Bloomberg Businessweek recently released its list of the 2024-2025 best business schools, ranking 111 business schools in the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Canada. This year, rankings were based on surveys from students, alumni, and recruiters, with the focus on compensation, learning, networking, entrepreneurship and diversity (for US schools only).
Personal MBA Coach would like to share our thoughts on the latest Bloomberg Businessweek MBA rankings and business school rankings in general.
Bloomberg MBA Rankings in The United States
Yet again, Stanford GSB topped the US rankings, receiving high scores in four out of five main categories – Compensation, Learning, Networking and Entrepreneurship. Chicago Booth remained second, followed by Kellogg. Dartmouth Tuck dropped to the #4 position, followed by UVA Darden in #5.
This year, Harvard remained in the 6th position, and Wharton placed 7th. Michigan Ross moved up from #9 to #8, and CMU Tepper took the 9th position. This year again, MIT Sloan closed out the top 10.
The European Bloomberg MBA Rankings
This year, IMD moved back up to the top position, moving SDA Bocconi to #3. IESE remained #2.
After ranking fifth last year, London Business School took 4th place in the 2024-2025 ranking, followed by INSEAD. St. Gallen occupied the #6 place, followed by Oxford Said at #7. Cambridge returned to #8, after dropping one position last year, followed by ESADE. Mannheim finished up the top 10.
Asia-Pacific MBA Rankings
This year, HKUST and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics remained at #1 and #2, respectively. CEIBS swapped places with Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, giving up the third position and ranking #4.
Indian School of Business remained #5, followed by Worsen university at #6. Shanghai University MBA Centre moved one position down to #7. IMT Ghaziabad joined the ranking at #8, followed by SP Jain, which concluded the Asia-Pacific schools in 9th place.
The Canadian Bloomberg MBA Ranking
The Bloomberg Businessweek MBA rankings include six Canadian MBA programs this year. Western Ivey again ranked 1st, followed by Concordia at #2. HEC Montreal remained #3, followed by McGill at #4. Toronto Metropolitan University joined the ranking at #5, followed by Alberta at #6.
It comes as something of a surprise that Rotman, Smith, and Rogers are not on the current list.
How to Think About MBA Rankings
Exploring MBA rankings can be a great way to build your target school list, though remember that almost every ranking source will give different results. Plus, as Personal MBA Coach has shared in the past, you should pay attention to a school’s average ranking over time and not be overly concerned by year-to-year fluctuations. Check out this blog for more detail on how to use rankings.
This year’s surprises and shifts are additional reminders of the value (for some applicants) of broadening your school list beyond the M7 programs. Depending on your post-MBA goals, you may awant to pay more attention to some of the specialized rankings and to school-specific placement statistics. Just because a school is higher ranked does not mean that it will do a better job at preparing you for your next job, especially if you are targeting a more niche industry.
Finally, with the lines blurring between top schools, available financing also should be a key consideration. You may be able to secure more substantial funding from one school vs. another: last year, our clients earned over $11M in scholarships. Often you will be better served selecting a school with a slightly lower ranking but a more favorable financial package. Some M7 schools are very generous with scholarships, and others are not.
As a reminder, do not overreact to these new rankings but do keep an open mind about expanding your MBA list.
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