The best business schools don’t just do one thing well. They’re committed to top-to-bottom excellence in every dimension: programming, experience, support, and satisfaction. That cohesion – and the strategy and execution behind it – trickles into every corner of a program. All the right people buy in. Call it a virtuous cycle: Respected leaders hire A-level talent and admit high potentials – with the latter joining top firms and opening doors for those who follow.
MBA Rankings are designed to condense data until it fits into one neatly-packaged number. The Princeton Review takes a different approach. Rather than bundling data, The Princeton Review breaks it apart so readers know specifically where their target schools shine. The ranking consists of 18 categories, such as the quality of the faculty or consulting programming. Rather than a final index score tethered to questionable weights, The Princeton Review simply shares the Top 10 performers across each category. In the process, readers can identify the programs providing the highest student and alumni satisfaction in the areas that matter most to them. Call it the ranking that lets readers think for themselves, an imperfect instrument that respects its audience and possesses the courage to be different.
The result? Like most rankings, the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management cemented their M7 credentials by regularly ranking among the best across-the-board. Like previous Princeton Review rankings, there were several upstarts – including Virginia Darden, Michigan Ross, and Vanderbilt Owen – whose rankings position them as undervalued assets that deserve a deeper look.
THE METHODOLOGY
“Since we debuted our b-school rankings in 2004 in multiple categories as opposed to a single list, our goal has been to help b-school bound students identify the MBA program best for them,” wrote Rob Franek, The Princeton Review‘s Editor-in-Chief, in a press release “The schools that made our list for 2024 all have impressive individual distinctions. What they share are three characteristics that broadly informed our criteria for these rankings: outstanding academics, robust experiential learning components, and excellent career services. Equally impressive to us—and probably to prospective applicants—is that every one of our best b-schools for 2024 garnered highly favorable ratings among its MBA students we surveyed.”
Unveiled on July 16th, the 2024 Princeton Review MBA ranking is a better late than never proposition. After all, the 2023 ranking was released in February 2023, a near 18-month gap between rankings. To compile the student portion of the 2024 ranking, The Princeton Review surveyed over 21,500 on-campus respondents from 244 graduate business schools who’d been enrolled in their program within the past three years. As part of the student survey, respondents rated areas ranging from faculty to campus life. In addition, The Princeton Review submitted surveys to school administrators to compile data on “academics, selectivity, faculty, technical platforms, career services, and other topics.”
Overall, The Princeton Review compiled 60 data points to produce rankings across its 18 categories, which contain a mix of student-only, administrator-only, and combined student-and-administrator data. Instead of supplying actual school scores, however, The Princeton Review simply ranks the Top 10 in each category. This makes it impossible to know the gaps between ranked programs or even where unranked programs finished compared to their peer schools.
YALE AND NYU REPEAT WHILE KELLOGG DISRUPTS
The Princeton Review’s programming ranking may be its most valuable measure. Think of it as a mix of school data like placement and starting pay and student assessments “of how well their school is preparing them for a career in a particular field.” In this area, The Princeton Review covers seven different industries:
Consulting
Finance
Management
Marketing
Operations
Non-Profit
Human Resources
Not surprisingly, a different school tops each of the seven lists. Yale SOM repeated as the top program for Consulting, with Michigan Ross dislodging Virginia Darden as the #2 MBA program in the field (and Northwestern Kellogg moving from being unranked to 4th). NYU Stern again snapped up the #1 spot in Finance, besting Columbia Business School and Virginia Darden (while UNC Kenan-Flagler and Rice Jones clung to the 4th and 5th spots). Northwestern Kellogg disrupted the Management category, claiming the top spot from Stanford GSB (which dropped to 4th). Like Consulting and Finance, a newbie – UC Berkeley Haas – checked into the #4 spot in Management.
While Kellogg has traditionally been dubbed the “Marketing School,” it actually finished 6th in this measure. In fact, Stanford GSB is the only program to stick in Marketing’s Top 5 – and it fell from 1st to 5th. Washington Foster took its place at #1, followed by under-the-radar programs like Indiana Kelley, Wisconsin Business School, and UCLA Anderson. On top of that, last year’s #2 in Marketing – Dartmouth Tuck – actually dropped out of the Top 10.
Kellogg MBA Students
WHAT SETS KELLOGG AND OWEN APART
In a head-scratcher, Purdue Krannert ranked as the top school for Operations – even though it no longer offers a full-time MBA program. The same can be said for Penn State Smeal, which placed 3rd. After being the runner-up to Stanford GSB in the Non-Profit space last year, Bard College seized the top spot, while Pepperdine Graziadio climbed from 5th to 2nd. BYU Marriott joined Bard in moving from #2 to #1 – this time in Human Resources.
Among the various academic program rankings, three programs ranked among the Top 10 in four categories: Stanford GSB, Northwestern Kellogg, and Vanderbilt Owen. Alas, Stanford GSB lost the #1 spot in three categories this year. At the same time, Duke Fuqua and Virginia Darden ranked among the ten-best in three categories.
Historically, Kellogg has been associated with teamwork more than management. In fact, the school notes that MBAs will likely participate in 200 team meetings during their time in Evanston. In Kellogg’s worldview, service and collaboration are cornerstones for being an effective manager. The school has branded itself as “Low ego, high impact” leadership – an approach grounded in reflection and self-awareness that fosters dialogue and trust.
“The school’s focus is on developing a leader who can navigate an environment of change, and a leader who has been shaped by and embodies the essential quality of creativity and collaboration, explains Emily Haydon, Kellogg’s Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, in a 2023 interview with P&Q. “With this focus and shared culture, we produce leaders who leverage this empathic mindset to drive relationships and performance both professionally and personally.”
In contrast, you could say Vanderbilt Owen’s programming success has been a by-product of its personalized approach, where each student receives intensive support to achieve their career growth plan.
“Having every resource for success is crucial – world class faculty and dynamic classrooms, life-changing career opportunities, immersive experiences and surroundings, and faculty, staff and peers that care about your success,” says Bailey McChesney, Director of MBA Admissions at Owen, in a 2024 interview with P&Q. “The Vanderbilt MBA program has all of those things, but what differentiates us is that our small size, extremely close-knit community and incredible setting in Nashville, Tennessee mean that all of those resources are readily accessible and the people behind them all know your name. Within a one-minute walk in our building, a student could see their Leadership Coach, Career Coach, Academic Advisor and professors, and will walk by dozens of their classmates gathering together. Our community cares deeply about not only the outcomes students achieve, but their experience and growth in the program, and success well beyond business school.”
Vanderbilt Owen students taking notes in a marketing class
WHY DARDEN FACULTY RANK #1
The rankings also feature seven categories based exclusively on student survey results. They include the following areas:
Best Classroom Experience: “Professors’ teaching abilities, the integration of new business trends and practices in the curricula, the intellectual level of their classmates’ contributions in course discussions, and whether the business school is meeting their academic expectations.”
Best Professors: “How good their professors are as teachers and how accessible they are outside the classroom.”
Most Competitive Students: “How competitive their classmates are, how heavy the workload is, and the perceived academic pressure.”
Most Family Friendly: “How happy married students are, how many students have children, how helpful the school is to students with children, and how much the school does for spouses of students.”
Best Campus Environment: “How happy students are and how they rate the town the school is located in and the campus community, the availability of school activities, and level of participation from fellow students.”
Best Administered: “How smoothly the school is run, and the ease with which students can get into required and popular courses.”
Most Green MBA: “How well their school is preparing them in environmental/sustainability and social responsibility issues, and for a career in a green job market.”
Next Page: Links to 18 business school rankings from The Princeton Review.
UVA Darden cherry blossoms
In terms of Classroom Experience, Stanford GSB repeated as the highest scorer. Georgia Tech Scheller moved up a spot to 2nd, as Northwestern Kellogg made its Top 10 debut at #3. While Virginia Darden slipped from 2nd to 4th in Classroom Experience, it rose from 4th to 1st in the Best Professors category – all while last year’s top performer, Michigan Ross, tumbled three spots to 4th. Call Darden’s ascension in Best Professors a return to normal. After all, Darden is the destination for faculty who want their teaching to be valued and rewarded. Here, students digest over 500 business cases to hone their problem-solving and decision-making skills. Think of a Darden classroom as the c-suite. After synthesizing a trove of often-conflicting information, Darden MBAs must defend – and often adapt – their positions on the issue at hand. All the while, the professor acts as both guide and devil’s advocate.
“Darden’s professors are a different breed,” writes first-year Jade Kimpson. “They really live and breathe what they do. They want us to learn and succeed. I signed up to learn from the passionate ones, and Darden delivered. Learning from people who love what they do? That’s what it’s all about.”
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE IN ITHACA
Virginia Darden also notched the highest score for its Campus Environment. On Darden’s Charlottesville campus, you’ll find wide courtyards punctuated by neo-classical red brick and columned architecture – with the Smoky Mountains serving as a backdrop. While Cornell Johnson slipped from 1st to 3rd in Campus Environment, the school rallied to rank 1st in both Family Friendliness and Administration. When it comes to the former, it is hard to top Ithaca, centerpiece of the Finger Lakes region. The ultimate college town, Ithaca’s downtown is packed with farmer’s markets, wine tastings, and art exhibits. Plus, MBAs can enjoy the best of a four seasons experience: hiking, biking, swimming, golfing, skiing, ice skating, snowmobiling – you name it!
“It’s the perfect size and place to be for a two-year MBA program specifically,” says ’23 alum Veronique Falkovich. “It’s small enough that you are always surrounded by your fellow students and will constantly run into people you know. At the same time, it’s large enough that there are places to get away and enjoy nature or a quiet space. It’s a town that encourages being involved in your MBA community while still giving you space to be yourself.”
Northwestern Kellogg continued its patten of making splashy debuts in 2024, joining the proceedings by ranking 2nd for Family Friendliness, 7th for Administration, and 8th for Campus Environment. After ranking as the top program for Administration over the past two years, Michigan Ross tumbled out of The Princeton Review’s Top 10 entirely – a red flag for a dean who just joined the program in 2022. A major surprise: Iowa State’s Ivy College broke into the Administration Top 10 at #3. Here’s another surprise: While top-tier MBA programs are sometimes depicted as cutthroat, the most competitive school, according to students surveyed, were often found outside this realm: Drexel LeBow. Similarly, the best program for integrating ESG principles – or the “Greenest” schools – also hailed from outside the beaten path. In this category, Bard College earned the highest marks from students and alumni surveyed (though Yale SOM and Cornell Johnson both cracked the Top 10).
Incoming NYU Stern two-year Full-time MBA students in the Tisch Hall Lobby ahead of LAUNCH, Stern’s MBA orientation.
THE EQ DIFFERENCE
Looking for the best school for women and minority students? NYU Stern was the only program to rank among the Top 10 in both categories, finishing 3rd (Women) and 6th (Minorities). Among women, Washington Foster repeated as the best school for women. Northwestern Kellogg, unranked in this category last year, claimed the #2 spot. Similarly, Howard University again held the #1 spot for Resources for Minorities. Despite this, Howard tumbled out of the Top 10 in Resources for Women after placing 3rd in this category last year. In both cases, the ranking was based on a mix of student and faculty population data and surveys directed to students covering everything from school resources to culture.
Traditionally, Stanford GSB accepts roughly 6%-8% of applications – or roughly a fourth of the combined rate of the Top 10 MBA programs. True to form, Stanford GSB ranks atop The Princeton Review’s list of the schools with the toughest admissions. Along the way, Stanford beat out Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan, where the acceptance rates were 13.2% and 17.8% respectively in 2023. Toughest Admissions is also the only category that relies exclusively on school-supplied data.
The final category, Career Prospects, combines hard school data and soft student responses. The former encompasses starting salaries and placement rates within three months of graduation. The latter adds survey data covering alumni, recruiting, internships and mentoring. In this measure, Stanford GSB knocked NYU Stern off its perch, with the latter sliding to 2nd. In a surprise, Georgia Tech’s Scheller debuted at #3, while Dartmouth Tuck and Northwestern Kellogg retained their 4th and 5th spots.
“EQ is core to Stern’s values; we screen for it, we stress it in our admissions process. I can confirm that when I speak with employers (recruiters and hiring managers) and ask about what they see from our students that is different, this is 100% what they say – Stern MBAs are team-oriented, cooperative, fun to be around, different and unique, and possess high EQ. At the same time, Stern MBAs bring strong tech and quantitative skills to the table. Data analytics is part of Stern’s core curriculum and is built into so many classes throughout the MBA experience. In today’s global, tech-driven environment, it’s a cost of entry requirement for doing business.”
18 RANKINGS MEAN 180 STORIES
Beyond The Princeton Review ranking, there are also business school ratings. Embedded inside the site’s school profiles, three of the ratings – Academic Experience, Professors Interesting, and Professors Accessible – are based on a 60-99 student scoring scale where 99 is the ceiling. A fourth rating, focused on careers, is driven by hard data that incudes starting pay, three-month placement and student survey responses centered around quality of recruiting companies, career services, career preparation, campus projects, internships, and mentorships (using the same 60-99).
While invaluable in theory, the ratings could use further refinement in practice. After all, from reviewing six programs – Stanford GSB, Duke Fuqua, Emory Goizueta, Rochester Simon, Texas Tech Rawls, and Oregon Lundquist – a pattern emerged. All but one score ran between 91-99 (with the lowest score being 89). In other words, the ratings fall prey to the Lake Wobegon Effect. With respondents scoring their institutions high, they reduce the differences between schools to a nominal level.
Wondering where your target schools achieve the highest rankings? Click on the links below to see which schools achieved the highest satisfaction rates from students and alumni in 18 categories.
MBA students outside class at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Photo Credit: Elena Zhukova
Next Page: School Culture
Cornell MBAs with the Big Red Bear
Next Page: Careers and Admissions
Georgia Tech Scheller Full-time and Evening MBA students traveled to the Nordics for their International Practicum to work with their clients in the international start-up community.
Next Page: Resources
Foster MBAs hoisting the Challenge For Charity Golden Briefcase
Next Page: Curriculum
Fox Center at The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, NC o(Alex Boerner)
Next Page: Top 10 Finishes
Financial Times 2023 MBA ranking
The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
