Bloomberg Businessweek MBA Ranking for 2024-2025
Once again, Stanford Graduate School of Business was crowned best in class among U.S. business schools in the latest Bloomberg Businessweek MBA ranking for 2024-2025. In fact, the GSB has enjoyed this designation for six years running. “The Palo Alto-based university maintains strong scores in four of the five areas we index — Compensation, Learning, Networking and Entrepreneurship,” the media outlet explains.
A quick comparison between this and the 2023 list shows little change in the top ten.
Bloomberg Businessweek's Best B-Schools
| 2024-2025 Ranking | 2023-2024 Ranking |
|---|---|
| 1. Stanford GSB | 1. Stanford GSB |
| 2. Chicago Booth School of Business | 2. Chicago Booth School of Business |
| 3. Northwestern Kellogg School of Management | 3. Tuck School of Business |
| 4. Tuck School of Business | 4. Darden School of Business |
| 5. Darden School of Business | 5. Columbia Business School |
| 6. Harvard Business School | 6. Harvard Business School |
| 7. Wharton School | 7. Kellogg School of Management |
| 8. Michigan Ross School of Business | 8. Wharton School |
| 9. CMU Tepper School of Business | 9. Michigan Ross School of Business |
| 10. MIT Sloan School of Management | 10. MIT Sloan School of Management |
While these lists look similar, two schools experienced noteworthy changes in the new Bloomberg Businessweek MBA ranking. The CMU Tepper School of Business jumped to 9th place this year from 18th in 2023. Meanwhile, Ivy League and M7 stalwart Columbia Business School plummeted from 5th place last year to 17th in 2024.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Tepper rose “primarily on the strength of sharp improvements in its scores for both networking and learning.” As for Columbia, “its scores fell in all of our indexes, but especially in compensation, where the school reported lower starting salary figures for graduates and students and alumni reported lower satisfaction with their salaries.”
Turning to the best business schools in Europe, the Bloomberg Businessweek MBA ranking for these MBA programs shows only a slight reshuffling this year. In fact, the only school swap we find is between two Spanish programs—IE Business School and ESADE.
Top 10 Best Business Schools in Europe
| 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 |
|---|---|
| 1. IMD | 1. SDA Bocconi |
| 2. IESE Business School | 2. IESE Business School |
| 3. SDA Bocconi | 3. IMD |
| 4. London Business School | 4. INSEAD |
| 5. INSEAD | 5. London Business School |
| 6. St. Gallen | 6. IE Business School |
| 7. Oxford Said Business School | 7. Mannheim |
| 8. Cambridge Judge Business School | 8. St. Gallen |
| 9. ESADE | 9. Cambridge Judge Business School |
| 10. Mannheim | 10. Oxford Said Business School |
Bloomberg Businessweek MBA Ranking Methodology
Bloomberg Businessweek’s U.S. business school rankings are based on feedback from three key groups: graduating students, recent alumni, and companies actively recruiting MBAs. For the 2024 ranking, alumni from the classes of 2016-2018 contribute 40% of the score, while graduating students from the class of 2024 account for 25%, and recruiters make up the remaining 35%.
These surveys focus on five crucial aspects of the business school experience: compensation, learning, networking, entrepreneurship, and, specifically for U.S. schools, diversity. Each factor is weighted based on what survey participants value most.
This year, compensation was the top priority at 37.7%, followed by learning at 25.5%, networking at 18.6%, entrepreneurship at 11.6%, and diversity at 6.6%. Together, these components offer a comprehensive look at what matters most to students, alumni, and employers when evaluating a business school’s value.
Curious about your chances of getting into a top-ranked B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
Our View of Rankings
Sarah on the SBC team shared insights as a longtime SBC consultant and daughter of a top MBA program Dean. She shared:
“Rankings are all very complex algorithms that assign weightings based upon different things—quality of faculty, ROI, average salary upon graduation, % of graduates with employment, etc. ‘Rank’ versus ‘value’ is a subjective view. A ‘top’ school is different to every person. Yale was top 30 when I went to school, but is top 10 now. Ross was a Top 5 for many years and now it hasn’t made the Top 10.”
Other Focal Points
While rankings can inform your decision of where to apply, applicants would do well to focus more on a program’s culture, size, or the strength of its alumni network. When Stacy Blackman Consulting last surveyed business school applicants to determine what matters most to them and why, fewer than 12% of survey respondents considered culture a top priority. A mere handful believed program content was the most crucial factor influencing the decision to attend a particular business school.
These troubling results indicate people aren’t paying enough attention to the program that’s truly a good fit for them. We’re realists and know those headed for B-school can’t help themselves. But remember that placing too heavy an emphasis on rankings can become a distraction. Take multiple factors into consideration when making your final school selection.
We advise our clients to pick MBA programs based on what will add value to their careers and life. We encourage our clients to research each MBA program to derive a strong belief in why that brand is meaningful to them. Prospective students would do well to focus more on each program’s culture, size, or the strength of its alumni network.
If you’re thinking about business school, you should decide the factors that will affect where you apply. Consider cost, location, program specialties, faculty’s areas of expertise, etc. Keep these factors in mind as you research specific programs. This will help you home in on the ones that fit you best.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership to hourly help reviewing your MBA essays, resume, and more. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×
