U.S. News 2016 Best Graduate Business Schools

U.S. News released its graduate school rankings today. Let’s see how our top b-schools fared… Top 20 U.S. B-Schools

Visit our b-school zone page for info on the top business schools.

1. Stanford GSB (1)

2. Harvard Business School (1)

3. UPenn Wharton (1)

4. Chicago Booth (4)

5. MIT Sloan (5)

6. Northwestern Kellogg (6)

7. UC Berkeley Haas (7)

8. Columbia Business School (8)

9. Dartmouth Tuck (9)

10. UVA Darden (11)

11. NYU Stern (10)

11. Michigan Ross (11)

13. Duke Fuqua (14)

13. Yale SOM (13)

15. UCLA Anderson (16)

16. Cornell Johnson (17)

17. Texas McCombs (15)

18. UNC Kenan-Flagler (19)

19. Washington Olin (22)

20. CMU Tepper (18)

25% of US News rankings is made up of survey responses from business school deans and directors; 15% is based on recruiters’ survey responses. The remaining 60% is based on statistical data reflecting program selectivity and placement success. (For details, read up on U.S. News methodology.)

Here are some highlights from the Poets & Quants article on the rankings: • Last year’s three-way Stanford/Harvard/Wharton tie was broken this year with each school taking one of the first three spots (Stanford in first, HBS in second, and Wharton in third). • The P&Q article states that Wharton’s slip to third is due to lower peer assessment and corporate recruiter survey scores.

• Wharton also reported an acceptance rate of 20.7%, up from last year’s 18.7% — this is another metric used by U.S. News in their methodology. • Another factor contributing to Wharton’s position this year is its position regarding salary and bonus. Last year it took top slot at $141,243, while this year it slipped to fourth place at $142,574 – yes, higher than last year, but this year, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford reported even higher salaries/bonuses (HBS took the cake at $144,936 this year). • Stanford’s top stats this year: average GMAT – 732; average GPA – 3.74; acceptance rate – 7.1%.

• In the top 20, there weren’t significant changes beyond a given school moving up or down a couple places. But further down in the rankings there were some big shifts. Texas A&M jumped 10 places to 27th place (tied with Carlson); Wake Forest jumped 13 places to 45th place; and Louisville moved up at least 31 places to 71st place – it was previously unranked. • Big drops include Missouri Trulsake which fell 21 places from 58th to 79th place; Pepperdine Graziadio which fell at least 25 places, from last year’s 76th place to its unranked position this year.

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