"Real" Global MBA Rankings for 2009: "The 100"

"Real" Global MBA Rankings for 2009: "The 100"

Feb, 10, 2009

The “Real” Global MBA Rankings for 2009: FT Global MBA Rankings in Weighted US$ Salary Order

This is my second annual ranking of programs in salary order. This year, instead of 98 schools, FT has 100, so I have 100. The rankings below should hopefully be of value for both those engaged in initial school application selection and for admitted applicants who have been accepted to multiple programs and need to determine where to go.

“Methodology”: All FT “Global MBA Rankings 2009” Data was ranked in order of “ Weight Salary ($).” No other methods were employed.

Justification #1: Whatever they pay you when you graduate is the market value of your degree, all other factors are mere conjecture.

Justification #2: One may very well value an MBA beyond mere salary calculations, but salary will certainly be a factor for almost everyone.

Justification #3: Since each school reports its own data, assuming that data is good, the ranking is based on objective criteria that all programs have in common.

Disclaimer #1: I could use some other accumulation of salaries for this same purpose, but FT‘s list is global, so I decided to use it. If your school is not included on this list of the top 100, please don’t be offended. If FT ranked more programs, so would I.

Disclaimer #2: Actual market value will very much depend on your situation. The numbers below are only averages.

Disclaimer #3: Salary is but one measure of ROI. This survey does not account for relative increase in salary, opportunity costs, or other less tangible, but important factors.

Disclaimer #4: These rankings in no way measure the value of the educational experience at any of these programs, merely the likely post-MBA salary outcome.

School Selection Strategy for Those Admitted to Multiple Programs: Go to the highest salary ranked program if you want to obtain the most market value.

School Application Selection Strategy Based on Salary Approach.
Simply compare salaries to rates of admission. I will provide new data on this, but here is the old data. If you want new data, you should go to the various ranking lists to obtain Fall 2008 admission rates.
1. Apply to the highest ranked programs you think you can get it into.
2. Find bargains: Schools with a high salary and a high rate of admission.
3. Avoid application to schools with a relatively low admissions rates and lower salaries.
4. Caveat emptor.

Rank School Country Weighted Salary
1 Stanford University GSB U.S.A. $170,340
2 University of Pennsylvania Wharton U.S.A. $169,784
3 Columbia Business School U.S.A. $164,310
4 Harvard Business School U.S.A. $163,637
5 MIT: Sloan U.S.A. $156,451
6 Dartmouth College: Tuck U.S.A. $156,124
7 CEIBS China $151,641
8 IMD Switzerland $151,624
9 University of Chicago: Booth U.S.A. $150,272
10 Indian School of Business India $148,339
11 INSEAD France / Singapore $147,908
12 London Business School U.K. $146,565
13 New York University: Stern U.S.A. $144,125
14 University of Cape Town GSB South Africa $143,693
15 Northwestern University: Kellogg U.S.A. $142,645
16 UCLA: Anderson U.S.A. $141,065
17 Yale School of Management U.S.A. $140,803
18 University of California at Berkeley: Haas U.S.A. $137,699
19 University of Virginia: Darden U.S.A. $137,215
20 University of Oxford: Saïd U.K. $135,502
21 IE Business School Spain $132,925
22 University of Michigan: Ross U.S.A. $132,522
23 University of Cambridge: Judge U.K. $130,160
24 Duke University: Fuqua U.S.A. $128,692
25 Cornell University: Johnson U.S.A. $127,858
26 Australian School of Business Australia $127,474
27 Cranfield School of Management U.K. $127,004
28 Emory University: Goizueta U.S.A. $126,262
29 IESE Business School Spain $124,645
30 City University: Cass U.K. $124,026
31 Georgetown University: McDonough U.S.A. $121,786
32 ESADE Business School Spain $121,776
33 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler U.S.A. $120,198
34 University of Strathclyde Business School U.K. $118,683
35 HEC Paris France $117,630
36 Imperial College Business School U.K. $117,119
37 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper U.S.A. $116,773
38 University of Southern California: Marshall U.S.A. $116,258
39 University of Rochester: Simon U.S.A. $115,867
40 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs U.S.A. $114,761
41 Warwick Business School U.K. $114,653
42 Vanderbilt University: Owen U.S.A. $110,768
43 Melbourne Business School Australia $110,290
44 RSM, Erasmus University Netherlands $109,997
45 Babson College: Olin U.S.A. $109,541
46 Washington University: Olin U.S.A. $109,507
47 Rice University: Jones U.S.A. $109,302
48 Manchester Business School U.K. $109,066
49 SMU: Cox U.S.A. $109,052
50 University of Maryland: Smith U.S.A. $108,404
51 Hong Kong UST Business School China $108,364
52 Boston College: Carroll U.S.A. $108,162
53 Indiana University: Kelley U.S.A. $107,653
54 University of Bath School of Management U.K. $107,613
55 Lancaster University Management School U.K. $106,960
56 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza U.S.A. $106,487
57 Pennsylvania State University: Smeal U.S.A. $105,728
58 U. of Washington Business School: Foster U.S.A. $105,558
59 Boston University School of Management U.S.A. $105,532
60 University College Dublin: Smurfit Ireland $104,934
61 SDA Bocconi Italy $104,859
62 University of Western Ontario: Ivey Canada $104,456
63 Nanyang Business School Singapore $104,294
64 Durham Business School U.K. $104,282
65 Michigan State University: Broad U.S.A. $102,897
66 Univ. of California at Irvine: Merage U.S.A. $102,010
67 Univ. of Edinburgh Business School U.K. $101,884
68 George Washington University U.S.A. $101,530
69 University of Florida: Hough U.S.A. $101,343
70 Vlerick Leuven Gent Mgnt. School Belgium $101,180
71 University of Arizona: Eller U.S.A. $101,066
72 Leeds University Business School U.K. $100,918
72 Purdue University: Krannert U.S.A. $100,856
73 Wake Forest University: Babcock U.S.A. $100,727
74 Nottingham University Business School U.K. $99,647
75 Arizona State University: Carey U.S.A. $99,624
76 Case Western Reserve U.: Weatherhead U.S.A. $99,238
77 Thunderbird School of Global Mngt. U.S.A. $99,187
78 Wisconsin School of Business U.S.A. $99,138
79 Texas A & M University: Mays U.S.A. $98,647
80 University of Minnesota: Carlson U.S.A. $98,451
81 Brigham Young University: Marriott U.S.A. $97,789
82 University of Toronto: Rotman Canada $97,413
83 Coppead Brazil $96,938
84 Hult International B. School USA/ UK/ UAE $96,915
85 Bradford School of Management/Tias
86.Nimbas Business School U.K. / Netherlands / Germany $96,144
87 NUS School of Business Singapore $95,926
88 University of Pittsburgh: Katz U.S.A. $95,633
89 Ohio State University: Fisher U.S.A. $93,744
90 U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S.A. $92,863
91 University of Iowa: Tippie U.S.A. $92,166
92 U. of Miami School of Business U.S.A. $92,064
93 U. of South Carolina: Moore U.S.A. $91,774
94 EADA Spain $89,786
95 U. of British Columbia: Sauder Canada $89,682
96 York University: Schulich Canada $88,609
97 Aston Business School U.K. $86,364
98 Grenoble Grad. School of Business France $83,516
99 Birmingham Business School U.K. $82,624
100 University of Alberta Canada $75,084

One advantage of a salary-based list of programs worldwide is that it helps to see the rising global market value of MBA programs. It also means that those of us who help applicants considering worldwide application, start to pay more attention to such national leaders as the Indian School of Business, China Europe International Business School, and Australian Graduate School of Management.

For those with a US MBA bias, this ranking should be humbling because so many of what are usually ranked quite highly in the US, don’t, at least at the salary level, look as attractive as a FT, Businessweek or other such ranking might suggest.

From a school selection perspective, I think looking at the stark reality of the expected financial outcome is critical. Looking at this solely helps to put the outcome into focus. “The 100” is only one possible way of doing this.

I am well aware that applicants don’t simply make selection choices on the basis of salary, but I think evaluating programs on this basis is one important consideration.

Given the present grim economic situation, it stands to reason that we might see a decline in these salary numbers over the next couple of years. It will especially be interesting to see whether US and UK schools that are highly connected to the financial industry lose their present high rank on this list.

Finally, I would like to thank “my team” at FT for doing all of the hard work. They have this nifty way of generating excel documents that really reduced my work by hours.

-Adam Markus
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Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on “Why I don’t analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant.” If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.

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