Chicago Booth On Top As US Schools Dominate The Economist MBA Ranking 2018

US business schools dominate the Economist’s ranking of full-time MBA programs 2018 led by Chicago University’s Booth School of Business in the first place, leaving just four spots in the top 20 to management institutions in Britain and Europe.

The US score is impressive even in the top 100, with the schools bagging no less than 53 places.

Booth managed to emerge on the top pushing the 2017 topper Northwestern Kellogg School of Management to the second place. This is for the sixth time in seven years that Booth has captured the first rank.

Harvard School of Business (HBS) is ranked 3^rd followed by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (4^th), Stanford GSB (5^th).

Spain’s IESE is the only non-US school in the top ten, placed 6th, having climbed 11 spots in the previous year. The seventh-ranked Michigan Ross had also moved up five places. Placed 8^th is UCLA Anderson that slipped two places from the previous year’ rankings. Darden School of the University of Virginia moved up one spot to rank 9 while Columbia School of Business slipped one spot to the 10^th rank. Altogether 100 schools figure in the rankings.

For the latest rankings, the data were collected during spring 2018, using two surveys. The first was completed by schools with eligible programs and covers quantitative matters such as the salary of graduates, the average GMAT scores of students and the number of registered alumni.

At Booth, according to the ranking survey, 97% of the graduates find a job within three months and earn an average salary of $129,400, a 67% rise in their pre-MBA paycheques.

Meanwhile, the fees at the US schools in the top 20 now average $123,000 and have gone up at a rapid pace in recent years. European schools, in comparison, are cheaper because the programs are generally shorter making the return on investment quicker.

For instance, IESE pegs the fee for its 19-month MBA program at $96,000. The school saw a big boost in the average salary for its graduates to $123,000 and a job-placement rate of 99%.

Rankings Methodology

The Economist uses data supplied by schools, students and alumni in four categories. These are opening new career opportunities (35%), personal development and educational experience (35%), better pay (20%) and networking potential (10%).

However, the publication says the rankings are little more than an indication of the MBA market at a particular moment. They reflect the prevailing conditions such as salaries, jobs available and the situation at a school at the time of the survey.

Since none of the rankings could be described as definitive, these are to be treated with caution.

For the latest rankings, the data were collected during spring 2018, using two surveys. The first was completed by schools with eligible programs and covers quantitative matters such as the salary of graduates, the average GMAT scores of students and the number of registered alumni.

This accounted for around 80% of the ranking. The remaining 20% comes from a qualitative survey filled out by current MBA students and a school’s most recent graduating MBA class. The respondents are asked to rate things such as the quality of the faculty, facilities and career services department. They are also asked to give details of their salary in order to verify the data provided by the schools.

For schools that have not signed up to the “Agreed Upon Procedures” of the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance, an industry body that sets standards for reporting salaries, student data are used rather than those supplied by the institution. A minimum response rate—equivalent to 25% of the latest intake or 50 students/alumni (whichever is lower)—is required for schools to be included in the ranking.