble upon a program that wasn’t on your radar or fall in love with a school you initially overlooked. The journey to finding the right MBA program is as much about self-discovery as it is about researching schools.
Four Reasons to Not Overvalue MBA Rankings
As we have noted, rankings can provide valuable insights, but there are important caveats to keep in mind. Overvaluing rankings can lead you to make costly, time-consuming decisions. Here are four reasons to view MBA rankings as just one part of the school-selection process:
- Rankings are based on the experiences of others – students, alumni, and faculty. Although these surveys can be helpful, they might not align with your unique needs. What qualifies as a top-ranked school for another candidate might not be the best fit for you, so use rankings as a starting point, not the final word.
- General rankings tend to hide some schools’ strengths (and weaknesses) in specific areas. There are numerous “gem” programs that thrive outside the top ten or even top twenty. Many MBA applicants have a great chance of not just being accepted at these gem schools but also receiving financial aid. Sure, getting into Wharton would be a huge accomplishment. But what if you were accepted to UW Foster, got a full scholarship, and found that when you visited the campus, you felt right at home? The fact that Foster doesn’t crack the top ten might not matter so much anymore.
- Averages are exactly that: averages. They aren’t cutoffs and don’t reflect extenuating circumstances or the interplay between myriad factors in an admissions decision. Every school accepts some applicants and rejects some candidates who have above-average stats.
- Surveys, especially surveys of students and alumni, can be gamed. Students and alumni know that if their school places higher in the rankings, this increases the value of their degree. They also have an incentive to think kindly of their schools.
In the end, the right MBA program for you is one that will help you achieve your long-term goals, regardless of where it stands in the rankings. The most important thing is that you make your decision based on thorough research and self-reflection – not just the numbers.
Kara Keenan Sweeney has more than 15 years of experience in MBA admissions, having worked for some of the world’s top business school programs, including Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and The Lauder Institute’s joint degree MA/MBA program with The Wharton School and the MA/JD program with Penn Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Kara has guided, coached, and counseled thousands of MBA and EMBA applicants, reviewed innumerable applications, sat on admissions committees, and interviewed countless applicants, including while running Wharton’s Team Based Discussions both virtually and in person. Want Kara to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
Related resources:
