For MBA rankings in 2018, a lot of potential disruptions are may be in store. Will changes like the planned Brexit have an effect on UK business schools? Will Asian business schools increase in stature? Will Donald Trump’s immigration policies impact the perceived prestige of US business schools?
Overall, last year’s ranking changes saw minor shifts among top schools, but overall, MBA salaries continued to improve across the board. In the 2017 Global MBA Ranking from the Financial Times, top UK business schools did fairly well, while some in the lower half of the ranking weren't quite so lucky. Insead led the list, but half of the top ten schools were based in the US. US business schools, in general, improved their standings in that ranking, with some exceptions. Schools in Australia also did well, while the Canadian schools lost ground. On the international version of the Best Business Schools Ranking from Bloomberg Businessweek, Insead led the pack here as well, while the UK schools in the top 10: London Business School, Oxford - Said, and Cambridge - Judge, lost some ground.
What's in store for 2018? If the 2018 Global MBA Ranking from the Financial Times is any indication, improvement will be seen by US business schools, while there will be more of a mixed bag for UK schools.
Below you’ll find a list of the main MBA rankings and their expected publication dates in 2018. For the rankings that have already been published, we’ll note the top 5 schools.
2018 MBA Rankings: An Overview
US News & World Report: Online MBA Ranking: Published on January 9, 2018
When this ranking was first published, Temple - Fox had the number one position, but was removed from the ranking after the publication reported that the GMAT statistics the school had reported were not correct. It's since been moved to the 'unranked' category.
Top Schools:
2. (tie) Carnegie Mellon - Tepper
2. (tie) IU - Kelley
4. UNC Kenan-Flagler
5. (tie) ASU - Carey
5. (tie) Florida - Hough
Financial Times: Global MBA Ranking: Published on January 29, 2018
Stanford's MBA took the top spot in this ranking, for the first year since 2012. Insead, which was ranked at the top of last year's ranking, fell to number two.
Top schools:
1. Stanford
2. Insead
3. Upenn - Wharton
4. London Business School
5. Harvard
Financial Times: Online MBA Ranking 2018: Published March 4, 2018
For the first time in this ranking's history, the Online MBA from Warwick Business School leads the pack. IE Business School, which had taken the number one spot since it was first published in 2014, has fallen to spot number two.
Top schools:
1. Warwick Business School
2. IE Business School
3. UMass Amherst - Isenberg
4. IU - Kelley
5. Durham University Business School
US News & World Report MBA Ranking - Published March 20, 2018
For full-time MBA programs, Harvard and Chicago - Booth were tied for first place. Yale School of Management has left the top-10 this year; Michigan - Ross entered the top-10 at position number seven. For the part-time MBA programs, UC Berkeley - Haas was the leader. This year, there was a slight change to the ranking's methodology: any school that reported less than 50 percent of its students' GMAT or GRE scores lost points. Here are the top five schools in the full-time ranking:
- (tie) Harvard
- (tie) Chicago - Booth
- Wharton
- Stanford
- MIT - Sloan
Financial Times: Executive MBA Ranking - Published October 15, 2018
Joint Executive MBA programs did well in this ranking. The EMBA from Kellogg and HKUST Business School led the ranking for the third year in a row. For the first time ever, the publication took into account corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors as part of the ranking. Here are the top five Executive MBA programs in the 2018 ranking:
- Kellogg / HKUST - EMBA
- HEC Paris / LSE / NYU - Trium Global EMBA
- Tsinghhua / Insead - Tsinghua-Insead Dual Degree EMBA
- Columbia / HKU / LBS - EMBA-Global Asia
Economist: Which MBA? Ranking - Published October 26, 2018
The MBA from Chicago - Booth led this ranking in 2018, unseating Kellogg, which dropped to number two. The publication found that both post-MBA salaries at top schools—as well as tuition fees—have been rising. Here are the top-five MBA programs:
- Chicago - Booth
- Northwestern - Kellogg
- Harvard
- Wharton
- Stanford
Bloomberg Businessweek: MBA Rankings (US Business Schools): Published November 9, 2018
The Stanford MBA leads this list of all-US business schools, both overall and in terms of total post-MBA compensation. The MBAs from Wharton, Harvard, MIT - Sloan, and Chicago - Booth all feature strongly. These are the top-five programs:
- Stanford
- Wharton
- Harvard
- MIT - Sloan
- Chicago - Booth
Expected Publication Dates of 2018 MBA Rankings
Forbes: MBA Ranking: September 2018
Bloomberg Businessweek: Business School Rankings (Non-US schools): December, 2018
Financial Times: European Business School Ranking: December 2018
