After evaluating 417 MBA programs, US News has released the 2018 Business School ranking. The top spot is a tie between Harvard and Wharton – both enrolling over 1700 full-time students. Booth took the third position while for the fifth position there is a three-way tie between MIT Sloan, Kellogg School of Management and Stanford.
The publication has also created rankings based on specialties that include: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Information Systems, International, Management, Marketing, Nonprofit, Production / Operations, and Supply Chain / Logistics.
Overall Ranking
#1 Harvard University
#1 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#3 University of Chicago (Booth)
#4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
#4 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
#4 Stanford University
#7 University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
#8 Dartmouth College (Tuck)
#9 Columbia University
#9 Yale University
Ranking by Specialities
Accounting
#1 University of Texas—Austin (McCombs)
#2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#3 University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign
#4 University of Chicago (Booth)
#5 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (Ross)
Entrepreneurship
#1 Babson College (Olin)
#2 Stanford University
#3 Harvard University
#3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
#5 University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
Finance
#1 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#2 University of Chicago (Booth)
#3 New York University (Stern)
#4 Columbia University
#5 Stanford University
Information Systems
#1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
#2 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
#3 University of Texas—Austin (McCombs)
#4 University of Arizona (Eller)
#5 University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (Carlson)
International MBA
#1 University of South Carolina (Moore)
#2 Harvard University
#3 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#4 Thunderbird School of Global Management
#5 Stanford University
Management
#1 Harvard University
#2 Stanford University
#3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
#4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#5 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (Ross)
Marketing
#1 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
#2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#3 Stanford University
#4 Duke University (Fuqua)
#5 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (Ross)
Nonprofit
#1 Yale University
#2 Stanford University
#2 University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
#4 Harvard University
#5 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
Production / Operations
#1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
#2 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
#3 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (Ross)
#4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
#5 Stanford University
Supply Chain / Logistics
#1 Michigan State University (Broad)
#2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
#3 Arizona State University (Carey)
#4 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (Ross)
#5 Ohio State University (Fisher)
Get the complete Business School Ranking at US News
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.