Adam’s Global Top MBA Rankings 2012


Jan, 31, 2012


Categories: Admissions Consulting | Key Posts | MBA | MBA留学 | Rankings | School Selection

As I have been doing since 2008, I wanted to provide my Global Top 100 MBA Rankings for 2012.  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.  Programs are ranked in many ways, so certainly look at other rankings lists. There is no one objective measure of an MBA programs’ value and no ranking that can account for an individual student’s positive or negative return on their investment of time and money for a graduate business education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Methodology”: All FT “Global MBA Rankings 2012” 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 which are available for all US programs listed in BusinessWeek and US News and World Report and for some non-US programs.
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. Don’t assume schools are necessarily reporting data with 100% accuracy.

 

 

School Selection Strategy for Those Considering Staying Local versus Going for a Globally Recognized Brand:  If you are deciding between going to your local MBA program instead of moving to a new city and/or country, look closely at the expected post-MBA salary rates to determine which programs are worth moving for.
1. If you are planning on studying in the US and/or Europe and are a non-resident, assume the real possibility, based on present economic circumstances, that you will likely need to return to your home country because of tightened visa restrictions and limited job opportunities.
2. If your objective is stay in your present locality, closely scrutinize whether the higher-ranked, but non-local option will actually prove to be of significant benefit to you in the future. For example, an MBA alumni network that consists of a large number of local graduates may be worth significantly more to you than association with a prestigious internationally brand.
3.  If your professional objectives are global, you will likely benefit much more from an MBA with global brand value rather than a program with local brand value even if the post-MBA salaries are not significantly different.

 

 

The Top 100 Global MBA Programs
(Detailed table in JPEG format follows. Getting Blogger to make a nice table is beyond me!)

 

Rank      School Name                                              Weighted salary (US$)
     1    Stanford Graduate School of Business                                    192179
     2    Harvard Business School                                                        178249
     3    Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)             175076
     4    University of Pennsylvania: Wharton                                     172353
     5    Columbia Business School                                                     166497
     6    MIT: Sloan                                                                             157337
     7    IE Business School                                                                 156658
     8    London Business School                                                        152981
     9    University of Chicago: Booth                                                 152585
    10    Dartmouth College: Tuck                                                      151182
    11    University of California at Berkeley: Haas                            146811
    12    Northwestern University: Kellogg                                        145834
    13    INSEAD                                                                               144355
    14    IMD                                                                                      144045
    15    Yale School of Management                                                 142455
    16    Cornell University: Johnson                                                  141727
    17    University of Cape Town GSB                                              141490
    18    Duke University: Fuqua                                                        139405
    19    UCLA: Anderson                                                                  136331
    20    University of Virginia: Darden                                              134936
    21    University of Oxford: Saïd                                                    134805
    22    New York University: Stern                                                  134093
    23    IESE Business School                                                           133888
    24    University of Cambridge: Judge                                            132758
    25    Carnegie Mellon: Tepper                                                       132325
    26    University of Michigan: Ross                                                129649
    27    Indian School of Business                                                     129512
    28    Hong Kong UST Business School                                        127600
    29    Cranfield School of Management                                          125196
    30    Emory University: Goizueta                                                  124832
    31    Georgetown University: McDonough                                   123290
    32    CEIBS                                                                                   123058
    33    University of Texas at Austin: McComb                               121170
    34    HEC Paris                                                                             121061
    35    University of Southern California: Marshall                          121060
    36    University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler                         118959
    37    Australian School of Business: AGSM                                  118943
    38    Rice University: Jones                                                           118617
    39    Warwick Business School                                                     118151
    40    Manchester Business School                                                 117016
    41    Esade Business School                                                          114988
    42    Vanderbilt University: Owen                                                 114265
    43    Indiana University: Kelley                                                     113217
    44    University of Rochester: Simon                                             112992
    45    City University: Cass                                                             111552
    46    Melbourne Business School                                                  110701
    47    Georgia Institute of Technology                                           110118
    48    Coppead                                                                               110103
    49    Boston College: Carroll                                                        109440
    50    University of Maryland: Smith                                             109375
    51    Pennsylvania State University: Smeal                                   109114
    52    University of Washington: Foster                                        109088
    53    University of Minnesota: Carlson                                        108994
    54    Wisconsin School of Business                                             108990
    55    Wake Forest University: Babcock                                        108737
    56    Texas A&M University: Mays                                             108606
    57    Boston University School of Management                           106762
    58    University of Hong Kong                                                    106720
    59    Washington University: Olin                                               106668
    60    Babson College: Olin                                                           106506
    61    University of Notre Dame: Mendoza                                    106171
    62    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign                         105726
    63    Ohio State University: Fisher                                               105426
    64    George Washington University                                            104814
    65    Imperial College Business School                                        104619
    66    Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University      103628
    67    Purdue University: Krannert                                                103304
    68    SDA Bocconi                                                                       102854
    69    Nanyang Business School                                                    102350
    70    University College Dublin: Smurfit                                      102026
    71    SMU: Cox                                                                            101286
    72    Brigham Young University: Marriott                                    101189
    73    Thunderbird School of Global Management                         100803
    74    Sungkyunkwan University SKK GSB                                  100779
    75    University of Western Ontario: Ivey                                     100738
    76    Hult International Business School                                       100631
    77    Chinese University of Hong Kong                                       100408
    78    University of California at Irvine: Merage                              99333
    79    Michigan State University: Broad                                           98784
    80    University of Edinburgh Business School                              97733
    81    National University of Singapore School of Business            97625
    82    Lancaster University Management School                             97124
    83    Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School                             94661
    84    University of Toronto: Rotman                                              94255
    85    Northeastern University                                                         93824
    86    University of South Carolina: Moore                                      93053
    87    University of Iowa: Tippie                                                      92978
    88    Durham Business School                                                        91718
    89    Universität St.Gallen                                                               91106
    90    Ipade                                                                                      90900
    91    McGill University: Desautels                                                  89623
    92    University of Pittsburgh: Katz                                                88783
    93    York University: Schulich                                                      88283
    94    Birmingham Business School                                                 87274
    95    Bradford University School of Management                          87228
    96    Incae Business School                                                            84411
    97    Aston Business School                                                           83286
    98    University of British Columbia: Sauder                                  80898
    99    Peking University: Guanghua                                                79914
   100    SP Jain Center of Management                                             79809


Detailed Table Including FT Ranking Data
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 and not just to dominant US and European programs.
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 rankings 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.
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

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don’t email me any essays, other admissions consultant’s intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.


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