Bloomberg Business has revealed its 2015 ranking of full-time MBA programs.
For upwards of $100,000 and two years of study, MBAs hope to gain entry into vast networks of alumni, premier internships and — most importantly — fulfilling, well-paying jobs. According to Bloomberg Business, more people earn graduate degrees in business than any other field in the U.S., and dozens of new business schools are accredited each year.
The best MBA programs in the U.S. are listed below according to their rank by Bloomberg Business, which compiled data from more than 13,150 current students, 18,540 alumni and 1,460 recruiters across 177 business school programs.
Bloomberg weighted results from employer surveys (35 percent), alumni surveys (30 percent), student surveys (15 percent), job placement rates (10 percent) and starting salaries (10 percent) to come up with rankings.
1. Harvard Business School (Boston) — Ranking index score: 100
2. Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago — 98.47
3. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) — 98.24
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management (Cambridge) — 96.05
5. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) — 95.92
6. Columbia Business School (New York) — 95.61
7. Stanford (Calif.) Graduate School of Business — 94.66
8. Fuqua School of Business at Duke (Durham, N.C.) — 94.07
9. Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley— 91.83
10. University of Michigan's Ross School of Business (Ann Arbor) — 91.74
11. Yale School of Management (New Haven, Conn.) — 88.07
12. University of Virginia Darden School of Business (Charlottesville) — 87.8
13. UCLA Anderson School of Management —87.28
14. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth (Hanover, N.H.) — 85.96
15. Emory University Goizueta Business School (Atlanta, Ga.) — 82.24
16. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell (Ithaca, N.Y.) — 82.07
17. University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School (Chapel Hill, N.C.) — 81.82
18. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh) — 80.48
19. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University (Houston) — 80.31
20. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington (Seattle) — 79.74
21. McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas (Austin) — 79.68
22. Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University (College Station) — 79.56
23. Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) — 76.78
24. NYU Stern School of Business (New York) — 76.06
25. USC Marshall School of Business (Los Angeles) — 75.38
26. McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) — 75.27
27. Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management (Provo, Utah) — 74.17
28. Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (Bloomington) — 72.06
29. Jenkins Graduate School of Management at North Carolina State (Raleigh) — 71.67
30. Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State (East Lansing) — 71.41
31. Mendoza College of Business at University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.) — 71.05
32. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University (Dallas) — 70.67
33. Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland (College Park) — 69.74
34. Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt (Nashville) — 69.08
35. Olin Business School at Washington University (St. Louis) — 67.54
36. Simon Business School at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) — 65.16
37. Mason School of Business at The College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Va.) — 65.16
38. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth) — 64.81
39. Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University (Columbus) — 63.65
40. George Washington University School of Business (Washington, D.C.) — 63.01
41. Hugh Graduate School of Business at the University of Florida (Gainesville) — 62.29
42. Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas (Dallas) — 61.82
43. Smeal College of Business at Penn State University (University Park) — 60.4
44. Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh — 60.27
45. University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management (Minneapolis) — 60.24
46. Wisconsin MBA at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) — 60.08
47. University of Miami School of Business Administration (Coral Gables, Fla.) — 58.87
48. Questrom School of Business at Boston University — 57.87
49. W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (Tempe) — 56.53
50. Howard University School of Business (Washington, D.C.) — 55.81
Bloomberg revised the way it ranks schools this year. For the first time, it surveyed MBAs after graduation for more insight into what graduates can expect in their future careers. Standout findings — such as broad differences in pay between male and female MBAs — from those surveys are detailed in a separate report. Older elements of the ranking system, such as a tally of faculty research, have been thrown out because they don't answer the question: "How well does this business school channel its graduates into good jobs?"
For more information on Bloomberg's ranking methodology, click here.