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January 28, 2013

Adam's Global Top MBA Rankings 2013

As I have been doing since 2008, I wanted to provide my Global Top 100 MBA Rankings for 2013.  The rankings below should hopefully be of value for both those engaged in initial school application selection and for admitted applicants who have been accepted to multiple programs and need to determine where to go.  Programs are ranked in many ways, so certainly look at other rankings lists. There is no one objective measure of an MBA programs’ value and no ranking that can account for an individual student’s positive or negative return on their investment of time and money for a graduate business education.


"Methodology": All FT “Global MBA Rankings 2013” Data was ranked in order of " Weighted Salary ($)." No other methods were employed. I have included the FT 2013 rankings as well.

Justification #1: Whatever they pay you when you graduate is the market value of your degree, all other factors are mere conjecture.

Justification #2: One may very well value an MBA beyond mere salary calculations, but salary will certainly be a factor for almost everyone.

Justification #3: Since each school reports its own data, assuming that data is good, the ranking is based on objective criteria that all programs have in common. (Note: This a big assumption because it is based on the belief that schools are not manipulating their data).

Disclaimer #1: I could use some other accumulation of salaries for this same purpose, but FT’s list is global, so I decided to use it. If your school is not included on this list of the top 100, please don't be offended. If FT ranked more programs, so would I.

Disclaimer #2: Actual market value will very much depend on your situation. The numbers below are only averages.

Disclaimer #3: Salary is but one measure of ROI. This survey does not account for relative increase in salary, opportunity costs, or other less tangible, but important factors.

Disclaimer #4: These rankings in no way measure the value of the educational experience at any of these programs, merely the reported average weighted post-MBA salary outcome.

School Selection Strategy for Those Admitted to Multiple Programs: Go to the highest salary ranked program if you want to obtain the most market value.


School Application Selection Strategy Based on Salary Approach: Simply compare salaries to rates of admission which are available for all US programs listed in BusinessWeek and US News and World Report and for some non-US programs.
1. Apply to the highest ranked programs you think you can get it into.
2. Find bargains: Schools with a high salary and a high rate of admission.
3. Avoid application to schools with a relatively low admissions rates and lower salaries.
4. Caveat emptor. Don’t assume schools are necessarily reporting data with 100% accuracy.


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

One advantage of a salary-based list of programs worldwide is that it helps to see the rising global market value of MBA programs. It also means that those of us who help applicants considering worldwide application, start to pay more attention to such national leaders and not just to dominant US and European programs.
For those with a US MBA bias, this ranking should be humbling because so many of what are usually ranked quite highly in the US, don’t, at least at the weighted salary level, look as attractive as rankings might suggest.
From a school selection perspective, I think looking at the stark reality of the expected financial outcome is critical. Looking at this solely helps to put the outcome into focus. “The 100″ is only one possible way of doing this.
I am well aware that applicants don’t simply make selection choices on the basis of salary, but I think evaluating programs on this basis is one important consideration.
Finally, I would like to thank “my team” at FT for doing all of the hard work. They have this nifty way of generating excel documents that really reduced my work by hours.

The Top 100 Global MBA Programs
Adam’s Ranking School name Country Weighted salary (US$) FT Rank in 2013
1 Stanford Graduate School of Business US 194645 2
2 Harvard Business School US 187223 1
3 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton US 180772 3
4 Columbia Business School US 174347 5
5 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad India 171188 26
6 University of Chicago: Booth US 162363 10
7 Northwestern University: Kellogg US 161269 13
8 London Business School UK 160988 4
9 MIT: Sloan US 160414 9
10 Yale School of Management US 159370 14
11 IE Business School Spain 157054 11
12 Dartmouth College: Tuck US 156765 16
13 INSEAD France / Singapore 153992 6
14 University of California at Berkeley: Haas US 151952 12
15 Cornell University: Johnson US 147799 24
16 IMD Switzerland 147380 19
16 UCLA: Anderson US 147125 23
18 IESE Business School Spain 146049 7
19 University of Cambridge: Judge UK 145169 16
19 Duke University: Fuqua US 145147 18
21 New York University: Stern US 144586 19
22 University of Virginia: Darden US 142657 35
23 University of Michigan: Ross US 140195 30
24 University of Cape Town GSB South Africa 137361 74
24 University of Oxford: Saïd UK 136609 24
26 Hong Kong UST Business School China 132685 8
27 The Lisbon MBA Portugal 132606 61
28 CEIBS China 131362 15
29 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper US 131294 43
30 Georgetown University: McDonough US 130676 40
31 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs US 128711 46
32 Cranfield School of Management UK 127911 38
33 Esade Business School Spain 126699 22
34 Emory University: Goizueta US 124918 49
35 Korea University Business School South Korea 124419 86
36 HEC Paris France 123571 21
37 Indian School of Business India 123470 34
38 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler US 123004 45
39 Rice University: Jones US 122832 37
40 University of Southern California: Marshall US 120251 82
40 Warwick Business School UK 120111 28
42 Vanderbilt University: Owen US 119178 53
43 Australian School of Business (AGSM) Australia 118050 48
44 City University: Cass UK 117195 40
45 Babson College: Olin US 116212 80
46 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign US 115493 44
46 Manchester Business School UK 114769 29
48 University of Rochester: Simon US 114312 59
49 University of Hong Kong China 114119 31
50 Indiana University: Kelley US 112932 54
51 SDA Bocconi Italy 112673 39
52 University of Maryland: Smith US 112552 50
53 Hult International Business School US / UK / UAE / China 112520 57
54 Georgia Institute of Technology: Scheller US 111683 59
54 Pennsylvania State University: Smeal US 111359 77
54 Boston College: Carroll US 111051 93
57 Texas A & M University: Mays US 110765 69
57 University College Dublin: Smurfit Ireland 110099 64
59 Wisconsin School of Business US 109878 91
59 Tulane University: Freeman US 109334 81
61 Washington University: Olin US 109119 54
62 University of Washington: Foster US 108899 78
62 University of Strathclyde Business School UK 108601 87
64 Boston University School of Management US 108474 95
64 University of California at Irvine: Merage US 107582 54
66 Michigan State University: Broad US 107453 62
66 SMU: Cox US 107264 98
68 Imperial College Business School UK 107032 42
69 Melbourne Business School Australia 106887 62
69 Sungkyunkwan University SKK GSB South Korea 106864 51
71 Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Netherlands 105546 33
72 University of Iowa: Tippie US 105063 74
72 Purdue University: Krannert US 104362 68
74 CUHK Business School China 103423 27
74 University of Western Ontario: Ivey Canada 103112 78
76 Ohio State University: Fisher US 103064 72
77 College of William and Mary: Mason US 102842 97
78 Nanyang Business School Singapore 102683 32
78 University of St Gallen Switzerland 100814 82
80 George Washington University US 100600 84
81 University of Bath School of Management UK 99916 72
82 Arizona State University: Carey US 99796 87
82 Case Western Reserve University: Weatherhead US 99343 94
84 University of California, San Diego: Rady US 98556 95
84 Mannheim Business School Germany 98262 69
86 University of Toronto: Rotman Canada 97652 46
87 Coppead Brazil 96621 66
87 Lancaster University Management School UK 96080 71
89 Vlerick Business School Belgium 94829 84
90 EMLyon Business School France 94394 92
91 National University of Singapore Business School Singapore 94340 36
92 Tilburg University, TiasNimbas Netherlands 93859 64
93 York University: Schulich Canada 93207 52
94 University of South Carolina: Moore US 91878 99
95 University of British Columbia: Sauder Canada 90833 57
95 McGill University: Desautels Canada 90440 76
97 University of Alberta Canada 86666 100
98 Incae Business School Costa Rica 86060 90
99 Fudan University School of Management China 80154 89
100 Peking University: Guanghua China 77044 66


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