Bloomberg Businessweek Best Business Schools Ranking
The 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek best business schools ranking is a modest departure from it recent versions. The new version solely analyzes U.S.-based business schools, largely formulated around career outcomes of its students, rather than the individual experiences of those students during their respective educations. The publication analyzed "more than 26,804 surveys of MBA students, alumni, and recruiters, as well as employment data provided by schools, we created four indexes: Compensation, Learning, Networking, and Entrepreneurship."
To get a more in depth look at the entire ranking, head on over to the official Bloomberg Businessweek website.
For the second year in a row, the Stanford Graduate School of Business managed to secure the top overall spot in the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, thanks to the school's nearly unbeatable marks in entrepreneurship and post-graduate salaries (with nearly perfect scores for both).
The publication awarded Stanford GSB a perfect score overall, ranking first in graduate compensation and entrepreneurship. The Bay Area's school rank came in spite of its modest learning scores, coming in just 29th overall.
The biggest surprise in the top 10, all the way in second overall in the 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, is the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business.
Clocking in last year at 19th overall, the next-tier jump for the New Hampshire business school not only represents one of the biggest leaps in this year's ranking, but one of the highest jumps for an elite school we may have ever seen. The school earned the highest overall grade when it comes to networking capabilities, in addition to top five scores in compensation and learning experiences.
For those familiar with any MBA or business school ranking, it would be pretty surprising to find Harvard Business School anywhere outside the top five. And despite Bloomberg Businessweek changing its ranking system, HBS still managed to secure the third overall spot for the second consecutive year.
MBA graduates from the prestigious school most frequently earn roles in the finance industry, at a recent rate of around 19.8 percent, followed closely by consulting (16.6 percent) and tech (12.7 percent). Nearly all HBS MBA grads earn average annual salaries at or around $100,000 USD, with those in consulting and finance typically getting the most, at around $150,000.
The perennially top-ranked Chicago University Booth School of Business earned the number four spot on the 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek ranking. This comes afte the Windy City business school earned the top overall spot in both The Economist and Forbes' rankings.
More than half of recent Chicago Booth MBA grads earned roles in either consulting or finance, with employees in the former earning the highest average annual salary; around $150,000 USD.
Like Dartmouth Tuck, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business saw a sizable jump in the 2019 version of the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, moving up from ninth last year to the top five. The Charlottesville business school is also the highest ranked public school represented in this year's ranking.
Unlike the four schools that precede UVA Darden on this year's ranking, the school earned remarkably high grades when it comes to learning experience, placing second overall.
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a typical mainstay in any business school ranking, earns the sixth overall spot in this year's Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, thanks in part to two major score contributors: compensation and networking
For compensation, the Philadelphia metro school tied with Stanford GSB for first overall in the U.S., while networking came in a strong 10th overall. These scores managed to leverage Wharton near the top of the 2019 rankings despite paltry scores in learning experience (70th overall), and entrepreneurship (31st). Because of these marks, Wharton dropped slightly from its 2018 mark of 2nd overall.
MIT's Sloan School of Management, the second-highest ranked Boston metro business school on the 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, earns the seventh overall spot thanks in part to high marks in compensation (fourth) and entrepreneurship (third).
Like most of the top-ranked schools on this list, graduates in consulting typically earn the highest annual salaries, with employees in the industry taking home around $147,000 USD on average per year.
The UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, the second-highest ranked business school in the state of California on the newest Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, maintains its spot in the top ten thanks to its remarkably well-rounded grades.
While many schools on this ranking were boosted by high compensation and networking grades, Haas' eighth overall placement comes with top 20 grades across the board in compensation (tenth), learning (18th), networking (13th), and entrepreneurship (fourth).
The highest-ranked business school in New York City, Columbia Business School, comes in at ninth overall on the newest Bloomberg Businessweek ranking thanks to boisterous scores in compensation (sixth overall) and networking (seventh).
The school's ideal locale offers some unique career opportunities for its MBA graduates. Like many of the Ivy League fare on this list, consulting leads the way in terms of average annual compensation, but CBS graduates are typically among the most prolific earners in the media industry as well, with an average annual salary around $120,000 USD.
The final spot in the 2019 Bloomberg Businessweek top 10 goes to Northwestern University's prestigious Kellogg School of Management—the second highest-ranked Chicago metro school on the annual list.
Like the aforementioned Columbia Business School, Kellogg Midwest location offers multiple career avenues that the coastal schools may not, including a potentially lucrative ($120,000 USD) role in the manufacturing and healthcare ($122,000) industries.
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