The Business Week Full-time MBA rankings are finally out. The rankings are based on a comprehensive evaluation of 236 FT MBA programs. The top 10 in 2012 looks very similar to that of 2011. There are just two new entrants, Cornell and Darden MBA. While Darden was already on the verge of the top ten lists last year (was ranked #11), Johnson has been the biggest mover, jumping six places to #7.
Columbia and Haas MBA were knocked out of the top ten ranking this year. They are now ranked at 13th and 14th position respectively. While the Stanford Full-time MBA program has moved up to 4th. The top three (Booth, Harvard and Wharton) have held their positions for the third consecutive year. Among the three, Harvard has the highest average salary of $138,164 for the Financial Services Sector, an average that grew to $200,000, 10 to 20 years after graduating.
Evaluate the Summary of the Top 10 Full-time MBA Rankings below or you can visit BW for details.
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.