The Economist ranking 2012-13 for Full-time MBA Program has been released. The return of Chicago Booth as the best Full-time MBA program has been the biggest surprise. Booth MBA is known for its Quant focus but to top the Economist Full-time MBA program, you need more than one strong point. The Four Business School ranking evaluation factors include: open new career opportunities (35%); personal development/educational experience (35%); increasing salary (20%); and the potential to network (10%).
The split up of each evaluation factors are as follows:
Open New Career Opportunities (35%)
a) Diversity of Recruiters (25%)
b) Assessment of Career Services (25%)
c) Jobs Found through Career Service (25%)
d) Student Assessment (25%)
Personal Development/Educational Experience (35%)
a) Faculty Quality
Ratio of Faculty to Students – 5%
Percentage of Faculty with PHD – 10%
Faculty Rating by Students – 10%
b) Student Quality
Average GMAT Score – 18.75%
Average Length of Work Experience – 6.25%
c) Student Diversity
International Diversity Score – 8.33%
Percentage of Women Students - 8.33%
Student Rating of cultures and Classmates – 8.33%
d) Education Experience
Student Rating of Program content and range of electives – 6.25%
Range of Overseas Exchange Programs – 6.25%
Number of Languages on Offer – 6.25%
Student Rating of Facilities and other services – 6.25%
e) Increase Salary (20%)
Salary Change (pre-MBA to post-MBA) – 25%
Post-MBA Salary (including Bonuses) – 75%
f) Potential to Network (10%)
Ratio of Registered alumni to Current Students – 33%
Number of overseas countries with an Official Alumni Branch – 33%
Student assessment of Alumni network – 33%
Just following Chicago Booth are Tuck and Darden Full-time MBA programs. Harvard, Columbia, Wharton and Stanford could not reach the top three spots for the Economist 2012-13 MBA ranking. Cornell Johnson made the biggest leap with a rank improvement of over 10 points (25th to 15th rank). Two schools with marked improvement include Emory Goizueta (28th to 21st) and Michigan Ross (30th to 24th). The biggest drop seen during this year’s ranking are for York Schulich (9th to 16th) and IMD (3rd to 10th).
Here are the top 25 Full-time MBA programs according to The Economist Full-time MBA Ranking 2012-13.
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.