Not surprisingly, the top ten full-time MBA programs in the U.S. News & World Report rankings have once again shifted positions. The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) moved up to capture the #1 spot this year, replacing The Wharton School, which now stands at #2. Chicago Booth climbed to #3, while Harvard Business School (HBS) and Northwestern Kellogg are tied at #4. MIT Sloan dropped one spot to #6, while Columbia Business School (CBS) and NYU Stern tied for #7. Dartmouth Tuck dropped from #6 to #9, and Berkeley Haas rounds out the list in the #10 spot. 

U.S. News’ metrics continue to encompass career placement success (50%), quality assessment by deans/directors and corporate recruiters/company contacts (25%), and selectivity (25%). The ranking maintains its composition of career-related factors for career placement success. Subcategories of this section of the survey include salary by profession (10%), which compares salaries by industry and acknowledges that varying pay scales exist for different occupations; the employment rate at graduation (7%); the employment rate three months after graduation (13%); and mean starting salary and bonus (20%). U.S. News collected scores for both the traditional and new versions of the GMAT. It used percentiles as components for the selectivity analysis, along with GRE scores, GPAs (undergraduate), and acceptance rates.

Regardless of the outcomes or the changes in methodology, applicants, students, and alumni continue to study the rankings insatiably. Interestingly, U.S. News encourages prospective students to consider factors beyond the rankings, including “location, campus culture, strength of specific programs, and cost after tuition and financial aid.” We encourage you to do the same and have created a free guide to help you do so. 

U.S. News received responses to its 2026 survey request from 333 U.S. universities accredited by AACSB International. The publication then ranked the 134 full-time, in-person, and hybrid programs that had submitted sufficient data. It’s worth noting that U.S. News largely adheres to the data-reporting standards set by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and the MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance (MBACSEA). GMAC’s GME Admissions Reporting Standards and the MBACSEA’s are publicly available. 

Notable Changes This Year

• The Stanford GSB claimed the top spot after tying with The Wharton School last year. The California-based program boasts an overall starting salary and bonus (two-year average) of $206,157 this year, leading the top ten for the highest total compensation. However, the school reported a three-month placement rate (two-year average) of 80.3%, which was the lowest among the top-ten schools (next lowest was HBS, with 80.4%). The median GMAT score at the Stanford GSB increased by five points to 745 (old scale), lagging NYU Stern’s reported median score of 750 (old scale). The median GMAT Focus score at the GSB is 695, which is equal to that at CBS and ties for the highest among all programs. The median GPA at the GSB is 3.8 (tied with Northwestern Kellogg).
• The Wharton School stands alone in the #2 spot this year. Its students reported the second-highest starting salary and bonus (two-year average) at $201,902, slightly ahead of NYU Stern’s reported $201,106. Wharton’s three-month placement rate (87.6% ) is just slightly lower than those of CBS (88.4%) and Dartmouth Tuck (87.7%). The GSB’s acceptance rate is the lowest among the programs in the top ten of the rankings, at just 6.8%, well ahead of the next lowest of 11.2% at HBS. 
• The median GMAT at Wharton, Chicago Booth, and CBS is 740, just behind the reported median scores at the Stanford GSB and NYU Stern (745 and 750, respectively). The median GPA at Wharton (3.7) is slightly lower than the 3.8 at both the Stanford GSB and Northwestern Kellogg but equal to the median GPA at Chicago Booth, MIT Sloan, CBS, NYU Stern, and Berkeley Haas.
• Last year, Northwestern Kellogg and the Stanford GSB were both ranked #2, but this year, Kellogg shares the #4 spot with HBS, which rose from #6. Berkeley Haas entered the top ten this year at 10th, after being ranked 11th last year.
• Some well-known programs that moved into the top 25 this year are UNC Kenan-Flagler at #21 (tied with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business), the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California at #25 (tied with the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia), and Emory Goizueta at #23 (tied with the University of Texas at Dallas, which moved up eight spots). 

The U.S. News ranking of part-time MBA programs remained relatively static this year. Northwestern Kellogg and Berkeley Haas remained tied at #1, while Chicago Booth slipped to #3, where it is tied with NYU Stern. The rest of the top ten is made up of the same schools from last year, which either maintained their former ranking or shifted one place up or down. 

The part-time rankings were based on survey responses from which 245 schools qualified for the 2026 ranking. Ranking factors included peer assessment (50%), part-time student ratio (12.5%), part-time students total (12.5%), GMAT/GRE scores (10%), undergraduate grade point average (10%), and work experience (5%). 

U.S. News 2026 Top Ten Full-Time MBA Programs

U.S. News 2025 Top 10 Part-Time MBA Programs

Hoping to start business school in 2026 at one of these top-ranked programs? Sign up for a free consultation, and be sure to check out our MBA Admissions Consulting Services and work one-on-one with an expert consultant to create an application that will get you accepted!

Related Resources:

• The Business School Selectivity Index: GMAT Scores, GPAs, and MBA Acceptance Rates, a free tool
• The Best MBA Programs: A Strategic Guide to Selecting the Right One, a free guide
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants

The post U.S. News & World Report 2026 MBA Rankings [Full-Time & Part-Time] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The M7 business schools represent seven distinct, vivid cultures, each with its own history, values, characteristics, opportunities, and challenges.

Of course, there are many commonalities among the M7 schools, as well: all are highly competitive, offer robust academic resources, are supported by a committed and involved alumni network, and attract top-tier recruiters (even in down business cycles). Yet each one also has a unique, strong, and distinctive personality that both reflects and drives its leadership in the MBA realm. These programs have risen to their prominent position because the schools are the leaders in their domain: graduate business education. So, they reasonably expect their students and applicants to have correspondingly high ambitions, but together, they also represent diversity.

In 2026, the M7 schools continue to attract the brightest minds from around the globe, with highly competitive admissions and world-class academic resources. Let’s take a deep dive into these schools and see what they have to offer the next generation of business leaders.

Table of Contents

• Harvard Business School
• Stanford Graduate School of Business
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
• Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
• University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business
• Columbia Business School

What Sets the M7 Business Schools Apart

There are other elite MBA programs, of course, but the M7 schools have an ongoing, shared history; their deans connected with each other years ago and formed a group that meets regularly and shares information. Over time, these meetings have grown to include other individuals within their admissions offices, creating a consistent flow of information across multiple levels. The meetings address a range of issues, including best practices for components of the admissions process and responses to current events that directly affect MBA admissions.

Here are some other characteristics that make the M7 schools stand out:

• Prestige – Each M7 school is globally recognized as a leader in business education.
• Rigorous Academics – From the case method at Harvard Business School to the flexible curriculum at Chicago Booth, the M7 programs provide an intellectually challenging environment.
• Top Recruiters – The M7 schools attract the world’s leading companies across industries, ensuring that students have access to unparalleled career opportunities.
• Global Network – The alumni networks of the M7 schools are vast, influential, and highly supportive, offering lifelong connections.

While the M7 schools share these qualities, what sets them apart is their unique cultures and offerings. Let’s explore each one in more detail.

Harvard Business School, Class of 2027

• Median GMAT: 685  
• Median GPA: 3.76  
• Acceptance Rate: 11.2%  

Immersion could be the keyword for the Harvard Business School (HBS) experience. The program’s cornerstone is the case-study approach, intertwined with experiential learning; students read a case and then intensively analyze it both before and in class. The aim is to train students in complex, real-world decision-making. Students then have numerous opportunities to sharpen this training through practical application. By continuously engaging with classmates from different functions, industries/sectors, and geographic regions in these case discussions, students radically expand their perspectives, thought processes, and knowledge. This immersive experience is enhanced by the smarts, passion, and ambition of HBS students. Outside of class, these high-achieving, high-energy students participate in many clubs and volunteer activities. The two years of the MBA program reportedly fly by, thanks to the nonstop immersion and engagement.

What HBS Looks for in Applicants 

Given its case method approach, HBS seeks students and future leaders who will carry their weight and contribute fully in the classroom – people who have something to say and the ability to communicate it. Further, students must be able to listen, respond thoughtfully, and adapt to new ideas as the dialogue progresses. Beyond the requisite high level of accomplishment, HBS seeks people who enthusiastically and effectively engage.

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Class of 2027

• Average GMAT: 740  
• Average GPA: 3.76  
• Acceptance Rate: 6.8% 

Nothing less than transformation, that’s what the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is about – both yours and the kind you bring to the organizations and communities you touch. Stanford’s Silicon Valley DNA, highly customizable program, and emphasis on innovation, change, and entrepreneurship shape its MBA experience. It’s a small, elite cohort that goes on an exploratory journey together, and many students emerge in a different place than they expected when they started out. This journey integrates the personal and the professional – in Stanford’s multifaceted pedagogical approach, building business and leadership skills is tied to understanding and defining one’s mission and vision. Beyond the MBA classroom, students learn from and engage with numerous guest speakers who represent the cutting edge of their fields. They are also encouraged to access Stanford’s other top-notch programs, including law, medicine, engineering, the humanities, and the sciences. During the MBA program, students form a robust, mutually supportive network for testing ideas, boundaries, and their own assumptions and inclinations.

What the Stanford GSB Looks for in Applicants

Stanford wants people who will be excellent “fellow travelers,” people who have – and will therefore bring to the program – a unique point of view. The school values risk-takers and change agents. At the same time, these individuals deliberately remain a “work in progress,” always open to new information, ideas, and situations and willing to shift gears accordingly. They relish exploration and collaboration.

MIT Sloan School of Management, Class of 2027

• Median GMAT: 730  
• Median GPA: 3.69  
• Acceptance Rate: 14.1%

What’s special about the MIT Sloan MBA program is its zeal for tackling large, multifaceted problems. The school’s students learn how to develop robust solutions that can weather uncertainty, ambiguity, and change, and they relish the challenge. The adcom appreciates people who lead organically by drawing others along the journey to solve complex problems. The Sloan MBA approach is rooted in two concepts that intertwine: invention, which entails creativity and agility, and data-driven analysis, which entails rigor and objectivity. These concepts align with MIT more broadly. Just as a robust process involves iteration, this program supports its pedagogy with ongoing experiential learning opportunities (in other words, practice) to reinforce and deepen the learning and ensure that students grasp topics and hone skills in a real-world context. In essence, Sloan MBA graduates are able to see around corners and make constructive use of whatever they encounter. They lead others through the process, driven by their vision and their passion to tackle compelling problems.

What MIT Sloan Looks for in Applicants

MIT Sloan seeks students who are open to following where the data lead, even if doing so contradicts their personal preferences or assumptions. The school is also interested in people who possess both vision and practical skills, who are creative and analytical. That doesn’t mean an applicant must embody these qualities 50/50, but if, for example, a candidate is primarily creative and visionary, they also need to show a record of concrete impact and achievement. Needless to say, curiosity and a collaborative mindset are also sought.

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2027

• Median GMAT: 735  
• Median GPA: 3.7  
• Acceptance Rate: 20.5% 

The Wharton MBA program is big, with almost 900 students per class, multiple opportunities for joint degrees and certificates (from law and veterinary medicine to the MBA/MA Joint Degree in International Studies program with the Lauder Institute and the JD/MBA), more than 20 majors, an extensive range of electives (including courses across the many other campus schools), and clubs in several broad categories: professional, athletic, social and special interest, community service, geographic, and cultural. Yet Wharton does not sacrifice quality for quantity. Its many majors are deep and rigorous. Moreover, the MBA program’s structure – dividing each incoming class into four clusters, each of which is further divided into cohorts of approximately 70 students, and then into diverse five- or six-person Learning Teams – ensures broad exposure and drives dynamism throughout the learning process. What students learn from their teammates and classmates will help them take full advantage of the program’s vast resources. While bigness and abundance characterize this program, Wharton has devised a learning structure that personalizes and optimizes it for students.

What Wharton Looks for in Applicants

Wharton wants applicants who, along with being high performers, are actively engaged in activities and/or interests that contribute somehow. This doesn’t necessarily have to be community service, but it does need to be some form of clear and consistent engagement outside of work that positively affects others. Finally, given Wharton’s extensive opportunities and resources, it is essential that applicants show that they are resourceful; Wharton does not want its abundance squandered.

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Class of 2027 

• Median GMAT: 687 
• Median GPA: 3.68  
• Acceptance Rate: 28.6%

Management has long been, and remains, the hallmark of the Kellogg MBA program, a comprehensive discipline grounded in leadership and global perspective. The premise is that, given today’s rapid change and high volatility, strong management capabilities are needed more than ever. Moreover, they can be applied across industries and sectors. Kellogg’s renowned management resources include two management-focused majors, “Management Science” and “Managing Organizations,” along with numerous other traditional majors. To complement these pillars of business training, Kellogg offers innovative “pathways,” which are cross-functional sets of courses that address timely topics, including “Growth and Scaling,” “Data Analytics,” and “Social Impact.” Students can mix and match majors and pathways, benefiting from the accumulated wisdom of the scholars and experts who devised them. Kellogg has innovated in another area as well: It is one of the first top-tier U.S. MBA programs to offer a one-year option (for people with some academic business foundation). Not least, Kellogg is renowned for its abundant global opportunities, in which almost one-half of its students participate.

What Kellogg Looks for in Applicants 

Kellogg greatly values work experience that shows an applicant’s exemplary people skills – including leadership, teamwork, collaboration, and communication – and presents a record of meaningful accomplishment. Because Kellogg’s student body is particularly strong in philanthropic activity, including this element in one’s application is a good way to show fit with the program.

University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Class of 2027

• Median GMAT: 736  
• Median GPA: 3.6  
• Acceptance Rate: 28.7%

Academic and intellectual rigor combined with curricular flexibility – this intriguing balance is what the Chicago Booth MBA program offers. Intellectual culture is paramount at Chicago Booth, reflecting the character of the broader university to which it belongs. In the Chicago Booth MBA program, ideas are important – having them, sharing them, challenging them, testing them, and acting on them when the time is right. Chicago Booth has unrivaled quantitative depth and analytic rigor among MBA programs. This is a fantastic asset for students who want to refine their strengths in these areas and for those seeking a rock-solid foundation. The school’s flexibility allows students to tailor their learning program to their needs, which puts the onus on students to understand what they need. Although students do not have to select a major, many do, and some even pursue multiple majors. Chicago Booth offers a wide array of options, including both standard choices, such as “Accounting” and “Marketing Strategy,” and less-common ones, such as “Behavioral Science” and “Econometrics and Statistics.”

What Chicago Booth Looks for in Applicants 

Chicago Booth looks for people who have the self-knowledge, critical thinking skills, and resourcefulness to make the most of the MBA program’s flexibility and strengths and to use them productively. And because the school values ideas, it seeks applicants who will go beyond practical career training to explore new topics, areas, and disciplines and who will challenge themselves intellectually.

Columbia Business School, Class of 2027

• Average GMAT Score: 734  
• Median GPA: 3.6  
• Acceptance Rate: 20.9% 

Integral to the Columbia Business School (CBS) MBA program and identity is its New York City (NYC) home, which the CBS website refers to as a top asset of the program. To CBS, this location equals access. To complement the program’s renowned full-time faculty, CBS attracts adjunct professors and speakers who are thought leaders in many areas of business and beyond, because so many either reside in/near NYC or visit frequently. Within this vibrant setting, CBS builds its student community from the start by creating diverse clusters of 60-75 students who take all first-year classes together. CBS’s depth in finance is unique, and the school offers special programs for private equity and value investing. Other highly acclaimed specializations are “Social Enterprise” and “Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management,” the latter strengthened by the plethora of major pharma companies within a couple hours’ drive of campus. The NYC location also reinforces and amplifies the program’s entrepreneurship resources, given the city’s strong tech and fintech ecosystem.

What CBS Looks for in Applicants 

Beyond strong professional and academic track records, CBS wants people who have a plan to take advantage of the school’s resources, engage with the surrounding city and its endless opportunities, and pursue their defined goals. Because it’s easy to fade into the background amid the immensity of NYC and the dynamism of Columbia University, CBS also wants students who can and will forge bonds with their peers.

Key Takeaways on the M7 Business Schools

With their deep resources, commitment to academic rigor, and diverse student communities, the M7 schools provide unparalleled opportunities for MBA students. While each school has its own distinctive culture and specialties, all the M7 programs offer transformative experiences that will shape your future.

As the MBA landscape continues to evolve, the M7 schools will remain at the forefront in developing leaders who can navigate tomorrow’s complex business challenges. If you’re aiming for a career that will have a global impact, one of these seven MBA programs could be the ideal place for you to start your journey.

Related Resources

• Free MBA Admissions Guides
• The Business School Selectivity Index: GMAT Scores, GPAs, and MBA Acceptance Rates
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast

The post M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2026 appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Kellogg has an excellent video on preparing its application, and I urge you to watch it so you’ll understand better what the school is looking for. In addition, Kellogg provides detailed explanations of its different MBA programs so you can find the one that is right for you. Each MBA program requires that you submit essays, and in some cases, you must provide an additional essay related to the specific dual degree being pursued (e.g., MBA/JD, MMM, MBAi).

Ready to get to work on your Kellogg application? Read on. 

Kellogg application essay tips

Question 1:

Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)

This essay seeks to elicit an honest answer from you as to why you want an MBA from Kellogg. It isn’t that different from the typical question “Why do you want an MBA?” but requires a more thoughtful and personal answer. I suspect that Kellogg has chosen this specific wording to weed out essays written by AI, which tend to be vague generalizations. Please don’t respond with canned responses like “I need to hone my business skills” or “an MBA from Kellogg will enable me to advance in my career.” That really says nothing! You can hone your business skills on YouTube or Coursera; you can advance your career by having a mentor or transferring to a different functional area in the company.   Even worse is saying you’ve reached a plateau when you only have a few years of work experience. Such a statement implies that you don’t have anything else to learn at your job, and for most jobs, there is always something new to learn because of outside forces or changes in the C-suite. Reflect on your real reasons for pursuing an MBA, and respond with specific examples. This could be an instance from your past when you realized you didn’t know how to manage your team well, or perhaps you’ve observed coworkers with MBAs and seen how they approach problem-solving strategically. 

For this essay, you need to think back on times when a lightbulb came on, and you thought, “Wow, if I had studied XXX, I could do this job faster and more efficiently.” This is true whether or not you have a business background or degree. And you need to be specific about your goals. “I intend to be a project manager with Amazon, Google, or Microsoft” is a poor answer, as is “I want to do strategic consulting.” Many of these companies have recently been laying off employees, so if you don’t know about current trends in your area of interest, you need to bring yourself up-to-date as soon as possible. These are also banal answers. 

To ensure that you’re offering a crisp and feasible career goal, look at the job descriptions on your target company’s website. What positions is it hiring for, and what do applicants for that position have to know? Demonstrating that you have this information will show the committee that you have done your research and that your goals are concrete and achievable.

As for what you will contribute to the Kellogg community, find something in your background that sets you apart from other applicants. This doesn’t have to be a professional quality. If you say, for example, “I am a strong leader and good at managing my team,” how does that help you stand out from the pack? You can reasonably assume that other individuals applying to Kellogg also have this quality. Don’t just say that you are suited for strategic consulting because of your problem-solving abilities and critical thinking. Again, those are very common claims that most of the candidates applying to Kellogg will also be able to make. Think about values that you cherish, hobbies that might help bring a group together, ideas for a business to start discussions, or even research you’ve done on your own. And take a look at Kellogg’s class profile to see where your classmates have come from, not just country-wise but industry-wise. Finally, if you are an international candidate, you can always discuss how things are done in your country, compared to how they are done in the United States. Talk about cultural and educational influences on business in your country. 

Lastly, be specific about why Kellogg is where you need to earn your MBA. Discuss courses that will fill the gaps in your knowledge, research by Kellogg faculty members that focuses on what you are interested in, and/or specialized centers that will give you hands-on experience.

Question 2:

Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. 

Those applying to or listing a specialty program as their alternative choice will be prompted to complete an additional question.

Again, this essay requires a specific example, not a hypothetical one. Kellogg doesn’t expect you to discuss how you found a cure for cancer or brokered peace in the Middle East. It can be something relatively small that nevertheless made an impact on the company, on you, or on someone else. For example, perhaps you realized that women were underrepresented in a specific department, so you brought that up with the department head and volunteered to help recruit more women and develop programming to keep them. 

Or maybe you noticed that there was a lack of team spirit and collaboration, so you organized a team sport to get people involved and interacting outside of the workplace. The key here is to refer back to the values you hold that propelled you to take action for the good of the company.

Reapplicant Essay:

Reapplicants will receive a prompt about their growth since their last application: How have you grown or changed personally and professionally since you previously applied and what steps have you taken to become the strongest candidate you can be? (250 words)

For this and any other reapplicant essay, you need to show what’s changed since your previous application. It could be a new test score, a promotion, or simply a reevaluation of your goals and the realization that what you thought you wanted to do wasn’t really feasible. Keep your message short and to the point, and don’t reiterate anything you said in your previous application essays. 

Video essays:

Things to keep in mind as you prepare to complete this section:

• Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
• A video essay link will appear on your Application Status Page after you submit your application and payment.
• You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam and microphone.
• The video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, including setup time.

Here are some additional tips:

• There are practice questions that you may complete as many times as you like to get comfortable with the format and technology. The practice questions and experience will simulate the actual video essay experience to help you prepare.
• We encourage you to practice so you are comfortable with the format once it is time to complete the official questions. You will not have an opportunity to re-do the answer to the official video essay questions.
• You will have a brief moment to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response.

Your video essay doesn’t need to be a Hollywood-perfect documentary! Don’t over-rehearse or read from a script. You won’t know the questions until you’ve submitted your application, but they are usually about something you know, and you will have time to prepare for them.  

Practice speaking into a camera, and record yourself to be sure you are looking at the camera lens and not somewhere else. Also, speak slowly and clearly. If you rush, you’ll look nervous, and worse, your listeners might not be able to understand what you are saying. Have a neutral background with lighting in front of you. And lock the doors so no one can interrupt you while you are recording. 

Kellogg isn’t trying to trip you up with this video component; the admissions committee wants to find out who you are apart from your work, and they are looking for reasons to admit you, to see how you will add to their community, so breathe deeply, do a few practice runs before you begin (to be sure your equipment is working), and don’t forget to smile!

Kellogg application deadlines

Source: Northwestern Kellogg website

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Kellogg directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

Kellogg class profile

Here is a look at the Kellogg MBA Class of 2026 (data taken from the Kellogg website):

Class size: 524

Women: 50%

International: 40%

LGBTQ+: 11%

First-generation: 10%

U.S. Veterans: 6%

Average GMAT score: 733

GMAT score range: 640-780

Median GRE Verbal: 162

GRE Verbal range: 152-170

Median GRE Quant: 163

GRE Quant range: 149-170

Average GPA: 3.7

GPA range: 2.9-4.0

Average years of work experience: 5

Undergraduate majors:

• Economics/Business: 49%
• Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics: 39%
• Humanities: 24%

Industry background:

• Consulting: 32%
• Financial services: 18%
• Technology: 18%
• Other: 8%
• Healthcare: 7%
• Consumer products: 5%
• Media and entertainment: 5%
• Military: 3%
• Government/Education/Nonprofit: 2%
• Manufacturing: 2%
• Energy: 1%

Getting into Kellogg, or any of the top-tier MBA programs, is very competitive. Schedule a free consultation, and we’ll match you with an experienced admissions consultant who will work with you one-on-one to create an outstanding application and prepare you to ace your interview. So give yourself the edge, and get accepted!

Related Resources

• Which B-School Is Best for You?
• Accepted’s Business School Selectivity Index
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants

The post Kellogg MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2025-2026], Class Profile appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

For many business degree hopefuls, the MBA remains the gold standard of graduate management education, and not without reason – an MBA can be the start of a new chapter in your life. Professionally, it can help you accelerate your career or make a career pivot. Academically, it can help fill gaps in hard and soft skills. Personally, it can help you discover more about yourself. For these reasons, many cite their MBA experience as being transformative. 

An MBA is the goal for many people who aim to pursue a business career. But what about individuals who have the desire to pursue graduate management study and start making their mark in the business world but don’t meet the work experience requirement of most MBA programs? Is gaining acceptance to business school without work experience possible? The short answer is yes, it is! The two most common paths for candidates in this situation are pre-experience master’s programs and deferred MBA programs.

Pre-experience/Early Career Programs

The terms “pre-experience” and “early career” are used interchangeably, but they both refer to programs that cater to recent graduates (“recent” meaning fewer than three years out of college). While the first offering in this category was the general management MiM (master’s in management) degree, the portfolio of programs now includes master’s degrees in finance, innovation and entrepreneurship, and data analytics, to name but a few options you might find at business schools today. Business master’s (BMs) degrees in data science, accounting, finance, and health administration are generally the most searched BM programs in the United States.

Applicants in this category are commonly referred to as pre-experience or early career candidates, and this market continues to be popular; according to GMAT Geographic Trend Report: Testing Year 2024, while global GMAT scores are most often sent to MBA programs (63% of them are), the proportion of GMAT score reports sent to BM programs has declined from 36% in 2020 to 30% in 2024. Although pursuing an MiM or similar program doesn’t negate the need for an MBA down the road (indeed, you will find individuals with both an MiM and an MBA), these programs are excellent choices for recent graduates looking to explore their options in the business world. 

Candidates who opt to pursue their business studies now, rather than waiting until they’ve earned a few years of work experience, might do so for a few reasons: they might want to specialize early on in a certain area, such as finance or marketing, to enter a specific function; they might want to “convert” their liberal arts or science degree into a business career; or they might come from a business undergraduate degree but want to better understand how theory is applied in the real world so they can hit the ground running in their post-graduate job. Whatever the candidate’s reason, these degrees provide an excellent foundation and help individuals build the skills, knowledge, career support, and network to get a head start in their careers. Additionally, some MBA programs provide a path for their MiM students to return to complete their MBA as a second-year student.

Deferred MBA programs allow students in their final year of study (or just after, if they’re pursuing a master’s without full-time work experience) to secure a seat in the MBA classroom before gaining the generally required work experience. These programs tend to attract highflyers – students with excellent academic credentials and internships, who have demonstrated leadership potential, and who have already started formulating career goals. These candidates understand, and can articulate, how an MBA will help them achieve their goals. These programs are a great option, because they offer security (you don’t have to worry about studying for the GMAT and writing applications while juggling your busy work schedule!) and add some clout to your resume (“Wow, already accepted to an MBA program before you’ve even graduated? Impressive!”). Of course, as with anything, there are pros and cons, so it’s important to determine whether committing yourself to a deferred program makes sense with your career plans. If you decide that a deferred MBA program is the best option for you, bear in mind that they are incredibly competitive. 

Here’s some information to help you better understand which schools offer deferred MBA programs and what these programs are all about. (Information is accurate as of February 2025.)

Harvard Business School 2+2 Program 

Harvard’s 2+2 program is what the name implies – a minimum of two years (four, maximum) of work experience, followed by two years of MBA study. Harvard is looking for “innovative thinkers who have demonstrated leadership and analytical skills and want to develop their knowledge and passion to make a difference in the world.” And this difference doesn’t have to be in a “traditional” business area. In fact, the 2+2 shows some preference for candidates who are pursuing paths “that aren’t as well established”; this could include candidates who plan to work in an operating company, come from a lower socioeconomic background, are first-generation college students, aim to pursue a technically demanding role, or aspire to entrepreneurism. So, if you’re not focused on joining one of the “big three” strategy consulting firms, don’t let that stop you from applying. You might just be what the 2+2 is looking for.

New York University (NYU) Stern NYU x NYU/Stern Program

Undergraduates from NYU’s College of Arts and Science, Tandon School of Engineering, Global Liberal Studies program, Stern School of Business, and Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development can opt to join the full-time, two-year MBA program at Stern (without needing to take the GMAT or GRE) two to five years after they graduate. Financial support is a big pull with this program – accepted students are granted an Early Advancement Award of $10,000, which covers part of their MBA tuition. These students are also eligible for other Stern scholarships, including the Berkley Early Advancement Fellowship, which covers all fees and tuition for the year in which they matriculate. Accepted students with an interest in technology or in the fashion and luxury industries, and who have relevant post-undergraduate experience, can enroll in the Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA program or the Fashion & Luxury MBA program, rather than the traditional two-year MBA program.

Columbia Business School (CBS) Deferred Enrollment Program

CBS’s deferred admissions option offers flexibility; admitted students can explore the professional world for two to five years before beginning their MBA studies at a time that works best for them. This is a great opportunity for individuals who are looking to explore their career options and develop a better understanding of their business interests and passions. The flexibility continues once students begin their studies; they can specify in a letter of intent whether they prefer the 16-month (January) program or the 20-month (August) program, the latter of which includes a summer internship. Having spent time in industry or entrepreneurship during the deferment period can help students determine which MBA journey will offer the teaching and experience they need to achieve their desired professional and academic development.

Wharton Moelis Advance Access Program

Wharton’s deferred admissions program offers recent undergraduate or master’s degree students the chance to work for two to four years before joining the MBA program as a Moelis Fellow. The program is meant for “students who are ambitious, innovative, and prepared to use a sense of professional liberty to maximize their early career experiences.” In addition to seeking proactive, motivated students, Wharton encourages admits to take professional risks during the deferment period and take advantage of the opportunity to “pursue [their] early years with increased confidence and risk-tolerance.”   

Stanford Graduate School of Business Deferred Enrollment Program

Stanford’s program offers something that most do not – deferred MBA admits are able to take as little as one year (but no more than four) to gain experience before beginning their MBA studies. It is open to students in either the final year of their bachelor’s or joint bachelor/graduate program, and to those in a graduate program that they started immediately after their undergraduate study. We should note that Stanford uses the same evaluation criteria for deferred candidates as it does for applicants to its full-time MBA program, assessing how they think, lead, and see the world.

Stanford cites deferred enrollment as a good option for candidates who are unsure of their long-term professional path and feel they would benefit from gaining full-time work experience first. The school also indicates that some industries – such as private equity, biotech, and management consulting – recruit only MBA candidates who have either pre-MBA experience in that field or specialized knowledge. So, taking time out to gain that experience and knowledge can be valuable in ultimately achieving your post-MBA career goals. 

Interested in a dual degree option? Some of Stanford’s programs allow you to wait until the first year of your MBA to apply for a dual degree; others prefer that you apply in the year immediately before you matriculate in the Deferred Enrollment Program.

Stanford expects admitted students to “pursue opportunities that enable [them] to build expertise, enhance [their] skills and knowledge, expand [their] perspective, and develop professional judgment and self-confidence” during the deferral period. So you will need to reflect on what activities will allow you to develop and how you should spend your pre-MBA time.

Kellogg Future Leaders Deferred Enrollment Program

“Graduate with the confidence that incredible things are ahead.” Kellogg’s deferred enrollment program allows admitted students to work for two to five years before beginning their MBA journey. The admissions committee wants to get to know you and to understand your motivations and why Kellogg is a fit for you. Master’s and undergraduate students (excluding law, medical, and PhD students, who apply through the standard admissions process) can come from any study discipline and either graduated in the past year, are in their final year, or went straight into graduate study post-bachelor’s.

The usual admissions requirements apply – test scores, essays, letters of recommendation, interviews – for some candidates, but not all. Applicants who are already engaged in undergraduate studies at Northwestern are exempt from having to take either the GMAT or GRE, so that’s one application requirement that can be ticked off the list for candidates already wearing the purple N.

Yale School of Management Silver Scholars Program

Yale’s program works slightly differently from the other deferred admissions programs on this list. College seniors earn their MBA in a fast-tracked, three-year format immediately after they complete their undergraduate degree. The program structure is as follows: Year 1 covers the core curriculum, Year 2 involves a full-time internship, and Year 3 comprises electives. The opportunity to develop academic skills while simultaneously gaining professional experience is a unique one. In addition, Silver Scholars learn alongside students from Yale’s traditional MBA program. Access to knowledge and experience? Check!

Yale says, “Silver Scholars are chosen for their combination of intelligence and common sense, maturity and curiosity, passion and compassion. Each has made a difference and distinguished themselves in a particular field of interest.” You’ll need to ensure that you really stand out through the application process (which is largely the same as for the traditional MBA program). Remember, you’ll be studying alongside students with five years of professional experience. You’ll need to convince the adcom that you have what it takes to contribute to classroom discussion and debate.

Chicago Booth Scholars Program

Chicago Booth’s program is open to students who plan to pursue either the full-time or part-time MBA and allows candidates to apply before they graduate from college, then defer and gain professional experience for two to five years before enrolling in one of the school’s MBA programs. Booth cites flexibility as one of the major differentiators. Booth Scholars have the option of pursuing the Evening MBA or Weekend MBA, if one of those programs is a better fit with their career objectives.

Booth says that candidates for the Scholars Program “demonstrate intellectual curiosity, personal maturity, competitive scores, and leadership” and that they “have a history of substantive internships or part-time jobs and/or an entrepreneurial spirit.” The application essays make clear that successful candidates need to be able to articulate their career goals and where the MBA fits in. The school wants intelligent, independent thinkers with a considered career map. Although one’s professional goals can change during the deferment period, of course, the adcom wants to see that candidates have taken the time to think through their career path and how attending Booth aligns with it.

UVA Darden Future Year Scholars Program

Darden’s program allows final-year undergraduate students, or full-time master’s students without work experience, to work for two to five years before starting their MBA studies. Student backgrounds are diverse, because Darden aims to recruit individuals who bring to campus a range of abilities and professional and academic experience. In 2024, 121 Future Scholars were admitted and were in the deferral period, busy enhancing their professional experience. This group comprises an internationally (20%) and academically (46% non-business degrees) diverse group of students hailing from 16 countries and 43 undergraduate institutions. Applicants are evaluated in three areas: academics, extracurricular involvement, and personal characteristics. While the latter of these criteria is vague, the adcom does say that the school is looking for individuals who “aspire to be future ethical leaders and managers in a global world.” Putting thought into why you have the potential to be this kind of future leader, and whether your values align with Darden’s, would be time well spent.

MIT Sloan Early Admission

If you are an “ambitious and forward-thinking student,” Sloan’s deferred admissions option might suit you. It is open to final-year students who will not enroll in a PhD, MD, or JD program immediately after graduation and to those in graduate study (who started immediately after completing their bachelor’s) without full-time work experience, except for internships or co-op experiences. Accepted students can work for two to five years before joining the MBA program.

The admissions process is slightly different for Early Admission candidates, and the application calendar differs for non-MIT undergrads. Candidates are required to submit a 300-word cover letter demonstrating their fit with the school. MIT is quite specific about who it’s looking for. The school wants “thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world … people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative … who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to pre-empt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas.” There is a lot to think about and squeeze into a one-page cover letter, so carefully consider how you fulfill the program’s stated criteria. Additionally, candidates must submit a resume and a 60-second video in which they introduce themselves to the class. This video is an excellent opportunity to show your personality and bring the person introduced in your cover letter to life. A second video is required in whish applicants must respond to open-ended questions that are randomly generated.

Additionally, interested MIT students who have a cumulative GPA of 4.2 or higher are in luck, because they can waive the GMAT/GRE.

Berkeley’s Accelerated Access Program 

Berkeley’s Accelerated Access Program is open to undergraduate and graduate students and encourages domestic and international candidates with diverse backgrounds and academic areas of study to apply. Admitted students not only have access to the full-time MBA program but are also eligible for consideration for dual degree programs.

Students are required to work for a minimum of two years before beginning their MBA studies but are allotted a maximum of five years in which to explore their career interests. Although Berkeley does not require its deferred students to follow particular career paths, it prods them to pursue “employment that enhances [their] leadership profile and prepares [them] to contribute to the mission-driven business community” at the school. To ensure that admitted students are meeting the required criteria, some admissions offers are conditional, and students are required to attend check-ins with a Berkeley Haas advisor or career coach. Additionally, a review might be conducted prior to the intended enrollment date to ensure that the student has met the required terms. 

Carnegie Mellon Tepper Future Business Leaders Deferred MBA Admissions Program

In February 2021, Tepper joined the deferred admissions space with its Future Business Leaders program, which allows students to defer for up to four years while they gain professional experience. The program is open to college seniors who plan to graduate from a U.S. university in the current academic year and do not yet have full-time work experience. The school says that “competitive applicants will have a strong academic record, professional internships, and undergraduate leadership experience.” Tepper’s adcom also expects candidates to have put some thought into their career goals and why the program format is a good fit for them (essay alert!). The GMAT/GRE is waived for Carnegie Mellon students, and admits are eligible to apply for scholarships, with decisions to be made at the time of matriculation.

Georgetown McDonough MBA Advanced Access Program 

The most recent player on the MBA deferred admissions scene is Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, with its MBA Advanced Access Program (MAAP). The program allows candidates who are either in their final year of undergraduate studies or in graduate school – and have no full-time work experience – to apply for deferred enrollment. Accepted students can secure a place in the class two years out from when they apply, with the option of extending this time period to three or four years.

The application process is thorough. In addition to the standard written application essay (candidates have three question options to choose from) and video essay, MAAP candidates must complete program-specific essays. The prompts for these essays ask candidates not just about their career goals but also about where they stand in working to achieve them. Additionally, applicants are expected to describe their personal and professional development plans. So, you’ll want to take some time to reflect on how you can present yourself as a proactive, principled future leader who will contribute to the school’s community and make an impact in the business world.

If these options sound interesting, but you’re still unsure whether you should study for a master’s now or wait to pursue an MBA, schedule a free consultation with an Accepted admissions expert today!

Related Resources:

• MBA Acceptance Rates: The Selectivity Index
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants
• Retaking the GMAT with a 700 – Should You Consider It?

The post Deferred MBA Programs and Other Options for MBA Hopefuls with No Work Experience appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

U.S. STEM MBA Programs: An Overview

STEM certification programs have proven application bonanzas for top business schools. STEM certification may have begun pre-pandemic as a way to alleviate uncertainty in the visa process, but the programs have proven to be a robust inducement for MBA applicants, particularly from foreign countries. According to Poets & Quants, “At Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, the move to designate its entire MBA program STEM in early 2021 paid dividends this year. . . Its applications rose by an incredible 21%, an increase of 450 to 2,555, even though Cornell presumably felt the same domestic squeeze as its peer schools.”

[List of top STEM OPT U.S. Business Schools >>]

Cornell’s new MBA class has students from 43 countries, a dramatic rise from 30 countries from 2021. Cornell is receiving roughly double the number of international applications as domestic applications. Poets & Quants also reported strong upticks in foreign student enrollment among 27 B-schools surveyed: “In the top 10, the average gain was 10.2 percentage points, or 36.6%, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the biggest by points — 18, or 72%, to 43% — and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania the biggest by percentage: 84.2%, or 16 points, to 35%.

“Across all 27 schools, the average gain from 2020 to 2022 was 14.6 percentage points, or 69%. The biggest gain was at CMU Tepper, which doubled its total from 28% to 56%; notably, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School gained 23.5 points, or more than 200%, to 35%. Three other B-schools more than doubled their international ranks in two years.”

Are you an international MBA applicant? We’ve helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to top MBA programs! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN HELP YOU GET ACCEPTED >>

The GMAC’s survey from 2019 was the first to inquire about a program’s STEM-certification, and found that these programs were more likely to report growth in international applicants. A total of 195 of the 804 U.S. programs responding reported that their programs were STEM-certified (24%). Among them, the most common program types were Master of Data Analytics (28%); Master of Finance (22%); and Master of Information Technology (14%). And while a majority of both STEM-certified (53%) and non-STEM (57%) programs reported declines in total applications during this period, STEM-certified programs fared better among international applicants. In the 2019-2020 academic year, 43% of STEM-certified programs grew their international applications, compared with 26% of non-STEM programs.

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Given ongoing concerns over visa status and one’s ability to work in the U.S. after business school, programs that are STEM-certified are sure to be more appealing to this applicant pool.

While some MBA programs – such as Chicago Booth, Wharton, Virginia Darden – now offer specific concentrations that qualify international students for STEM OPT, others – such as Berkeley Haas, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, and Rochester Simon – qualify MBA graduates of all majors in their MBA programs for this extension.

During 2021, MBA programs have seen a rebound in international applicants, and many schools (NYU Stern, Darden, and Yale) are touting this return. Still, they are maintaining their STEM certifications because it will pave the way for their graduates to get jobs and stay in the U.S. long enough to pay off or pay down their loans. Despite its cost, the MBA degree continues to pay robust dividends right off the bat. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article: “At about 98% of universities that offer master’s of business administration programs, graduates typically made more money two years out of school than they had borrowed, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal student loan data for nearly 600 programs found.”

STEM MBA Programs

Name of MBA Program	Majors That Are STEM Designated	MBA Essay Tips
Arizona State Carey	All MBA Platforms	Tips
Babson MBA	1) Business Analytics and Machine Learning 2) Quantitative Finance	Tips
Berkeley Haas	All Majors	Tips
Brigham Young Marriott	Management Science and Quantitative Methods	Tips
Carnegie Mellon	All Majors	Tips
Chicago Booth	All MBA programs	Tips
Columbia Business School	MBA and EMBA programs	Tips
Cornell Johnson	1) Two-Year Management Science MBA 2) One-Year Management Science MBA 3) Tech MBA 4) MPS in Management 5) MPS in Management - Accounting Specialization	Tips
Dartmouth Tuck	STEM track	Tips
Duke Fuqua	Second Major in Management Science and Technology Management (MSTeM)	Tips
Georgetown McDonough	Management Science major	Tips
Harvard Business School	Management Science track	Tips
Indiana Kelley	Accounting, Business Analytics, Finance, Marketing or Supply Chain and Operations	Tips
Lehigh University College of Business	Business Analytics (a concentration within 1-MBA)	Tips
Michigan Ross	STEM track	Tips
MIT Sloan	MBAn	Tips
New York University	Tech MBA Two-year full-time MBA	Tips
Northwestern Kellogg	Management Science MMM Program for Dual Engineering/MBA Degrees	Tips
Notre Dame Mendoza	MBA/Master of Science in Business Analytics Dual Degree	Tips
Pace University	MBA in Information Systems	Tips
Purdue Krannert	MBA-STEM	Tips
Rice Jones	All MBA Programs	Tips
Rochester Simon	All Specializations	Tips
Rutgers	STEM designation	Tips
Stanford GSB	1) All MBA majors 2) MSx	Tips
Syracuse	FT MBA, M.S. in Business Analytics, MS in Finance, MS in Marketing and MS in Supply Chain Management	Tips
Texas McCombs	14 of the 22 concentrations for the full-time MBA program	Tips
University of California, Davis	All Majors	Tips
University of California, Irvine	Analytics in Digital Leadership concentration	Tips
University of California, Los Angeles	All Specializations	Tips
University of California, Riverside	All MBA Programs	Tips
University of California, San Diego	1) Full-time MBA 2) FlexEvening 3) FlexWeekend	Tips
University of California San Francisco	1) Financial Analysis, MS 2) Information Systems, MS 3) Full-Time MBA 4) Marketing Intelligence, MS 5) Energy Systems Management & MBA 6) Environmental Management & MBA (4+1), BS/MBA 7) Financial Analysis & MBA (4+1), BSBA/MS	Tips
University of Connecticut	1) Business Analytics 2) Digital Marketing Strategy 3) Financial Analysis and Investments	Tips
University of Delaware Lerner	Major in Business Analytics	Tips
University of Georgia Terry	Only open to U. of Georgia undergraduates; includes 45 majors	Tips
University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler	All MBA Programs	Tips
University of North Texas Ryan	MBA in Business Analytics	Tips
University of Washington Foster	Management Science	Tips
University of Wisconsin - Madison	1) Specialization in Operations and Technology Management 2) Supply Chain Management	Tips
USC Marshall	Specialization in Management Science	Tips
Vanderbilt Owen	Finance Concentration	Tips
Wharton	1) Business Analytics 2) Business, Economics & Public Policy (BEPP) 3) Business, Energy, Environment & Sustainability (BEES) 4) Operations, Information & Decisions (OID) 5) Quantitative Finance 6) Statistics	Tips
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)	Full-time MBA	Tips

We’re going to do our best to keep this table current. However, please do not rely on this table; confirm the STEM designation yourself to make sure that the MBA programs you apply to really have that designation. And if you find out a school has attained STEM certification and is not on the list, please let us know by emailing blog@accepted.com.

If you would like to learn how to get into top MBA programs that offer STEM OPT eligibility and are a good fit for you, register for a free consultation with me. 

At Accepted, we’ve helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to top MBA programs and look forward to helping you too! CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED.

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By Jennifer Bloom, admissions consultant at Accepted for 20 years and Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW). She is an expert at guiding you to produce application materials that truly differentiate you from the rest of the driven applicant pool. If you would like help with your application, Jennifer can suggest a number of options that work with any budget. Want Jennifer to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• STEM Applicants: Why Your Statement of Purpose is So Important
• Top MBA Application Essays: How to Answer Them Right (school-specific essay tips)
• The Questions You SHOULD Be Asking – ANSWERED!, a podcast episode

The post Top STEM MBA Programs: A Comprehensive STEM-OPT Eligible List appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Distance learning and unstable market conditions due to the Covid pandemic have not hurt the fortunes of MBA grads from top programs. The 2022 employment reports released in recent weeks from top schools, including NYU Stern School of Business, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, MIT Sloan, Harvard, and other peer programs have all announced record-breaking starting salaries for grads. 

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NYU Stern MBA Salaries Soar

Median base salaries for NYU Stern were $170,000–the highest ever–up $15,000 from the previous year. Median signing bonuses of $35,000 were on par with 2021, and average total compensation rose by $14,340 to an unprecedented $196,143. 

Within three months of graduation, 94.1 percent of Stern graduates had accepted job offers; 86.6% had accepted job offers by graduation. Top hiring industries remained consistent: consulting (31.2 percent), investment banking (27.2 percent) and tech (17.0 percent). 

Brian Ruggiero, Associate Dean of Career Services, boasted that the Class of 2022, which had begun their MBA studies during the pandemic, “adapted quickly to the resulting paradigm shifts. The demand for these skills is clear,” he said, pointing to the high acceptance rates for jobs three months after graduation being on par with pre-pandemic levels, as well as the highest compensation on record. Early data for the Class of 2023 also show “strong demand for Stern talent,” he added, evidenced by a 100% success rate among seekers of internships. 

Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2022 Almost at 100% Employment

Similarly, University of Michigan Ross School of Business reported that an eye-popping 99% percent of their 2022 grads were offered jobs within three months of graduation, landing median salaries of $165,000 and a $192,270 median salary package. Both salary figures reflect a $21,000 increase over the previous year.

The B-School Selectivity Index:
Are You Competitive at Your Dream School? >>

UC Berkeley Haas, Dartmouth Tuck, and Georgetown McDonough Report Great Employment Outcomes

On the West Coast, the 2022 class at UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business had a 93.8% job offer rate, up 4% from the prior year, returning that figure to among the highest of the pre-pandemic years. The median base salary for Haas MBAs was $155,000, up by 3.7% from the previous year.

Dartmouth Tuck’s employment data released November 22 for the Class of 2022 showed that 98% of Tuck grads had job offers within three months of graduation, with median base salaries rising by 16.7% to $175,000 from $150,000 in 2021. Ninety-three percent of grads received a median signing bonus of $30,000, bumping median total compensation to $202,900, up more than 15% from last year.

Georgetown MBAs enjoyed average base salaries of $138,552, up from $126,107 last year, and an average signing bonus of $36,342. A statement from their website noted that “96% of students received a job offer within three months of graduation and 95% accepted their offers – tying last year’s placement records as the highest levels ever achieved by Full-time MBA graduates. The record-setting average salary marks a 10% increase from 2021, with bonuses increasing by 6%. 

“The outcomes presented in this report are a testament to the extraordinary talent in the Class of 2022,” said Christy Murray, associate dean and managing director of career services at Georgetown McDonough. “These students began their MBA journey amid ongoing disruptions and uncertainty from the global pandemic, yet through their hard work, perseverance, and commitment to excellence, they were well positioned to secure impactful roles in business across a wide range of industries and sectors.” 

Wharton MBAs pocketed their highest-ever median base salary of $175,000, a jump of 12.9 %. Salaries had been flat at $150,000 in 2019 and 2020, rising only to $155,000 in 2021. Within three months of graduation, 98.7% of Wharton’s MBAs seeking jobs received offers. Wharton’s 20222 employment report, released November 17, also revealed that more grads than ever found jobs in tech, despite the current flurry of layoffs and hiring freezes at tech giants Meta, Amazon, and Twitter. 

However, an article in Poets&Quants cautioned that Wharton’s impressive results in landing tech jobs may be a bit of an outlier: 

“. . . techies should be wary of seeing Wharton’s success in tech as a sign of rebound. While the raw number of Wharton MBAs finding jobs in tech is higher than ever, the percentage of the class in the industry is down slightly, as the number of job-seeking graduates in 2022 (633) is 8.2% more than in 2021 (585) as a result of Wharton enrolling larger classes at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Moreover, Whartonites’ success in landing tech gigs runs counter to many of their peer schools, where tech hiring is down — and in some cases down big — and likely points to a very different tech landscape graduates faced this summer as they rounded out their offers.”

Other MBA 2022 Jobs and Salary Stats

The following data is from Poets&Quants and underscores that whatever hardships and uncertainties students experienced while applying and earning MBAs during such a volatile period, their investments are paying off handsomely now.

• Harvard Business School grads saw a 16.3% year-to-year increase in median salary to $175,000 and median performance bonuses increase to $40,000 powered a leap in total median compensation to $223,100, a one-year jump of 17.5%.
  
  
• Virginia Darden School of Business MBAs made a median $175,000, up 21% from the Class of 2021;
  
  
• At MIT Sloan School of Management, average base salary increased 7.6% from the previous year, to $159,391, and median base salary grew 10% to $165,000; total median compensation was $204,700, up 4.7% from $195,600 last year;
  
  
• At Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, median salary for the class jumped $15,000, to $165,000, and is up 18% since the last pre-pandemic graduating class in 2019; bonuses stayed at a median $30,000, and with 87% receiving them, median total pay came out to $191,100, up 8.7% from $175,800 last year.

Soaring MBA Salaries’ Significance for Applicants

These stats reflect several factors: 

1. The enduring value of the full-time two-year MBA degree from top MBA programs.
   
   
2. Inflation, which increases salaries and will allow most of those who borrowed their tuition to pay off their debt with cheaper dollars.
   
   
3. A tight labor market in which businesses – even if we are in a recession – are willing to pay for top talent.

Many of the 2022 MBA grads applied to business school in winter and spring 2020 at the height of COVID lock-downs, social isolation, and distance learning. Unemployment hit 14.8% in April, 2020 and remained above pre-COVID levels until Fall 2021. These grads looked at the dismal events of the time, swallowed hard, and concluded that the environment is paving the way for them to obtain their MBA. As you consider whether to apply at a time of rising layoffs, possible recession, and general instability, consider the payoff that these grads have experienced by taking the plunge when they did.

Are you considering an MBA to maximize your earning potential? The stats show that the investment is worth it, but it takes an outstanding application to impress the elite schools. Our experienced MBA admissions consultants work with you one-on-one, throughout the process, to help you get ACCEPTED!

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For 25 years, Accepted has helped business school applicants gain acceptance to top programs. Our outstanding team of MBA admissions consultants features former business school admissions directors and professional writers who have guided our clients to admission at top MBA, EMBA, and other graduate business programs worldwide including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, INSEAD, London Business School, and many more. Want an MBA admissions expert to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related resources:

• Starting Salaries for MBA Grads Climbing
• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2022
• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?, a podcast episode

The post Class of 2022 MBAs Earn Bullish Starting Salaries appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

If you are a recently laid off and otherwise competitive applicant, MBA programs want YOU!

Are you a tech worker who just got laid off from Meta, Twitter, Facebook, Stripe, or a similar company? Were you thinking of getting an MBA before and/or since the layoff? Well, what started as a trickle with Northwestern University–Kellogg School of Management and MIT Sloan has turned into a river, and may turn into a flood.

Here is a list of the changes full-time MBA programs are making to accommodate and attract recently laid off workers.

MBA Programs Seek Laid-Off Workers

School	Who's Eligible	Accommodation
Cornell MBA & Johnson Cornell Tech MBA	Qualified candidates who have recently been laid off by a U.S. company, applying for the January 2023 MBA deadlines	Application fee waiver & GRE/GMAT test waiver
Dartmouth Tuck	Any worker laid off since Aug. 1, 2022. For more info visit tuck.dartmouth.edu	Can request a GMAT/GRE test waiver. Deadline: March 1, 2023
Duke Fuqua	All applicants	Added new round with Feb. 13, 2023 deadline -- Can take test for this deadline prior to Feb. 28
Georgia Tech Scheller	Professionals who have been affected by recent layoffs, applying to the full-time program	A select number of designated fellowships, application fee waiver & test waiver
Indiana Kelley	Laid-off tech employees	Application fee waiver & GRE/GMAT test waiver
MIT Sloan	Laid-off workers	Extend its Round 2 deadline to Feb 23, 2023
Northwestern Kellogg	Employees who were laid off this quarter at a company in the tech sector and are applying to full-time graduate degrees, including the two-year M.B.A., by a mid-January deadline.	Waive GMAT/GRE
NYU's Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA	Class entering in May 2023 (applying either to its Jan.15 or final Feb. 15 deadline)	Waive entrance exams
Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business	Open to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or those who currently reside in North America	Round 4 added with a deadline of May 1
SCU Leavey School of Business	Those who work in the technology industry, especially those affected by recent layoffs, applying to the following on-campus graduate programs: • Part-time Evening MBA • Executive MBA • MS Business Analytics • MS Finance and Analytics • MS in Information Systems	1) Waive application fees 2) Lift GMAT/GRE requirement for those with tech backgrounds 3) Award scholarships of at least $3,000 4) Accept applications for the Spring Evening MBA through January 20, 2023
UC Berkeley Haas	Prospective candidates who have been laid off between June 1, 2022 to Feb. 2, 2023 , applying to the full-time MBA program	Application fee waiver & deadline extension to Feb. 2, 2023
UCLA Anderson	Recently laid off due to a organizational restructuring or downsizing and apply by R2 Jan. 4, 2023 deadline	1) Can submit test scores and recommendations by Feb. 4. 2) Application fee waivers. 3) If admitted through this process and later find new employment, may be eligible to switch to Anderson’s part-time fully employed MBA program.

* If you know of other schools that are taking special steps to attract laid off workers this cycle, please email blog@accepted.com and let us know.

Here’s the background.

Kellogg Waives GMAT/GRE for Sub-set of Applicants

On November 14, 2022, Lindsay Ellis of the The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Kellogg is waiving its test requirement for “employees who were laid off this quarter at a company in the tech sector and are applying to full-time graduate degrees, including the two-year M.B.A., by a mid-January deadline.”

Kellogg, like many top MBA programs, experienced a surge in applications when COVID hit due the soaring unemployment rate. At the same time, and due mostly to difficulties in accessing a test, it waived its test requirement. That year, applications to Kellogg and other top-ranking M.B.A. programs, including University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Columbia Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management, rose significantly.

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Since then Kellogg restored the test requirement and unemployment took a deep dive. This past cycle, like many other top MBA programs, it experienced a drop in applications. With a very tight labor market and the test requirement back in place, Kellogg experienced an 18% plunge in application volume last year. Many in admissions expect either flat application volume this cycle or a further drop depending again on the economy.

Quoting the WSJ article, “Accustomed to jobs with six-figure salaries, big equity packages and other perks, many tech workers have had a particular incentive to stay on the job in recent years.” Now, with tech workers losing their jobs by the thousands, MBA programs are seizing the opportunity to recruit students from an already talented pool of candidates. 

Kellogg’s associate dean of degree programs, Greg Haniffee, said that the school decided to waive tests earlier in November after Twitter began cutting its workforce in half. Again from the article: “These folks were high performers and are now at a pivot point in their life,” he said. “If they’re considering business school, removing this barrier could benefit them.”

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Kellogg’s offer to waive the GRE or GMAT requirement for applicants recently laid off from the tech sector is open to Kellogg’s Round 2 applications for full-time and part-time programs. In a blog post from November 14, Hanifee wrote that these newly available candidates “can apply to Kellogg by providing their transcripts, resume and application which will also include a brief essay on their work experience and most recent role as well as what they hope their transformation will be and how it will advance them. . . We hope this offer will allow some people to speed up their career transformation process.”

Unlike in 2020, when Kellogg waived the test requirement for all applicants, Kellogg is treading more carefully now by targeting a select applicant pool with proven capabilities who will be competitive job seekers. These recently laid-off workers had demanding roles until just a few weeks ago, and their skills, when combined with an MBA, will probably be in demand. It’s understandable that Kellogg is comfortable relying on their transcript as evidence of academic ability (or lack thereof). They probably don’t need the test score. 

Kellogg’s move presents an opportunity for laid-off tech talent who would do well to consider what may be a rare and perhaps fleeting offer. Kellogg is already a techie haven, with seventeen percent of its newest MBA class coming from tech, and one-fifth of its 2022 graduating class having gone into the sector.

As Accepted founder and CEO Linda Abraham noted in Poets and Quant’s “For these recently laid-off workers, who until the last few weeks had positions that were demanding and whose skills when combined with an MBA will probably be in demand, Kellogg is comfortable relying on their transcript as evidence of academic ability (or lack thereof). They don’t need the test score. Getting these kinds of jobs is in and of itself a test.”

With this move, Kellogg is hoping to boost its pool of qualified applicants while easing the decline in application volume.

MIT Sloan has its own approach to attracting and accommodating recently laid off workers.

Work with a seasoned consultant to polish the presentation of your work experience and your entire application >>

MIT Sloan Offers Later Round 2 Deadline to Laid-Off Workers

In an interview on November 17 with Linda Abraham, who is also the host of the Admission Straight Talk podcast, MIT Sloan’s Assistant Dean of Admissions, Dawna Levenson announced that MIT Sloan will extend its Round 2 deadline to Feb 23, 2023 for laid off workers. The move gives potential applicants who were not anticipating a layoff and are interested in the MBA time to prepare for the GRE or GMAT, take the test, and submit an excellent application this cycle.

In addition to having the data point that the test score provides, MIT Sloan may also be attempting to avoid the criticism that Kellogg received for its test waiver. In a lively discussion on LinkedIn about Kellogg’s move, many felt that it is unfair to require the test for some applicants and not for others. People who worked or work at those same companies and applied for Round 1 must take the test. Employees of those firms who were not laid off still must take the test. With its extended deadline, MIT Sloan is getting the data it values, showing understanding for recently laid off workers, and probably increasing its applicant pool.

The complete interview with Dawna Levenson aired on November 29.

With so many changes in the world of MBA Admissions, why not get expert guidance that is tailor-made for you? Our consultants have helped thousands of applicants get ACCEPTED to top MBA schools–and they can do the same for you. Check out our menu of MBA services to pick the one that is just right for you! We’re here to help you GET ACCEPTED.

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For 25 years, Accepted has helped business school applicants gain acceptance to top programs. Our outstanding team of MBA admissions consultants features former business school admissions directors and professional writers who have guided our clients to admission at top MBA, EMBA, and other graduate business programs worldwide including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, INSEAD, London Business School, and many more. Want an MBA admissions expert to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related resources:

• Why MBA? The Winning Ingredients of a Dynamic MBA Goals Essay
• Northwestern Kellogg 2022-23 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• From Example to Exemplary, a free guide to writing outstanding admissions essays
• 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your MBA Application Essays, a free guide

The post MBA Programs Seek Recently Laid Off Tech Workers appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Kellogg’s two required EMBA application essay questions present a paradox: they’re straightforward and complex. Together, they draw out a fully rounded view of you as a person and as a professional, what you’ve done and how you think and perceive the world. To the extent possible, ground your essays in detail and concrete experience, and use reflection as the thread weaving those details and experiences into a vivid whole.

Essays 1 and 2 together should amplify and resonate with each other. They should be neither redundant nor discordant. Before or while drafting them, consider them as a whole. While they must each succeed as a separate statement, to do you the most justice they also should work together as parts of a dynamic whole.

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Kellogg EMBA 2022-23 Application Essays

Kellogg EMBA essay #1

What are your short-term and long-term career goals? What have you already done to get there and how do you think Kellogg can help you? (450 word maximum)

In presenting your goals, frame them with “why” you want to pursue that path and the impact you hope to have. Clarifying this motivation will animate the essay and engage the reader. Also, of course, support this vision by describing your goals in specific terms: likely positions, which company or industry, desired location, and some related context, e.g. anticipated challenges you or your organization may face, your take on industry trends and how they affect your goals, and so forth. Then connect the dots: explain how this stated path will enable you to deliver the desired impact.

In asking what you have already done to pursue these goals, the adcom is essentially seeking evidence that you are truly committed to this career path. Answering this part allows you to show that you are proactive, strategic, and resourceful. Don’t cite everything you’ve done in this regard, but rather identify the 2-3 most important experiences – and what you gained from them. In explaining why Kellogg must be the next step on that path, link the resources of the Kellogg EMBA to the specific learning and professional needs arising from your planned path.

Kellogg EMBA essay #2

Define what community means to you. Share an example of how you contribute to a community and how that contribution is impacting that community. (450 word maximum)

This question aims right at the heart of what Kellogg cares about (and always has). Kellogg’s sense of community is a central value of the business school and reflects its core identity. To define what community means to you, be concrete. There are many communities in your life, and probably they overlap. Your work, your neighborhood and the broader region, your friends from various areas of your life, any organizations or groups you belong to or participate in, cultural or religious groups, etc. When you describe what community means to you, give examples referencing your communities — your definition should encompass different communities.  

To address the “contribute” part, present a straightforward story about one of your community contributions. Identify and describe what community you are referring to. Clarify why it’s meaningful to you, and briefly summarize your history with and roles in the community. Next, action: what did you do to contribute. I.e., what need did you recognize and what did you do in response? What was the outcome of your action(s), what changed as a result?

Kellogg EMBA essay #3 (Optional)

If needed, use this section to briefly describe any extenuating circumstances (e.g. unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, etc.).

This question explicitly limits the potential topics to extenuating circumstances, so don’t use it to further market yourself by presenting new material to enhance your application. If you do not have extenuating circumstances, do not write the essay. If you do need to provide such information, do it succinctly and straightforwardly.

You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your Kellogg EMBA application. Get a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Check out our flexible consulting packages today!

Kellogg Executive MBA application deadlines for January 2023 and September 2023 start dates

Source: Kellogg website

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Related Resources:

• Ace the EMBA: Expert Advice for the Rising Executive, a free guide
• EMBA: The Ultimate Guide for Applicants
• Program-specific EMBA application essay tips

The post Kellogg EMBA Application Essay Tips and Deadlines [2022 – 2023] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Chicago Booth and Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) share the #1 spotlight in U.S. News’ Best Business Schools of 2023 rankings, released March 29.

The metrics for the rankings are based on career placement success, student excellence and qualitative assessments by experts. MBA rankings are studied voraciously by applicants, students, and alumni but remain controversial. 

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Notable changes this year

• Chicago Booth’s rise reflected improvements on several metrics: a class GMAT score up by six points to 730; an acceptance that fell by five points to 22.6%; a higher score by corporate recruiters that now matches Harvard and Wharton; and a spike in average salary and sign-on bonus for last year’s MBA grads of $7,300 to a record $180,144–the second-highest of any business school. (NYU Stern had the highest of all schools at $181,803.) Placement for the Class of 2021 jumped five points three months after graduation, at 96.4%. 
  
  
• Wharton’s acceptance rate dropped by 4.9 percentage points to 18.2% and their average GMAT score rose by one point. Wharton MBAs enjoyed a jump in average salary and signing bonuses by $6,600 to $179,692, the second-highest of all schools behind only Booth. Job placement three months after commencement moved up by 3.3 percentage points to 96.8%.
  
  
• Top-ranked schools continued to jostle for position, with some flagship programs rising and others falling. Stanford’s GSB dropped by three notches, tying with Kellogg (Northwestern) for #3. Harvard and MIT Sloan remain tied at #5–no change from last year. Yale University’s SOM notched its highest ranking ever at #7, with Columbia and Haas (UC Berkeley) nipping at its heels, sharing the #8 ranking. Yale’s rise stemmed from a six-point rise in its average GMAT score to 726; a drop of six percentage points on its acceptance rate to 23.6%; and a dramatic 8.8 percentage improvement on its placement rate three months after graduation to 94.1%.
  
  
• Harvard Business School’s fifth-place showing reflects a surprisingly low employment at graduation of 69.0%, lower than any other Top 10 school. Its placement rate three months after graduation was 92.3%, the second-lowest for a Top 10 program. And the average salary and bonus for Harvard’s MBAs last year was $172,774, lower than seven other U.S. business schools. Harvard lost out on other metrics as well, including a higher admit rate of 12.5%, up from 9.2% last year, and average GMAT and undergrad GPAs that were lower than many other competitors. 
  
  
• Ross (University of Michigan) ascended into the Top 10 from #13, while Tuck (Dartmouth College) dropped to #11. Stern (NYU) and Fuqua (Duke University) share the #12 spot. Many other programs in the top 25 leaped forward, including Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, rising five places to #21 and Mendoza College of Business (Notre Dame) gaining 11 places to rank 25th. 
  
  
• Outside the Top 25, Washington University’s Olin Business School in St. Louis rose seven spots to #29 and the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business rose eight positions to place #47.

While U.S. News had dropped standardized test scores from its online MBA ranking earlier this year, it kept the average class GMAT and GRE scores in its formula for the full-time program rankings. 

The rankings were based on a survey of all 493 institutions with master’s-level business programs in the U.S. accredited by AACSB International. A total of 363 survey recipients responded; the final rankings are based on 134 business schools that provided enough data on their full-time MBA programs and had large enough 2021 graduating classes seeking employment for valid comparisons. The rankings also include some programs conferring degrees such as Master of Science in Management and Master of Science in Industrial Administration.

U.S. News 2023 Top 10 Full-Time MBA Programs

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U.S. News 2023 Top 10 Part-Time MBA Programs

Hoping to start business school in 2023 at one of these top-ranked programs? Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting & Editing Services and work one-on-one with an expert consultant to create an application that will get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• Do MBA Rankings Matter?
• Top 10 or Bust: Dispelling 2 MBA Myths
• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?
• Financial Times Ranks Wharton as #1
• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know

The post U.S. News MBA Rankings 2023 [Full-Time & Part-Time] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The Financial Times has released its global rankings of the best MBA programs and has considerably shuffled the deck. Several top-ranked programs fell several notches, while others rose considerably. For the first time since 2011, Wharton has returned to its status as #1 in FT’s list. 

Other programs that made giant strides in the rankings include Columbia Business School (ranked 8th in 2020), and Kellogg (Northwestern), now #5 (11th place in 2020). One reason for such huge fluctuations was that five of the top U.S. programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, and Columbia) were not listed at all last year at all, skewing that year’s results. 

Other highly rated programs that suffered serious tumbles in the rankings include London Business School, Tuck (Dartmouth), and UVA Darden. In fact, 69 of the 91 schools ranked fell in the rankings, many of them by double digits.  

Compared with last year, many of these schools’ rankings looked like riders on a roller coaster, with some plunging far below and others rising by as much as 20 points to unprecedented heights. 

As we have cautioned before, it’s vital to keep these rankings in perspective. They are based on many variables that have little or nothing to do with the quality of the curricula per se.

Do you see yourself in one of these top programs? Find out how working one-on-one with one of our Admissions Consultants can help get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• Top 10 or Bust: Dispelling 2 MBA Myths
• Top MBA Programs Get STEM-Certified to Attract Int’l Students
• B-School Selectivity Index: Discover the Schools Where You are a Competitive Applicant

The post Financial Times Ranks Wharton as #1 in 2022 Rankings appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Looking for the best possible admissions advice?

How about admissions advice from the admission committee members themselves?

Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted and host of the Admissions Straight Talk Podcast has a collection of highly enlightening interviews with directors of admissions and adcom members of top business schools!

Listen in as Linda asks her adcom guests pointed and to-the-point questions about the schools, the admissions process, how to get in, and…how to get rejected.

Listen, enjoy, and apply successfully!

For a varied menu of thought-provoking and informative conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, MBA students, and more, check out the Admissions Straight Talk Podcast:

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The post From the Mouths of MBA Adcom Members: How to Get Accepted appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Most grad students take out student loans to finance their higher education and can end up saddled with debt running into hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time they graduate. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal student loan data for nearly 600 programs, graduates of approximately 98% of universities that offer MBA programs usually made more money two years after graduation than they had borrowed. Contrast this with law schools, where approximately 6% of programs had grads with higher median salaries than debt for the same time period.

There are many reasons that students pursue an MBA – the promise of a significantly higher salary, the ability to enter a new industry, or the pursuit of an executive track to name a few. However, the high cost of getting an MBA, which can range from $100,000 to $250,000 or more after living expenses are added to tuition and fees, can be enough to change many potential students’ minds. Despite the relatively low-interest federal loans available to grad students, the amount that students can borrow is fixed at $41,000, leaving some students with no choice but to take out additional higher-interest (but unlimited) Grad Plus loans. So it is encouraging to potential MBA applicants to see that what has long been thought of as a “no-brainer investment” does essentially pay off.

However, there are other factors which skew the data somewhat. There have been efforts to diversify the applicant pool for business schools, yet a significant proportion of MBA applicants still enter programs with professional experience, often in finance or other high-earning industries, thereby accelerating their career paths and making the post-MBA cohort a financially healthy group. Moreover, the data in the Wall Street Journal’s analysis reflects federal government loan programs and does not include private loans.

Not everyone who graduates with an MBA sees significant increases in salary. According to Paulo Goes, dean of Tulane business school, 2020 grads have had an especially difficult time since a lot of companies stopped recruiting MBA graduates during the pandemic. The impact of this slow-down is seen in graduates’ placements and salaries.

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For-profit business schools had a lower rate of students who repaid their loans after two years. Strayer University in Washington, DC had 2% of students fully repay their loans during the two-year period following graduation, with about 33% asking to temporarily stop payments. Strayer students borrowed a median of $74,000, but half of the grads earned less than $57,000 two years post-graduation.

Approximately a dozen other business schools revealed median debt loads that were greater than grads’ median salaries. Several schools stated that this is because students attended their expensive dual-degree programs. Roseman University of Health Sciences reported the highest debt to earnings of any program, with students borrowing a median of $172,000.

Even so, there is much to be gleaned from the data that would make an MBA worth the time and investment. Analysis shows that at several elite programs, including Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the median starting salary after graduation permitted more than half of grads to pay off their federal student loan debt within two years. 

Interestingly, some of the most expensive MBA programs had some of the lowest debt load. Graduates of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business borrowed a median of $41,000 in federal loans without turning to more expensive Grad Plus loans. Harvard Business School graduates had a median of $41,000 in debt, and median salaries of about $172,000. According to Chad Losee, Harvard’s managing director of MBA admissions, approximately 56% of the class of 2020 graduated with some debt, averaging $79,000 in combined federal and private loans. 

As Poets & Quants points out in its analysis of the Journal’s article, earnings are a reflection of the graduate’s chosen industry and the job’s location. Harvard reported a record pay year with 7% of the latest class taking positions in hedge funds and investment management jobs. The median total compensation for last year’s grads was $203,307, including a median salary of $152,682, sign-on bonuses of $27,500 reported by 54% of grads, and $132,500 in other guaranteed compensation reported by 27% of grads.

It is also worth noting that business schools have been increasing the number of scholarships they award to students over the last decade. Harvard distributes scholarships to defray the cost of its MBA program, distributing $40 million in fellowships to its MBA students last year. Approximately half of the enrolled students received scholarships averaging more than $42,000 per student in fiscal 2020.

P&Q top 10 business schools debt-income ratio

There seems to be much reassurance in the data that an MBA from a top school will indeed open doors to a lucrative career and allow one to pay off debts sooner than other programs.

Are you considering an MBA to maximize your earning potential? The stats show that the investment is worth it, but it takes an outstanding application to impress the elite schools. Our experienced MBA admissions consultants work with you one-on-one, throughout the process, to help you get ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?, a podcast episode
• Top MBA Application Essays: How to Answer Them Right
• Top 10 or Bust: Dispelling 2 MBA Myths

The post MBA Students Pay Off Student Loans Faster Than Other Grad Degrees appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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What can you do before starting business school to set yourself up for a valuable MBA experience? [Show summary]

Bob Manfreda discusses his experience in the Stanford GSB program and shares wisdom from his co-authored blog, MBA Coffee Chats, and book, Coffee Chats: Thoughtful advice on how to get the most out of your MBA.

How coffee chats can help you clarify your career goals, prioritize activities and more [Show notes]

Welcome to the 437th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Before I introduce our guest, I have a question for you: are you ready to apply to your dream MBA programs? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted’s MBA Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/mba-quiz, complete the quiz and you’ll not only get an assessment but tips on how to improve your qualifications. Plus it’s all free!

I’d like to welcome to Admission Straight Talk Bob Manfreda, Stanford MBA and co-author of Coffee Chats: Thoughtful advice on how to get the most out of your MBA. Bob earned his Bachelor’s in Applied Physics and Chinese at Notre Dame, worked at Deloitte as a consultant, earned his MBA at Stanford as an Arjay Miller Scholar and is now a manager at Deloitte. He is also the Chief Booth Officer for PhotoFox Photo Booth. 

My first burning question is, do you like coffee? [1:53]

I do. I made myself an iced coffee for the occasion.

You were at Deloitte before you went to Stanford GSB and you’re now again at Deloitte. Did you intend to return to Deloitte after your MBA as you’ve done? [2:04]

“Intend” might be too strong of a word. I knew it was a strong option, and it was one that I was excited to have. I was sponsored to go to school. I cared to come back, but I also wanted to explore some other careers just because I’d been at Deloitte for four years already. And there was a lot out there. I think I had a little bit of a wanderlust career-wise. So I did some poking around in venture capital, in mid-stage startup and then entrepreneurialism which was a list of three things that I came up with that I thought would allow me to maybe be financially equivalent but still explore something new.

I started working my way through that list. For whatever reason, I never really got a lot of momentum on starting my own thing. I realized after a couple of coffee chats actually that venture capital probably wouldn’t be something for me. And I interned at a mid-stage, tech startup and had a great time, but it didn’t really work out for my career perspective. There wasn’t necessarily a path there. When I got to my second year, Deloitte made the official offer to return, and it felt like the best thing at the time for me.

Has it worked out for you? [3:20]

It has. Deloitte is a good company. They’ve got great benefits. I’m currently actually on paternity leave. We had our first son, Jackson, who is six months old. My wife works for a company called Snowflake, and they updated their policy to six months so she had a bunch of time off. Anyways, long story short, now I get months 6-10 off with Jackson which I’m really excited about.

Going back to consulting, for me, I think there was the professional benefit of getting to manage people soon and to continue developing some of the core skills. But I think there was also the personal element of it that I knew I’d have that benefit available to me of good paternity leave, and I’d be able to go to where I want to in the country so it was more than just a professional decision.

Let’s turn to your Stanford experience. What did you enjoy most while you were a student at Stanford GSB? [4:19]

I think it was the freedom to choose every single day. As I went into school and reflected on life growing up through school, the goal was always me getting better and pursuing an interest. That’s the mandate of educational institutions. When I went to the professional world, that was certainly a goal, but it wasn’t always goal 1A. It’s usually profits or something related to that. And going back to school, I could go play pickup basketball or read a book, and on the quarter system at Stanford choose a different class every three quarters. My classmates were all incredibly passionate about things so I just felt like every day I got to wake up and explore something new and whatever it was, that gave me the most energy that day. That was a lot of fun.

Looking back on the MBA program, the education, the extracurricular opportunities, whatever it was – what class experience or extracurricular activities were most valuable to you or really stand out in your mind? [5:11]

I think there’s two in particular. Everyone’s got different goals. So I think that will drive a lot of the outcome to this question. For me, the social element of business school was not a priority. My own relationships and my personal health were. Neither were some of the career pivot options that were out there so I didn’t end up doing many clubs or those things, which also could be really good experiences for other people. I got a lot of value out of classes actually. At Stanford in particular, there’s the whole soft skills curriculum that Stanford’s built its brand around like Touchy Feely. But it’s so much more than Touchy Feely. It’s the whole environment at Stanford that’s built in that ethos of emotions as the basis of connection, and that made me very uncomfortable. I grew up with a tax lawyer dad. Emotion was bad – it’s the enemy of reason. Don’t be emotional. Stanford challenged all of that for me but in a way that was, I think, really helpful and pushed me to become a better version of myself. I can relate to people more frequently and on easier terms. I have less arguments with my wife. My personal relationships have never been stronger. And professionally, the summer between year one and year two, I remember getting frustrated with my manager at the time at my internship. I think old Bob might’ve argued why something else was done incorrectly and why my position was right. And new Touchy Feely Bob said something like, “I’m a little frustrated right now, or I feel frustrated. Can we take a step back?” And that was totally new to me and not something I ever would have done, but that a week and a half into my internship was the total pivot point for what ended up being an awesome relationship with my manager that summer because instead of us fighting over what was right or wrong, we took a step back, related on how we were feeling about things, what drove that, what we needed to do to correct how we were working together and then got back to the core of it. To me Touchy Feely, the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows, and a lot of the similar classes are all centered around that idea and those types of experiences for getting to know people.

That’s wonderful. It wasn’t the answer I expected particularly because your book seems to talk so much about the value of everything but the classes. [7:46]

Well, that’s a tricky one because I think that’s a common element for the MBA in general. It’s like people feel that way. There are so many resources available to you at school. I think that can be true that for a lot of people class isn’t the core part of the program. For me, I was excited about the academics of it and so I got a lot out of that. To be clear, if it was just Touchy Feely, it wouldn’t have been as powerful if not for the community and the people and the experiences around it, but everyone’s goals and experiences with the MBA are different. And it just so happened that for me, I think class had a pretty awesome part of it.

There are so many things coming at you and setting a couple of things aside helped me make the most of what I decided to prioritize. I think people so often talk about prioritizing as a big theme for business school. I think it’s possible to over-prioritize. I think more often people don’t prioritize enough, but I do think that is one of the central themes to having an effective MBA experience. I think that’s great advice that you tell people.

What could have been improved? Even though Stanford GSB is a fantastic institution and experience, what could have been improved for you, or what do you wish you would’ve done differently? [9:32]

That’s actually a great segue to one of the comments I just made about over-prioritizing, which I think is the mistake that I made. I mentioned going into it that I decided that I’d focus on either a startup VC or a growth stage or starting my own thing. Looking back, I feel like those are three things of a very similar flavor to what I was already doing. Like consulting, it’s very bizarre. Obviously it’s a business strategy, and I don’t think I did enough to open the aperture going into school, because I kept hearing from people it’s so important to prioritize. That way you know which lunches to go to, which classes to take, what to work on. But there are so many amazing resources at these schools that you don’t have before you show up that can be helpful in finding new things to do.

Everyone has different goals for their MBA like we were saying, but a very common one is to get into a certain career, whether an elevated position or a different one in some professional degree. I think to the extent that you over-prioritize prior to school, you can sub-optimize your professional outcomes because you’re not seeing everything that’s out there. Specifically for me, I realized during my second year of school that search funds and sales careers, both were actually really interesting and played into the things that I might enjoy but they were just much different than the experience I’d had previously. I wasn’t familiar with them and because I over-prioritized, I didn’t start exploring them until too late in my two years there.

I’m wondering how one could balance that need not to try everything and at the same time focus maybe with more exploration before you get there [11:16]

I think that’s one of the places coffee chats come in because at the end of the day, the best way to balance this is to have a test and fail method which is so common with startups now. How quickly can you have a thesis, test it, and either set it aside or decide to invest further in it? One of the things we talk about in the book is why a pre-school internship could be valuable. I think one of the quickest, lowest time investment opportunities to explore things is the coffee chat. You’re so focused on curating a diverse class of students that if you reach out to people at your school, there’s a very good chance that someone will have done what you might be interested in and during a 30-minute conversation with them, you’ll learn a ton about whether it may or may not be a good fit. 

That’s what happened for me with venture capital. The way it was described to me is it’s a hugely extroverted job where you’re meeting new people, you’re out there, you’re exploring new companies and you’re creating these deals in a large part on your own. For me that felt tiring, not energizing and coming from a very team-based consulting environment, I was a little unsure if I liked the single environment. Instead of spending a whole semester and hours investing in VC recruiting, I was able to rule that out after a couple of coffee chats. I think that’s the whole essence of this book, having conversations early before you show up. Then again once you’re at school, you can start broad but then try to prioritize quickly down to what you do want to spend your time on.

Are you glad you earned your MBA? [13:07]

I am glad. I think so often, that question is evaluated on extrinsic terms. How much did I pay for the MBA? And is it worth it? I’m not sure about that yet to be perfectly honest. I think it’ll depend on the long-term. If I was trying to be a middle manager for my long-term career goal, I’m not sure it would be, to be honest. The MBA is really expensive, but I’m hoping it creates lots of upside for me. And I think between the network, the sticker on the resume, there’s a few ways it could do that. But intrinsically, I learned a lot. I feel like I’m a better person from some of the soft skill things. I made some good friends, and I really enjoyed those couple of years. It was a luxury. Fortunately I had a partner who was working full time, I had a company that was willing to sponsor it. It was a luxury that I felt like we could afford, and I really enjoyed it.

What advice do you have for applicants who want to get a Stanford MBA? [14:20]

Good luck. The application process is a slog. It’s hard. It’s introspective. I’m still not sure why I got in to be frank. But I’ll share the three pieces of advice that I picked up from some of my classmates that I thought did a good job. 

One, don’t overthink what matters most to you and why. For most people, it was a simple concept with a bunch of stories behind it that shows why it was very important. 

Two, the whole application should be related. What matters most to you and why should be largely personal. So why Stanford should build on that. Those aren’t two separate questions.

And then three, Stanford’s whole motto with an emphasis on driving change, I think is really important. They like people who are willing to think through the implications of their actions and how their goals will affect others. So if you want to start a nonprofit that will feed the world, obviously there’s an easier link there, but you also might be someone who wants to be a consultant partner or a private equity leader. The goals are varied but don’t just want to be that for its sake itself. Maybe it’ll create jobs. How will it affect the world? I think telling that story is really important for the GSB application.

What are coffee chats? [15:46]

Coffee chats are what we’re doing right now. It’s a conversation. Questions, answers, back and forth. It’s something that people do a lot at their MBA program and in life in general. I felt like they were very frequent when I showed up at school where people would say, “Hey, you seem interesting. Let’s grab coffee and chat.” It’s a good way to get to know people. Typically one-on-one. Sometimes it’s a beer. Sometimes you don’t get anything to drink, but coffee for whatever reason is typically how it’s referred to.

How did you and Adam Putterman, your co-author who’s a Kellogg MBA and also your pre-MBA colleague from Deloitte, come to write the book called Coffee Chats? [16:19]

Adam and I both found ourselves enjoying and having lots of coffee chats every year. Working at a big company like Deloitte and then at these schools, you get put in touch with friends, siblings, friends of friends saying, “Hey, I’m interested in going and we’d love to pick your brain about it.” We found ourselves having often similar conversations with people and sometimes if we were higher energy and better fed and well slept, our answers might be better, and other times they wouldn’t be as good. Adam and I realized that while talking every couple of months during school. We had become good friends while we were colleagues and, as a bit of an aside, one of the things that we talk about in the book is the importance of finding ways to remember everything getting thrown at you during school. One of the things that Adam and I found ourselves doing was just chatting once a month, once every two months. It happened organically at first where we were comparing notes like, “You’re doing a lot of team projects. I haven’t had any yet. How’s that driving you? What’s happening? What are you learning from that?” And so as we were having those conversations, we came across or we realized that we were having a similar experience with coffee chats.

At the same time we realized, “Hey. We’d like working together sometime. What’s a good way to test that?” and all of these things dovetailed together to, “Hey. It’d be really cool to write about this and to put some of our better answers together to help people that we were having conversations with.” And then those seemed to be received well. So then we thought, “Hey. Why don’t we put it out on Reddit?” We both are on that website a fair amount. We can hit up r/MBA and see what happens. That also got some good traction. And it just was a path of serendipity from there.

During that we got in touch with a writer of recommendable books who’s also now a publisher. He ended up being an advisor to us and as our book was finished and we were sharing it with friends more informally, he then suggested publishing it so we started working with him on that. Then we went through the whole publishing process and now I’m here sitting and talking with you. It’s amazing how the journey has unfolded over time.

Did you and Adam ever compare the cultures at Kellogg and Stanford and discuss some of the similarities and differences? [19:02]

All the time. In one of our interesting theses, I think – anyways to pat myself on the back, is that these schools are more similar than different. People get really hung up on the culture and the differences between them. But all of these schools have wonderful professors and resources and academic institutions, an intense social scene with a lot of A-types who want to get out there and be active, very good job opportunities, interesting clubs, lots of travel. A lot of times if you ask people a question like, “What do you love about your school?” we hear the same answers repeatedly.

So we compare our cultures and in that sense, there are a lot of similarities. But the differences I think are often what are more interesting and what drive difference. The differences we noted about our two schools, again after all of those similarities and positive things, is that Kellogg has obviously a very intentional team-based culture. And Adam’s like, “I can’t imagine not doing a project with a team.” Stanford, I think, creates a very choose-your-own-adventure academic environment. I hadn’t done any projects with teams, because I would often opt to do them on my own because then I could squeeze it in at 11:30 and be home to be with my partner at the end of her workday. I had flexibility by doing it my own way. So the result was very different attitudes around working together versus Stanford, I think, everyone was exploring their own thing. And there was certainly plenty of team culture and teamwork as well. But I think the emphases were different.

In the book you identified several key questions for admits. The biggest question you have is, “How can I make the most of my MBA experience?” How would you answer that question? [21:11]

Linda, I think you already did in a way – it’s the goal. The goals are so often front and center as an applicant and during your time there, I think it’s about finding a way to stay true to them. There’s an incredible speed and the pace and the level of interesting things that are made available in the first few months and then throughout the time there. You have an incredibly smart group of people who I think are still very prone to herd mentality, where they will swarm to whatever the “it” thing is because everything is interesting and exciting, and it can make it hard to stick to those goals. I think having the goals upfront and then finding the time for intentionality to step back, whether that be talking with my buddy Adam at Kellogg or writing if you’re a writer, finding a way to revisit those goals regularly. I think coffee chats are a great way to do that because it forces you to say it out loud, to bounce ideas off people and to re-evaluate them as needed. Having goals doesn’t mean they can’t change. They will change throughout your time, and it should happen.

One topic you address in your book is preserving your relationship with your partner, and you’ve noted that both you and Adam were able to do so. Could you review the suggestions you gave on that topic? [23:03]

Adam is a great person for this. He’s actually starting a relationship wellness company. He helped form a lot of our thoughts around this. I think the big thing is just intentionality around your time and, again, your goals. I think for most partners, there’s two ends to the extreme. One is we are going to do everything together, and my significant other, my partner, the non-student, is going to be involved in everything socially. And the other end is they’re not going to be involved at all. Obviously there’s a lot of space in the middle. Ironically, Adam and I took somewhat different paths, where my partner was from the Bay Area where I was in school, had her own job and decided early on, “Hey. I don’t think the Stanford MBA crew is for me. And I’ve got a lot of other things I’ve got to do with my own life right now.” So that was fine as long as it wasn’t a surprise and it meant occasionally I missed the happy hour to go home and cook dinner together. I think for Adam, the two of them would go to things together frequently and enjoy their time in that way. Adam especially helped us put a whole bunch more tactical things in the book. And one included carving out specific time, whether it be a Sunday morning or a Tuesday evening, whatever works for you. But I’ll leave that as a teaser to read the book actually.

The other point you made by the way was setting expectations both ways, the student’s expectations and the partner’s expectations. [25:42]

Part of what’s so hard, and I’m sure people listening to this can relate to how different their college undergraduate experience schedule was to their working schedule and that’s exactly what happens now. One person is on an undergraduate school schedule, and the other person is working in the real world with air quotes. So setting expectations when two people are occupying such different mental mind frames and mindsets and schedules is incredibly important because otherwise you’re just ships passing in the night all the time.

What are your plans going forward? Any more books, more coffee chats? What do you think you’re going to do? [26:26]

Definitely more coffee chats. I really enjoy them, it’s a lot of fun connecting with people, sharing experiences. I’ve learned a lot from it, like how people are thinking about their goals, what they’ve worked on. So I think coffee chats will always, at this point, be a front and center tool for me in my career, for work, personal life, as a way of staying in touch with people. More books is an interesting question. It was a really rewarding experience. I got to do a whole bunch of things I had not done before, including recording a podcast. Thank you for this opportunity. I don’t know if we’ll write more books on the MBA topic. One of the things we were always very cautious of, and I mentioned this when we were talking beforehand, was we don’t want to be seen as having all the answers on the MBA experience. It’s something that is so personal for a lot of people with different goals and different ways to go about it. I think we’ve said our piece and as you noted, the book is short in part because we realized there’s a small number of tribal factoids or knowledge sets that I think are widely shareable, but for most people you still need to have the coffee chats to figure out what matters or what’s most relevant to you personally. I’d love to write a book about a different topic at some point in the future. It was a lot of fun to re-engage with the poet in me, whereas I’ve always been more of a quant.

It’s a little bit off topic but why Chinese as an undergrad? Just curious. Physics and Chinese, that’s an interesting combo. [27:55]

Maybe it wasn’t overly well thought-out. For me, it was a pursuit of interest. Physics was hard. It was interesting. And it explored the world around me. I wanted to be an engineer but I was in such a rush that when the school told me Engineering and Chinese would take me five years, I said, “Never mind. I want to be gone in four years.” Then I switched to Physics. And that was the whole reason for Physics and Chinese. Ironically, my dad, who’s one of my greatest mentors and role models, I think when I was a sophomore in high school, he was like, “Hey. You should really learn Chinese. There’s a lot happening in that part of the world.” And then I did it. I got pretty good at it and unfortunately managed to forget all of it, just about. So I studied it for six or seven years. It’s amazing how when you just don’t practice something differently than what you do everyday, you lose it.

Is there anything that you would have liked me to ask you or anything you want to share at this point? [29:15]

One of the things we touched on a little bit that I’ll come back to because it’s my personal drum that I’ve banged a fair amount is that these schools are most different based off the academic experience and location. I think they’re very similar, but that’s my opinion because I think the time you spend in school is significant and just like work doesn’t define your day-to-day experiences as a professional today, but it does affect your happiness because you spend 40, 50, for some people up to a hundred hours doing it. The classroom environment, whether you need to prepare for a cold calling case environment or not, whether you have required classes or not, whether classes are mandatory or not, all has a big impact on how your time is available to you.

I think as an applicant, that’s usually important to suss out and understand about where you apply. On the other side of school, I think it’s really interesting when people apply to both the GSB and HBS. I understand why, but it’s two phenomenally different experiences. Obviously location is different and can affect some of the career outcomes. Like we were talking about earlier, I think too often people underestimate the importance of academics with the MBA. Even if it’s not your goal, if you have to prepare for class every day, it will affect how much time you have to work on your startup, for example.

When you talk about location, are you talking more about something like region of the country or world or small city vs big city? [30:43]

When I said it, I meant region. The Stanford class of 2019 GSB’s WhatsApp for the Bay Area is 250 people. It is a full WhatsApp thread and there are a ton of people here. It’s more than half the class. I’m sure some of them have moved in and out, but there are nodes of a much more saturated environments, I think, after school. It also can affect career. Berkeley and Stanford have incredible access to tech startups right now. I think you see that in outcomes. Columbia with finance, Wharton with finance in general and PE as well. I think those locations can affect your career outcome, but also just where you want to be in the world afterwards.

Where can listeners find the blog and learn more about Coffee Chats: Thoughtful advice on how to get the most out of your MBA, the book? [31:59]

We are at mbacoffeechats.com.

Related Links:

• Coffee Chats: Thoughtful advice on how to get the most out of your MBA
• Stanford GSB MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines [2021 – 2022]
• Kellogg MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2021 – 2022]
• What is Stanford GSB Looking For? a blog series
• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2021
• Why MBA? a free guide to clarifying and discussing your MBA goals
• MBA Admissions Consulting Services

Related Shows:

• What Post-MBA Life Is Like, During COVID and Beyond
• An Insider’s Look at MBA Admissions
• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?
• What These Seasoned Startup Founders Have Done Since Earning Their Stanford MBAs
• A Stanford MBA with a Passion for Both Business and Humanities
• Stanford MBA Grows His Amazing Tech Startup

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The post Stanford MBA Discusses Coffee Chats [Episode 437] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The U.S. News 2023 ranking is now live! Click here to check it out >>

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U.S. News has just released its 2022 rankings of the best full-time and part-time MBA programs. The rankings are based on surveys sent out to the 486 business schools with master’s-level business programs in the US, accredited by AACSB International. 

According to Poets & Quants, unlike the Economist and the Financial Times, only the U.S. News list ranks all the major U.S. business schools. All the M7 business schools opted out of the Economist’s ranking, and five of the M7 chose not to participate in the Financial Times ranking. 

Of the 486 business schools that received surveys, 364 replied, and 143 supplied sufficient data and had large enough 2020 graduating classes looking for employment for valid comparisons. Schools were ranked in eight areas. The data collected was standardized in order to compare them with the mean and standard deviations of other schools. U.S. News weighted and added the indicator standardized scores (z-scores) and gave the top school a score of 100. The remaining schools received a percentage of the highest score. The final ranking is in descending order based on these scores. MBA specialties were also ranked again this year.

[Read: Do MBA Rankings Matter?]

Highlights of the 2022 MBA Ranking

These were some of the significant changes in the full-time MBA rankings: 

• Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) retained their first and second place rankings this year. Stanford was able to do this despite dropping in four of the specialty MBA rankings. 
  

• Harvard Business School crept up to fifth place from last year’s sixth, which was its lowest position ever in the U.S. News ranking. 
  

• Dartmouth College (Tuck) advanced two spots and unseated New York University (Stern) to take the number ten spot.
  

Part-time business school rankings also showed some movement:

• University of Chicago (Booth), University of California, Berkeley (Haas), and Northwestern University (Kellogg) maintained their leading spots in the top three positions. 
  

• Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) (eighth last year) and University of Texas, Austin (McCombs) (seventh last year) exchanged places and share the seventh spot.
  

• Indiana University (Kelley) is a newcomer to the top ten this year, taking the spot from Emory University (Goizueta).

U.S. News 2022 Top 10 Full-Time MBA Programs

U.S. News 2022 Top 10 Part-Time MBA Programs

Hoping to start business school in 2022 at one of these top-ranked programs? Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting & Editing Services and work one-on-one with an expert consultant to create an application that will get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Competitive MBA Applicant, a free guide
• Business School Selectivity Index [Can I Get Into My Dream School?]
• Do MBA Rankings Matter?

The post U.S. News MBA Rankings 2022 [Full-Time & Part-Time] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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The Kellogg MBAi: Where business and technology intersect [Show summary]

Kate Smith, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Kellogg School of Management, breaks down the school’s brand-new MBAi joint degree and how it prepares students for careers at the intersection of business and technology.

Interview with Kate Smith, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the Kellogg School of Management [Show notes]

As if its impressive portfolio of MBA programs (not to mention the pandemic) wasn’t enough to keep Kellogg busy, it also launched a brand-new program at the beginning of this academic year. Let’s catch up on what’s new at Kellogg and learn about its new accelerated joint MBA at the intersection of business and technology management.

Kate Smith is the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Kellogg School of Management. Kate earned her own MBA from Kellogg in 1998, then worked in marketing for leading brands including General Mills, Quaker Oats, and Pepsi. She returned to Kellogg in 2012.

Let’s start with some basic information about the MBAi. First of all, what is it? Who’s it for? What’s the structure? And what degree do graduates actually receive? [2:05]

Thank you for opening on what is an exciting innovation here at Kellogg. We have just introduced this new program in the Kellogg portfolio of MBA options. The MBAi is a new joint degree. It has been launched by the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. The vision for this degree is that it is at the nexus of business and technology management.

The MBAi is building on a long legacy of innovation and collaboration between Kellogg and McCormick. The two schools launched, years ago, a dual degree called the triple M program, which provides rigorous business education integrated with a strong foundation in design innovation. The MBAi is a new specialized program that is meant for students with prior undergraduate STEM experience, and/or prior work experience in the tech sector. Examples could include having worked as a product manager, a data scientist, a software engineer, an R and D associate. We’re going to be building what I’d say is a real nice diversity of backgrounds leveraging tech and STEM expertise so that they can contribute that on a journey to accelerating their knowledge and foundational expertise at this intersection of business and technology.

It’s going to be a fast-paced, five-quarter program, which is (I think) very appealing in terms of the speed at which you can pursue and complete your MBA degree experience and immediately jump into what is a rapidly evolving tech sector. The curriculum will include the entire Kellogg MBA core curriculum, as well as technical courses in topics such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, data wrangling, robotics, computational thinking for business. That will also be complemented with the entire Kellogg MBA core curriculum. Students will have the opportunity to round out their degree with just a few electives, choosing between both Kellogg and McCormick.

This program is intensive, with a five-quarter format as opposed to our two-year program, which is a traditional six-quarter program format. There’s a little less flexibility on electives and more of an intentional design into the curriculum, integrating the aspects of data analytics, AI, etc., and weaving that throughout the curricular offerings.

The graduates will have one degree conferred by both Kellogg and McCormick. It’s a joint degree, so it’s different than a dual degree. Our current triple M is a dual degree, one degree conferred by McCormick, the MBA conferred by Kellogg. This is a joint MBA degree called the MBAi, conferred by us both together. You’re going to be going five quarters straight through, so you’re going to start in the fall, and you’re going to take courses for five consecutive quarters and graduate the following December.

You’ll have a work immersion experience concurrent with taking fewer courses over the summer quarter, so you’ll have something that’s analogous to an internship. You will have an internship experience, but we’re designing the curriculum in that summer window to allow you to progress. And you’ll take a couple courses flanking your internship over that summer quarter.

So the internship is over that summer quarter? [6:15]

Correct, so it’s the same timing as a traditional internship window in our traditional two-year offering for triple M students, who all pursue their internship over what is our summer quarter here at Kellogg. The students will secure a summer internship that aligns with their interests. They will have the support of our career management center team. They are a Kellogg student, so they’ll have all the resources of Kellogg available to them. They’ll secure that internship.

And if that internship happens to be in San Francisco, then San Francisco will be the base of the offering of the curriculum over that summer quarter because we have a campus based there. And if they are, let’s say, in New York, or if they take an international internship option, they’ll be working remotely. We’re able to leverage the beauty of this moment of asynchronous and synchronous learning environments and hybrid environments. They’ll be able to attend their coursework over the summer around their internship. And then the entire cohort will culminate with an immersion experience in San Francisco at the end of the summer quarter together. They’ll be doing that out of our home base, out of our San Francisco campus. It’s definitely a unique approach, to immerse these students deep into this AI tech sector.

How does it differ from the MBA with a focus on tech? [7:51]

Three aspects differentiate it: the curriculum, the degree you’re receiving, and the job or career opportunities that we believe are going to match with this program and the graduates of this program. Regarding the curriculum, we see the MBAi as the only top MBA offering. It’s coming with this accelerated format, which is unique. But it’s also going to have this comprehensive offering of course work and experience that wholly integrates AI, data, and data analytics, woven throughout that entire curriculum. Every aspect of their journey through this is going to have that as a common core, as opposed to just taking a few electives that might be at the intersection of tech and business strategy, for example.

The MBAi graduates will have the degree I talked about, conferred by Kellogg and McCormick. Graduates of the MBAi will be well-equipped to take leadership roles that are at that intersection of science, technology, and business within organizations where you could look at things such as technology product management, product digital marketing, and consulting roles that are very much looking to advance what’s happening right now in data analytics and AI, and trying to apply those concepts into business organizations, trying to solve real-time problems, and leveraging technology. The industry is evolving so rapidly, and what is happening in the space is moving at such speed. The inspiration that, I think, brought our two schools together to form this degree was the identification of the need for next-level depth in technology knowledge, if you will, among business leaders. It will definitely be a key component of the curriculum and the experience the students have.

If you are interested in technology and want to have what I call a more traditional MBA experience, you would select the two-year program. We have a tech management pathway. You can take courses where you can handpick those electives. There are a whole host of options that we offer here at Kellogg that would allow you to build that. You’d have your MBA foundation. You’d have a traditional summer internship without this more fast-paced approach. It would be more like a marriage of those two areas, whereas this is a full integration of AI and technology into the curricular experience within the MBAi.

Is the MBAi core the same core the MBA students take? [10:46]

It would be the same core, but those courses are going to have integrated data, technology, and AI principles woven throughout that entire core. It is designed uniquely for the MBAi cohort. They will travel together as a cohort. They will experience these classes, and they will have unique components that do not just sit side by side. They’re not identical to what the traditional MBA courses today offer.

Is that also a distinction from the MMM? [11:31]

The triple Ms actually are getting an MBA from Kellogg and a Master’s of Science and Design Innovation from McCormick. So they actually integrate and do take the same core classes with our two-year students, so that is a difference. The other component is the master’s of science and design innovation, which is much more about human-centered design thinking principles, and their application to innovation and entrepreneurship. There’s a divergence there that is uniquely separate in the McCormick offerings.

The MBAi is so focused on the impact of artificial intelligence, data analysis, and machine learning. On one hand, it’s an area of tech that’s going to impact everything. On the other hand, it’s a very narrow area of tech. Why did Kellogg limit the MBAi in this way as opposed to having a program that is more broadly about tech management? [12:12]

Kellogg believes that AI and analytics hold tremendous promise for the future of where business and organizations are evolving. We’ve seen the challenges that many organizations are facing today in figuring out how to deliver and scale successful business outcomes. What inspired this to be a more, I’d say, laser-focused offering was that the failure rate of AI and analytics projects is cited to be about 85% two years ago. Gartner, the prominent research firm, had studies saying that in terms of failure rate, the concept is there, but the application is still very much being figured out by organizations.

We believe that businesses need to be able to adapt and course correct to achieve a much higher level of success. They need new decision-making processes. Culture shifts might be necessary, and new organizational structures. Making these changes requires leaders who will have expertise in both business and technology. We’ve made this delineation, saying that we believe the MBAi program will develop future leaders who can drive successful business outcomes through the adoption of AI, technology, and innovation. We believe that this is going to be an expansively growing area that is worth being laser-focused on developing.

Our intention is actually to have a cohort that is probably no larger than our triple M cohort. Typically, the triple M program typically runs about 65 students a year. It is a narrower space, but one that we think will have a ton of interesting development potential. We’ve also seen the interest growing in terms of students wanting to drive in this direction. If you’re interested in this more immersive area and in AI’s intersection with business, we think it’s going to be a very exciting program for applicants to explore.

Professor Eric Anderson is the director building out this program here at Kellogg. He has had many, many conversations with organizations about this to inform our strategic decision to enter this space, as well as what kinds of roles organizations are looking to hire into. A quote was, “Some of the jobs have not even been created yet. They are being conceived as we speak,” being fleshed out. We’re trying to determine, how do we start to create new roles that will drive advancement in our organizations and leverage this technology?

You’ve convinced me. How can I apply? [15:28]

You can come to our website and look at our application. It’s live. Our round two deadline is open and posted. It’s January 6, 2021. On the application, you’ll see this is a Kellogg MBA program, so we are going to apply the same approach to evaluating who makes a great student for Kellogg.

There’s an “and” for this group in that we expect them to have some of that prior, demonstrated interest in technology and data analytics. We talked about the fact that a STEM background would be considered. The idea here is that you want people who are passionate about this opportunity and leading at the intersection of business and technology.

The application will have our traditional components, Kellogg’s two essay questions, which are both about leadership and about values that we care about in our community, and then a third essay question for MBAi candidates, which is in and around being able to talk about an experience that you’ve seen in the disconnect that currently exists between business and technology. That has been a fundamental issue for many: the two worlds have sort of grown up side by side, and organizations are trying to merge and understand how to bring those two together with leaders who can traverse both the business strategy and the technology development that their organizations are facing.

There’s also an opportunity for applicants to share information about their skills and their experience in coding, for example, or background in technology that they could bring to the class. They’ll have an opportunity to share those aspects in that application.

Do they need to take GMAT or GRE? What about good grades and recommendations? [17:17]

The traditional components of an application are all there, so you’re going to submit a resume. You’re going to answer the essay questions. You’re going to fill out some short responses on your background, your work experience, organizations you’ve been involved with, two letters of recommendation. We will have interviews that we will hold with the candidates. Kellogg uniquely also has a video essay component. Every aspect that is a part of our traditional application is there for the MBAi applicant as well.

Let’s say I’m really interested in the MBAi, and I’m really interested in the Kellogg MBA. Can I apply to more than one? [18:03]

Kellogg is unique in that we have designed over many, many years a portfolio of choice in how you pursue your MBA. We have two working professional programs, our evening weekend program, our executive MBA program. Within the full-time program, we have the traditional two-year, the one-year program, which is giving you credit for prior business coursework completed before you matriculate. And then, as we already touched on, we have two dual degrees: the triple M, and then a JD/MBA program. And now we’ve added an MBAi.

What we tell our applicants is you can only apply to one program in the application cycle. The reason we’ve constructed it that way is we want students to do the reflection and homework on, “What’s the right choice for you?” Because they are uniquely designed to meet different students at different intersections of interest, experience, etc. So in the one-year program, there’s no internship. There’s these differences that are intentional in their design, and we want students to understand that as they apply.

So if a candidate were in a position where they say, “I want to go to Kellogg for the MBAi, but if I weren’t admitted, I would love to get a Kellogg MBA,” you can let us know that either in the interview, or you can share additional information in a portion of the application. You can say, “I would love to be in this program. This is my number one choice. But if that weren’t to play out, please know I’m so interested in Kellogg,” so that we’re aware. But I encourage candidates to really do their homework on applying and not just make that the default response for all.

That is, to me, a unique student who says, “I have decided that Kellogg is where I want to be, and here’s the rank order of what I’d love to be considered for.” We have at times contacted an applicant who applied to one program and actually had the conversation and said, “You know what, I know you applied to this program, but your profile looks like you’d be great for this program. Had you thought of that?” And sometimes they hadn’t. Sometimes they hadn’t been aware. Sometimes they had. We definitely engage with applicants in that conversation if that unique situation arises.

Let’s turn for a moment to the Kellogg MBA experience today. How have the coronavirus restrictions affected the MBA experience at Kellogg? [20:49]

It is a unique moment for us all. Everyone is dealing with the pandemic and their own unique challenges and struggles as it unfolds. Similar to the adaptations that every person has had to make, Kellogg was very nimble. We really quickly made adjustments to deliver our educational offerings safely with the impact of COVID-19. I’m thrilled to share that we have been able to deliver our full-time program in a full hybrid format. We pivoted to virtual in the middle of March when everything in the United States shut down immediately and, shortly thereafter, were able to pivot to a full hybrid experience for students Kellogg’s unique in that our one-year and triple M students start in the summer. We were able to start in a hybrid format and have been able to maintain that hybrid format, which means we have students attending in-person and virtually, and students can choose if they want to be in-person or virtual, depending on their circumstances. We have a handful of virtual-only courses that have also been offered. 

The beauty of the global hub is that it’s enabled us to bring in students in a way we hadn’t anticipated because the requirements of social distancing in a traditional fixed-classroom environment imposed some pretty significant constraints, where you’re facing about a quarter to at most a third, usually around 25%, capacity in those fixed classrooms. When we built this up, we built a lot of modular, flexible classrooms, and it has paid out in spades in those classrooms because we have both fixed and modular, and they’ve been able to have their own table. The faculty are able to be at the front of the room. The technology is so advanced because the hub is so new. We’re able to include all the virtual students in the dialogue, so they’re on screen interacting with the students in the classroom. We’ve taken a very intentional approach to designing that classroom experience, as well as the co-curricular experiences with the very important focus on trying to dissolve the barriers that are presented in this moment by whether you’re in-person or virtually involved.

For example, in designing experiences for the students, they’ll break out into Zoom breakout rooms. It’s like you’re in the classroom, but if you’re in the classroom, and one of your classmates is not, we can bring you together in a virtual breakout room to have a breakout conversation like you might’ve had if we were breaking out in the classroom. We also have made some innovations. The faculty have started offering virtual office hours, so they can provide the same access to students that is harder to achieve with the constraints of physical proximity and whether you’re comfortable coming in or not because we’ve given everyone the choice on how they want to attend in this moment.

For example, Professor Harry Kraemer, who teaches managerial leadership at Kellogg, is the former CEO of Baxter, and he now has conversations with students both before and after class. He says, “I’m going to be there early. Come on in if you want to talk to me.” It’s replicating the “I’m here early for class” experience. We’ve also been able to bring in video content, so a lot of the faculty have started to pivot in this moment and integrate asynchronous video to help present concepts outside of the class time, and then in the class, to enable the dialogue. The video platform has definitely opened some opportunity areas.

The other example I’d give is we’re very aware that, in the organic community that you would have by being in that hub, the hallway chats, the bumping into each other at lunch, or getting coffee, whatever it might be, those aren’t there in an organic fashion right now at the same level, obviously. So we’ve introduced pods, and we rotate students through pods, so they have a chance with six to eight classmates to come together and meet virtually, but to have smaller group conversations that at least try to give them some of that experience. We’re rotating students that might have enjoyed those organic moments together. Lots of trying to be nimble and innovate to deliver on what is central to how important collaboration and community is at Kellogg.

We have highly involved clubs and extracurricular opportunities at Kellogg. A student was realizing that if you get to a certain threshold of students in a Zoom room, it gets a little hard to have those conversations. They’ve had that same approach, where they put four or five of us together with some topics. Each of us broke out and talked about the same topics, and then we all came back together, and people shared some of what their groups shared. It’s trying to build that connection and community, and students creating that on their own, as well as us creating that in the curricular offerings as well.

In light of the pandemic and the crazy end to last year’s admissions cycle, are you going to read applications with a slightly different perspective this year around? Are you going to be weighing certain qualities and attributes differently than you did before the pandemic? [27:02]

The current environment has challenged all aspects of our lives. We know that this moment is actually going to inspire and likely curate qualities that we admire and value in our student population: resilience, leadership, all of the aspects of being able to innovate, adapt, and face these challenges. At Kellogg, we look to build empathetic leaders who are both creative and collaborative. We know that many of these attributes will come shining through as they talk about experiences from the past year. Our admissions standards and criteria have not changed, so we’re not going to be evaluating differently, but we’ll be evaluating with empathy, understanding what the candidate is sharing in terms of the impact that this has had on them and their life.

We have three video essay questions that are each a one-minute response from students. I call it a quick elevator pitch response to a question. Over the summer, our application had already gone live as the pandemic was hitting. So I said, “How could we allow them to share? We know we’ll hear it in the interviews. When we get to the point of interviewing candidates, we’ll hear about their experiences.” We pivoted and adapted our video essay, their third video essay, so that they can share how this year uniquely has challenged them and how they’ve faced this challenge. We wanted to give them a place and an opportunity to share it. I think it will possibly show up in essays, in interviews. If someone has been impacted in their career with a disruption to working, we completely understand that.

Everybody’s been impacted in different ways, and I think that will come shining through as candidates are presenting themselves in their applications. “How did you deal with it? How did you face the challenge?” was the actual question we asked. Many of us are just working from an apartment, or from home, wherever you might live, or maybe where you live was disrupted, so you had to relocate to somewhere else because of different circumstances. How do you drive and make an impact in the organizations, or the areas of your life that you’re involved in, in this moment? We’re all doing it differently in so many ways because of the constraints we’re all facing. But the world is moving forward. Are you helping that world advance in ways that are benefiting the greater good of all of us?

Kellogg still requires either the GMAT or GRE, correct? Are there any plans to go test-optional? And what if you’re in a country where it’s very hard to get to the exam? [27:02]

Kellogg took a stance of high levels of empathy at the end of last year because the world was so disrupted. And we know that still, there are circumstances where that is the case. We do believe that access to testing has been addressed for the majority of circumstances. It might take you longer. There’s some constraints to get the test access that you like. As a result, we did make the decision to keep the test requirements in our application for this year. We have given applicants an extension in each round to submit the score later than the deadline. So you can submit your application by the round two deadline of January 6th without the test score, and let us know. We’ll work with a candidate if they are unable to obtain it. We would allow you to roll your application forward into round three. You’ll continue to be considered through this cycle. We will assess what access to testing is available by round three in the summer. By then, we’ll assess.

Right now, we don’t have any plans to make material changes. We’re just assessing, as we go, all the circumstances facing candidates. Our hope is that access improves. We’re hearing from testing organizations that they’re really getting close to 90% plus access again. It could take longer, but at least their test access has materially improved. We’re going to keep our finger on the pulse of how that plays out.

Can you touch for a second on Kellogg’s deferred admissions program for future leaders? [32:15]

Kellogg Future Leaders is Kellogg’s deferred enrollment option. It’s open to all undergraduates from anywhere, not just those from Northwestern University. It’s open to all, either undergraduates or master’s candidates with no prior work experience, so the expectation is that you completed undergraduate or immediately thereafter a master’s. Typically a one-year master’s candidate profile, but no significant period of work experience. The idea is that you’re applying with the option to enroll in a future term. Kellogg is flexible in offering that you can enroll anywhere between two and five years after you are admitted. You’ll specify what you’re preferring to start when you apply. What’s nice about Kellogg is this is being offered by many different MBA programs today.

We’ve structured it to keep it straightforward when you’re applying to the two- year program, which is the most traditional program we have. Let’s say you want to enroll four years from now. You love the job that you have, and you’ve reassessed whether you want to go full-time. We would let you pivot that offer into our evening weekend program. Or you could say, “I am interested now in this MBAi because of the path I’ve pursued. I really want to go in that direction.” We will allow you to communicate an interest in one of our alternate programs and work with you to determine if that’s the right fit at that moment. I think it really provides flexibility. No one knows what the future looks like for themselves. Right? But there’s the option that they know they can pursue their MBA at Kellogg. We were very, very pleased with our first year of the program. It was great, with great candidates, so it’s exciting.

If they are admitted through that program, they could go to the MBA/JD, the triple M, any of them. We’ll work with them. It’s not going to be just, “Yes, you can.” It’s going to be a, “Is that a good fit option for you?” But we will have that conversation to work with the candidate. And if it is a good fit option for their background, and with the MBAi requirements, I can’t just carte blanche say yes because we’re trying to look for that technology experience, but if you actually develop that experience on the way, you might be a great candidate to consider that, so we will work with each candidate one on one uniquely.

What advice would you give to someone thinking ahead to a full 2021 application? [35:28]

The advice I usually give is to invest the energy to get to know the schools that you’re considering. It’s just like taking a new role in an organization or a new job. You want to know that you’re going to enjoy that experience, that you’re going to thrive, that it’s going to give you the development that you desire. Right? So my recommendation and advice is to do the homework to get to know the school.

At Kellogg, we have a Preview Kellogg website you can check out. We have virtual events that you can attend. We have small student group chats right now available that you can sign up for, so you can talk to current students. We have master classes being taught by faculty that you could experience. We also have a virtual tour option. In a world where it’s hard for anyone to visit any campus anywhere, we’re trying to provide students with the opportunity and applicants with the opportunity to get the visit experience that unfortunately is not easily accessible to anyone right now. Talking to current students, talking to alumni, learning about the program, that is my advice.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [36:49]

I’ve mentioned already the virtual campus experience, so there’s that investment in getting to know us. I think taking the time for some self reflection. Any candidate who’s listening to this podcast, they’re likely considering pursuing their MBA. Take the time to learn and reflect and identify what your goals and motivations are. Then, that conversation I just had around why an MBA program is a good program for you, to have them really think and reflect on their motivations and where they’re going to thrive. People get caught up in worrying about, “Will I get in? What about the impact of other factors?” Control what you can control, which is you, and that process of reflection, getting excited and passionate about what you want to do, having those conversations, and then going for it. I like to have that conversation with any applicant because you’ll find a great program for you. We certainly every year see exceptional students who find that fit here at Kellogg. And I certainly hope that is the case for anyone who’s engaged their time listening to us today.

Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about Kellogg’s portfolio of programs, and specifically the MBAi?

Sure. You can go to www.kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Related Links:

• Kellogg MBAi webpage
• Leadership in Admissions, a free guide
• Kellogg MBA Application Essay Tips
• Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services

Related Shows:

• Get a Kellogg MBA: An Interview with Dean of Admissions Kate Smith
• MBA Life at UC Berkeley Haas, From Its New Executive Director of Admissions
• An Insider’s Look at MBA Admissions
• What MBA Students Can Expect at UCLA Anderson

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The post All About the Kellogg MBAi, for Students Passionate About Business and Technology [Episode 396] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

With the unprecedented reality of a worldwide pandemic, it is reasonable to be concerned about the MBA admissions process. Universities have emptied out their campuses, and both students and teachers are rapidly trying to adjust to remote learning and a host of other modifications in traditional education. Additionally, job prospects are dwindling as the economy dips and layoffs begin. The lack of clarity around MBA programs with deadlines in summer 2020 or fall 2020 can be anxiety-provoking, so here at Accepted, we want to provide you with the best guidance possible as you consider your application options.

You’ll find below a roundup of MBA deadline extensions and changes. Check back soon for more advice and insight into pursuing an MBA during the current health crisis.

<< How Will COVID-19 Impact Your Admissions Journey? [Watch the Webinar] >>

Surveying the deadlines

Here’s what you need to know: [Please note that this list is not all-inclusive, and that the schools listed below may change their policy again in response to change circumstances; please check school websites for updates.]

Chicago Booth

The Chicago Booth Round 3 deadline remains April 2, 2020. However Booth will continue to accept applications through May 31, 2020 with decisions released on a rolling basis.

For all Round 3 applicants, test scores can be submitted as late as July 1, 2020. Admissions decisions will not be made until the score is received.

Check out Chicago Booth’s website for more information.

CMU Tepper

CMU Tepper is waiving application fees through July 31st and is accepting applications on a rolling basis from June 1 – July 31, 2020. They are also allowing applicants with “robust quantitative backgrounds” to apply without a GMAT or GRE. (They will need to meet other requirements to start and stay in the program.)

Check out CMU Tepper’s website for more information.

Columbia Business School

The deadline for August admission at CBS has been extended to June 1, 2020. The deadline for submitting test scores has been extended to July 1, 2020.

Check out Columbia Business School’s website for more information.

Cornell Johnson

Johnson is maintaining its application submission deadlines, but allowing applicants to submit test scores later.

• One Year MBA Applicants: Application deadline is April 15, 2020. Test scores must be submitted by April 30, 2020. If not, your application will be moved to the 2020-2021 application cycle.

• Two-Year MBA Applicants: The application deadline is April 8, 2020. You will have until June 1, 2020 to submit your test scores. If you are unable to do so, your application will be moved to the 2020-21 application cycle. 

Check out Cornell Johnson’s website for more information.

Dartmouth Tuck

Tuck is maintaining its Round 3 deadline and adding a Round 4 this year for applicants who need additional time. Round 4 will work on a rolling basis, and applicants can submit any time between April 1 – June 1, 2020.  The applications will be processed as they come in, and Tuck will provide decisions within “several weeks” from submission from May 11 – July 1, 2020.

Tuck’s criteria and required materials, including required test scores, are unchanged.

Check out Dartmouth Tuck’s admissions blog for more information.

Duke Fuqua

Duke Fuqua’s new Round 4 application deadline is May 19, 2020.

Duke has also postponed the orientation start-date for the Class of 2022 by approximately one month in response to the pandemic.

Check out Duke Fuqua’s website for more information.

Georgetown McDonough

Georgetown has relaxed its testing requirements and added a rolling admissions deadline of June 24 (following it’s Round 4 deadline of April 27th).

Check out Georgetown McDonough’s website for more information.

Harvard

The deadline for Harvard Business School’s 2 + 2 Round was postponed to June 1, 2020 in light of COVID.

Accepted Harvard Business School students have the option to request a deferral to start their full-time MBA studies later than this fall. Deferral requests must be made between May 15th and June 1st.

Check out Harvard Business School’s website for more information.

Indiana Kelley

Kelley will accept applications from domestic candidates on a rolling basis after its April 15th deadline.

Applicants who were unable to take the GMAT or GRE are welcome to submit their applications. Final admissions decisions will be made once test scores are received by the school.

Check out Indiana Kelley’s website for more information.

Kellogg

There are currently no delayed start dates for any of Kellogg’s programs. Decision release dates are similarly unchanged. Day at Kellogg for newly admitted students will take place virtually instead of in person.

While Kellogg’s Round 3 deadline of April 8, 2020 still stands, it will accept applications on a rolling basis through June 1st. (Applicants who submitted by the Round 3 deadline will receive admission and scholarship decisions on May 13th.)

Updated April 14: Kellogg is waiving the GMAT/GRE/TOEFL/IELTS requirement for those applying to Round 3.

Those who were either waitlisted or denied in Rounds 1 or 2 will be able to submit an appeal to have their application reconsidered.  Kellogg will provide instructions on how to file the appeal “in the coming days.”

Check out Kellogg’s website and admissions blog for more information.

Michigan Ross

Ross is extending its Round 3 deadline. Soojin Kwon wrote: 

“The priority deadline will remain March 30, but we will accept applications until May 29. Applications received after the priority deadline will be evaluated on a rolling basis. International applicants are highly encouraged to apply by the priority deadline.”

Applicants taking advantage of the extended deadline are reminded that scholarship funds are still available.

Ross is accepting applicants without test scores, though scores must be received by the program before a final admission decision can be made.

Check out Michigan Ross’s website for more information.

MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan has added an Extended Round 3 Deadline and will accept applications until June 15, 2020 on a rolling basis.

Check out MIT Sloan’s website for more information.

NYU Stern

The March 15 deadline has been pushed to May 1st, 2020. International applicants should strive to apply sooner to allow time for visa arrangements.

Check out NYU Stern’s website for more information.

SMU Cox

SMU Cox is waiving the GMAT/GRE requirement for all graduate programs beginning May 2020 and August 2020. It’s also extending its deadline to August 2, 2020 .

Check out SMU Cox’s admissions blog for more information.

UC Berkeley Haas

Haas is opening a new Extended Deadline of May 4, 2020. Applicants for this deadline will receive decisions on June 4. 

Haas has also announced the launch of The Cal Advantage Program, which will enable UC Berkeley seniors and alumni of all undergraduate and graduate programs to apply to Haas for fall 2020 entry. Cal Advantage applicants will enjoy a shortened application process, featuring one essay, one recommendation and optional test scores. Applicants to this program must apply in May or June of 2020 (click here for more info).

Check out UC Berkeley Haas’s admissions blog for more information.

UCLA Anderson

UCLA Anderson extended its application deadline to June 1, 2020.

Check out UCLA Anderson’s website for more information.

UNC Kenan-Flagler

UNC Kenan-Flagler will delay start of its full-time MBA program to August 31, 2020. It has also extended the Round 4 deadline through July 13th. Decision will be made on a rolling basis. 

Check out Kenan-Flagler’s website for more information.

UVA Darden

Darden is transitioning to rolling admissions for the 2019-20 application cycle with a final deadline of July 15, 2020. The sooner you apply, the sooner you will receive Darden’s decision.

UVA Darden already accepted any graduate admissions exam including the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, and MCAT. In light of COVID19 and closed testing centers, it will evaluate your application with an ACT or SAT or country-specific university entrance exam.

It encourages you to apply even if you are missing one or two elements in your application. Darden will begin the evaluation process, but hold your application until all elements are submitted. 

Check out UVA Darden’s admissions blog for more information.

Wharton

Wharton extended the Round 3 and Advance Access application deadlines to:

– Round 3: April 15, 2020

– Advance Access: May 27, 2020

Round 3 and Advance Access applicants can submit applications without having sat for a standardized test. However, if you do have scores to report, please do so.

Check out Wharton’s website for more information.

Yale SOM

Giving Round 3 applicants an extra ten days to submit their test scores. So if you submit your application by SOM’s Round 3 April 14 deadline, you will have an additional 10 days to submit your GMAT/GRE scores (until April 24). You will receive an answer by May 19.

In addition, Yale SOM is adding a Round 3 Extended deadline of May 27, 2020. You will receive an answer in the second half of June.

Check out Yale SOM’s admissions blog for more information.

We’re going to do our best to keep the changing deadline information current. However, please do not rely on this post; confirm the deadlines yourself because the situation is so fluid.

In addition, if you find out a school has changed their deadlines and is not on the list, please let us know by emailing blog@accepted.com.

The consultants at Accepted are here and ready to help guide you! All of our experts are available to work remotely and business is in full swing in spite of the current global circumstances. Check out our services and let us help you get accepted!

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With 30 years of career/admissions experience at four universities, including Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Business and College of Engineering, Dr. Karin Ash has met with thousands of recruiters seeking to hire the best students from leading schools. She has served as a member of the admissions committee, ensuring that the applicants who ultimately enroll are a good fit for the program and prime candidates for employers. Karin has been a Consultant with Accepted for 8 years and has facilitated students’ entry into top engineering, data science, MBA, and other STEM graduate MEng, MS, and PhD programs. Her clients have been accepted into MIT, the University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, and USC. Want Karin to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Get Your Game On: Prepping For Your Grad School ApplicationGet Your Game On: Prepping for Your Grad School Application, a free guide
• How to Write Your Master’s in Engineering Statement of Purpose
• How This Student Got Accepted to MIT’s Engineering Program and Landed a Job at Apple, podcast Episode 460

Related resources:

• School-Specific MBA Application Essay Tips
• How Will Coronavirus Impact Testing? [GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, ACT, SAT, TOEFL]
• 7 Steps to MBA Acceptance in 2021, free webinar

The post MBA Deadline Updates: How Will COVID-19 Affect the MBA Application Process? appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The U.S. News 2023 ranking is now live! Click here to check it out >>

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U.S. News just released its 2021 ranking of full-time and part-time MBA programs. The rankings are based on expert opinions about the quality of each program and statistical indicators that calculate the quality of a program’s faculty, research, and students. The reputation surveys were sent to academics and professionals in fall 2019 and early 2020. This year, for the first time, the specialties of business analytics, real estate, and project management are ranked.

In order to rank each school. U.S. News assessed the data for each quality indicator and then standardized the value of each indicator about its mean. Each indicator has a weight assigned to it, which indicates U.S. News’ judgment about their relative importance, after consulting with experts in the field. 

<< Are you competitive at your dream school?
Check out the Selectivity Index to find out! >>

These final scores were rescaled to give the highest-scoring school a score of 100, with the other schools’ scores recalculated as a percentage of the top score. A school with a score of 100 did not necessarily receive the highest score on every indicator, it merely accrued the highest composite score.

Highlights of the 2021 MBA Ranking

• The biggest news of all is that Harvard Business School slipped down to sixth place this year from third in the 2019 full-time rankings. 
  
  
• Stanford University gained a position this year to tie the University of Pennsylvania for the top slot for full-time MBA programs. 
  
  
• Northwestern University jumped from a three-way tie for 6th place last year to a two-way tie this year at #3 with the University of Chicago. 
  
  
• New York University broke into the Top 10 this year, jumping from a three-way tie for #12 to the #10 spot. 
  
  
• Further down in the rankings, North Carolina State University leapt more than 30 spots, from a tie at #85 to #52 this year.
  
  
• Chicago Booth maintained the top position among part-time MBA programs. 
  
  
• Also in the part-time rankings, the University of Washington joined the Top 10 this year, rising from a two-way tie at #12 to #10 this year.  

2021 Top 10 full-time MBA programs

Rank	School	Location
1	Stanford University	Stanford, CA
1	UPenn Wharton	Philadelphia, PA
3	Northwestern Kellogg	Evanston, IL
3	Chicago Booth	Chicago, IL
5	MIT Sloan	Cambridge, MA
6	Harvard Business School	Boston, MA
7	UC Berkeley-Haas	Berkeley, CA
8	Columbia Business School	New York, NY
9	Yale SOM	New Haven, CT
10	New York University Stern	New York, NY

2021 Top 10 part-time MBA programs

Rank	School	Location
1	Chicago Booth	Chicago, IL
2	UC Berkeley-Haas	Berkeley, CA
3	Northwestern Kellogg	Evanston, IL
4	NYU Stern	New York, NY
5	UCLA Anderson	Los Angeles, CA
6	Michigan Ross	Ann Arbor, MI
7	UT McCombs	Austin, TX
8	Carnegie Mellon University Tepper	Pittsburgh, PA
9	Indiana Kelley	Bloomington, IN
10	Emory Goizueta	Atlanta, GA

Would you like to be a member of the class of 2022 in one of these top programs? Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting & Editing Services and work one-on-one with an expert consultant to create an application that will get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Competitive MBA Applicant, a free guide
• Business School Selectivity Index [Can I Get Into My Dream School?]
• Do MBA Rankings Matter?

The post U.S. News Announces 2021 Ranking of Best MBA Programs appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

[powerpress]

Is there a connection between an entrepreneur’s age and her degree of success? [Show Summary]

Are the best and most successful entrepreneurs’ twenty-somethings? As an entrepreneur, are you over the hill at 30, not to mention 40?  Let’s find out from today’s guest, a Kellogg professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, who has actually researched the correlation, or lack thereof, between age and entrepreneurial success.

I recently stumbled across an article entitled “It’s a Disservice to Urge Young People to Become Entrepreneurs” written by Jeffrey Tucker, Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. The title reveals the point of the article, and Dr. Tucker bases his conclusion at least partially on research done by our guest today, Dr. Benjamin Jones, along with two other colleagues.  Intrigued by the research, because it is both so relevant to many of our listeners and contrary to popular belief, I invited Dr. Jones to join us.

Dr. Benjamin Jones, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Northwester Kellogg, shares surprising advice for aspiring entrepreneurs [Show Notes]

Dr. Jones has a fascinating background. He earned his BSE in Aerospace Engineering at Princeton, his MPhil at Oxford, and his PhD in Economics at MIT.  He served as a Special Assistant to Larry Summers when Summers was at the U.S. Treasury Department. In 2003 he became an Assistant Professor at Kellogg School of Management, and in 2014 he was appointed the Gordon and Llura Gund Family Professor in Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategy at Kellogg. Along the way, there was a stint at the White House and various other appointments and publications. He has agreed to join us on AST however in connection with his recent research on Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship. Listen in!

I’m going to get to your research in a sec, but I have to ask: How did you go from aerospace engineering to philosophy to economics to entrepreneurship? [3:30]

Like many young people I was on a voyage of discovery of what I liked and what I was good at. I was very interested in engineering, economics and technology. In particular I was interested in sciences that speak to society directly. I get a lot of joy in the application.

What made you want to research the possible connection between age and fast-growth entrepreneurship? [4:28]

There is a really strong idea in our culture and media, with venture capital firms, that suggests very young people are the source of the truly transformative ideas in society. That is very anecdotal. Separately I was skeptical because I had done research looking at Nobel Prize winners and great inventors, and they have gotten older and older over the course of the 20^th century. Einstein was 26, Mark Zuckerberg was so young, but they are actually exceptions. In this century, individuals in their early 40s had Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs. I found that much of the work was coming in middle age.

There are three things that make people think younger people are more successful. First, that young people are not yet trapped in a particular way of thinking. Second, that they are cognitively sharper, or have more mathematical skill. Third is that young people typically don’t have a lot of other responsibilities, they have lots of energy and can focus. In reality, experience and wisdom is causing the difference.

How did you go about your research? [9:00]

I have wanted to ask this question for a long time. I wrote the paper about Nobel Prize winners as part of my PhD thesis in 2003. With Nobel Prize winners I did it by hand, but with entrepreneurship you want to look systematically. I had a fortuitous connection with people at the U.S. Census Bureau. For social scientists that is the telescope of economics. It is an opportunity to look at all the data. The Census Bureau has info on every established business, number of employees and sales. Only recently has it been possible to connect back into demographic info. With a team including Javier Miranda at the Census Bureau, Danny Kim, a former PhD student and now professor at Wharton, as well as Pierre Azoulay at MIT, we were able to answer this question that had been in our minds for quite some time.

Did you discover anything else besides the correlation between age and entrepreneurship? [11:02]

We aimed it squarely at the age question, but tried to find other relevant information. While I was skeptical the most successful entrepreneurs would be in their 20s, I thought it was going to be mid-30s so the fact it was 45 was surprising. One of the reasons it is 45 on average is that most people who try to start companies are in fact in middle age. In terms of those individuals with the highest growth companies, I like to use a baseball metaphor – they have many more at bats. So let’s try to control for that. Take everyone by age who tried to start a company, and what was your probability of a homerun given that you tried. It is not about peaking at 45, it is really a linear percentage of success, which says that people are getting better at this. There aren’t many 59-year-olds who start companies, but when they do, they do quite well. There is definitely a correlation with people who started businesses prior. For this data we can’t identify with much info about prior years, so we can’t see how many times individuals who are now successful started a business and how they did previously beyond just a few years back. We do see work histories of all these founders and census codes up every sector of the economy. What we do see is that if you start a company in exactly the same narrow industry code, your success rate goes up by 2.5 times.

What is your favorite piece of advice for college students (or older adults) who have a great idea for a business? [18:53]

My first question would be “Why do you think it is a great idea?”And then I’d want to hear what the problem is. Why is it a problem? How have they confirmed it is a problem, which is the key ingredient, and how do they plan to solve it? Then it is a question of capabilities. Do you have the capabilities to execute on the problem? If the answer is no, you have to find collaborators and a team with the requisite knowledge. There are a lot of 20-something people with great ideas, but with a limited skill set, and they need to decide if they should wait or collaborate, fill in skill gaps, and build an effective organization to take the idea forward.

What if a 25-year-old has a great idea for a business, but knows that the opportunity will be gone if they wait until they’re 40 or 45? Or feel that they are now unencumbered by children and family so that they are better positioned for the risks of starting a business? What would you say to them? [21:21]

People should be careful not to think that just because they have an idea, they are the only one. People tend to race at the same idea. There were plenty of social media companies, but Facebook ultimately won. There were a lot of companies doing search, and then Google eventually had the right algorithm. How do you outexecute the competition? With deep tech there is patenting, which is one way, but you have to do some soul-searching:  “This is a good idea but I won’t win,” or, “I am going to execute it well through collaboration.” If you ask others for support, you may hear people tell you it’s not a good idea. You need to take the negative advice carefully. “I won’t buy that” is not a killer if you hear it from one person, but you do need to find at least some people who think it’s a great idea to move forward with it.

What qualities (other than maturity) contribute to creating successful entrepreneurs? [23:47]

Grit, first and foremost. I have yet to meet a successful entrepreneur who said it was easy. Every company is a struggle. You have good days but definitely bad days as well, wondering why you are doing this. You have to be able to work through failure and have the toughness and ability to bounce back from a setback. Support networks are very important, too. Mentors, family, and friends can give you support and advice as you work through the tough stuff.

Some people, among them Andy Kessler in the WSJ, argue that the MBA isn’t worth it. Others say that one is better off acquiring business skills less expensively and investing $200K on an entrepreneurial venture and learning from the experience, whether success or failure, rather than on MBA tuition. How would you respond to that argument? [25:31]

If you think the idea is really going to work, you feel confident in your abilities, and it won’t last in the marketplace for long, maybe go for it. If you think you are going to fail at something and that is a better life lesson, so be it, but an MBA gives you the equivalent of 10 years of experience in a lot less time. You will fill in your gaps, get out of your silo, and learn a lot about successes and failures that you don’t have to experience yourself. You also can build networks that will be valuable to you.

<< Listen: Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree? >>

The return on professional education in the U.S. has never been higher historically. There is a reason a lot of skills are developed through these programs. You have a huge wage boost. It’s not the same answer for everybody – failure is a good teacher, but an MBA is a great teacher as well. 

What do you think of the “Fail fast and fail often” mantra? [27:47]

Fine, but don’t fail exclusively.

Seriously, though, failing fast is a good idea. If you are not finding a customer, pivot. If you can’t find anything narrow in the space, shut down and redeploy. Knowing how and when to abandon is important. It’s another form of psychological toughness. Deploy grit in a better direction. With self-reflection and honesty, allow yourself to move on to a new venture.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [30:07]

Another aspect is the broader social stakes. It is very clear that social returns of innovation are often much greater than private returns for the individual. Economists think that failure to innovate enough is the main market failure in the economy. We want to encourage this activity to help people make innovative choices in the right place and in the right direction to help society in total.

Related links:

• Dr. Benjamin Jones’ Bio
• 7 Steps to MBA Acceptance in 2021
• Kellogg MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines
• “It’s a Disservice to Urge Young People To Become Entrepreneurs”
• Accepted MBA Admissions Services

Related shows:

• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?
• Get a Kellogg MBA: An Interview with Dean of Admissions Kate Smith
• Entrepreneurship at HBS: How Stride will Help You Fund Your Future
• A Bain Consultant-Turned Wharton MBA Starts Her Own Business

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The post Are the Most Successful Entrepreneurs in Their Twenties? [Episode 352] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Harvard Business School has taken the top spot away from Stanford Graduate School of Business in the Financial Times 2020 global MBA ranking. 

Although the Financial Times ranking is designed to favor non-U.S. programs, 15 of the top 25 MBA programs are based in the U.S. This result comes despite the decline in applications to U.S. MBA programs – now in its sixth straight year.

The 2020 top 5 schools have not changed since last year, although their rankings have. Following Harvard are: #2 – University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (up 2 spots); #3 – Stanford Graduate School of Business (down 2 spots); #4 – INSEAD (down 1 spot); and #5 CEIBs in Shanghai, China (unchanged). 

Volatile rankings

Financial Times global ranking methodology is based on 20 different metrics, including some that are inclined to favor non-U.S. schools. Some metrics that add to a school’s position include the percentage of students, faculty, and trustees who possess passports from a country where the school is not located, whether students and alumni worked in foreign countries, whether students had international class experience, and whether the school has a requirement to learn an additional language before graduation. 

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A new metric was added this year – Corporate Social Responsibility. This metric has a weight of 3%, and is based on the percentage of teaching hours from core courses devoted to CSR, ethics, social, and environmental issues.  

The FT’s most heavily weighted metric is salary data (40%). its use of “purchasing power parity”, or PPP  favor schools whose grads go to work in countries with lower cost of living. This hurts U.S. schools since most grads of U.S. MBA programs want to live and work in the U.S. 

The ranking does not take incoming student quality into account. GMAT and GRE scores, as well as undergraduate GPA’s, are ignored. 

<< Watch: Linda Abraham and Marco De Novellis of BusinessBecause discuss the value of MBA rankings >>

FT’s ranking is known to be volatile, which reduces its credibility because there are few year-to-year changes at schools that explain big changes in the rankings. This means that there were big winners and big losers again this year. 

Twenty-seven of the 91 returning b-schools had double-digit increases or decreases in their standings. Fully half of the MBA programs ranked by FT five years ago (39 of 78) have felt double-digit changes, and 23 of those changes have been adjustments in 20 or more spots.

Top 25 International MBA Programs

2020 Rank	School	2019 Rank	Y-O-Y Change
1	Harvard	2	+1
2	UPenn Wharton	4	+2
3	Stanford GSB	1	-2
4	INSEAD	3	-1
5	CEIBS	5	---
6	MIT Sloan	8	+2
7	London	6	-1
8	Columbia	9	+1
9	HEC Paris	19	+10
10	Chicago Booth	7	-3
11	Northwestern Kellogg	14	+3
12	UC-Berkeley Haas	10	-2
13	IESE	12	-1
14	Yale SOM	11	-3
15	Nat’l Univ. of Singapore	17	+2
16	Dartmouth Tuck	15	-1
17	Duke Fuqua	19	+3
18	Virginia Darden	23	+5
19	Cambridge Judge	16	-3
19	Hong Kong UST	18	-1
21	Oxford Said	13	-8
22	New York Stern	25	+3
23	Cornell Johnson	27	+4
24	ESADE	21	-3
25	IMD	22	-3
25	UCLA Anderson	26	+1

Do you see yourself in one of these top international programs? Find out how working one-on-one with one of our Admissions Consultants can help get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Application Maze: 9 Tips to Acceptance, a free guide
• Top MBA Programs Get STEM-Certified to Attract Int’l Students
• B-School Selectivity Index: Discover the Schools Where You are a Competitive Applicant

The post Financial Times Ranks Harvard as #1 in 2020 Global MBA Ranking appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Poets & Quants just released its 2019-2020 rankings of the top 100 U.S. MBA programs.

There were some minor changes in the top 10  – most prominently is Stanford GSB climbing two spots, passing Harvard Business School and UPenn Wharton, to claim the #1 position. It’s the second time in 10 years that Stanford has claimed the top slot.  

Other highlights include:

• Yale School of Management just barely broke into the top 10 by securing 10th place. 
• Purdue’s Krannert School of Management dropped 10 spots from last year, from 38th to 48th.
• Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business jumped 12 spots from 62nd place last year to 50th.
• UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management experienced a massive jump, from 94th to 71st place.

P&Q ranking methodology

P&Q’s rankings are based on the rankings of five highly-influential business publications, and are weighted based on P&Q’s assessment of each ranking’s methodology and credibility. The five included in P&Q’s ranking are U.S. News (weight of 35%), Forbes (25%), The Financial Times (15%), Businessweek (15%), and The Economist (10%). Combining the rankings in this way lessens the irregularities that are frequently seen in a given year. This allows applicants to get a better idea of a school’s overall reputation, which typically changes little from year to year.

Top 25 U.S. MBA Programs

2019 Rank	School Name	2018 Rank	Index
1	Stanford GSB	3	100.0
2	Chicago Booth	4	99.6
3	Harvard Business School	1	99.2
4	UPenn Wharton	1	98.8
5	Northwestern Kellogg	5	96.2
6	Dartmouth Tuck	9	96.1
7	MIT Sloan	6	96.0
8	Columbia Business School	7	94.8
9	UC-Berkeley Haas	8	94.4
10	Yale SOM	11	91.1
11	Virginia Darden	12	90.8
12	Michigan Ross	10	89.7
13	Cornell Johnson	13	89.6
14	Duke Fuqua	14	89.5
15	UCLA Anderson	15	88.1
16	New York Stern	16	87.6
17	Carnegie Mellon Tepper	17	84.5
18	Texas-Austin McCombs	18	82.8
19	Southern California Marshall	22	82.5
20	North Carolina Kenan-Flagler	19	82.5
21	Washington Foster	21	81.0
22	Emory Goizueta	20	80.6
23	Indiana Kelley	25	80.1
24	Georgetown McDonough	23	76.9
25	Rice Jones	24	74.6

Watch: Linda Abraham and Marco de Novellis discuss MBA rankings

Do you want to be a member of a top-tier MBA program? Explore our MBA Admissions Consulting Services and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you GET ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Competitive MBA Applicant, a free guide
• Business School Selectivity Index [Can I Get Into My Dream School?]
• Highlights of Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2019 MBA Rankings

The post Poets & Quants Announces 2019-2020 MBA Rankings appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.