How A Dean Would Rank Business Schools

The bottom line at every school: employment. And not just any employment. It’s all about getting the job you want. We’ve used data for employment three months after graduation as the last output metric, but caution putting too much emphasis on slight percentage differences among the top schools. How come? It may strike some as strange that Harvard Business School would rank 17th out of the top 25 U.S. schools unless you know that graduates of the school approach the job market with a bit more confidence than, say graduates of some other schools, so they are more willing to hold out for that dream job. Does that make Harvard worse off in the job offer category than other schools? Not really.

That said, there are some real surprises here, including the strength of Emory University’s Goizueta School which is solidly in the top five, a showing that has been fairly consistent in recent years. Chicago Booth tops the list based on its stellar employment numbers last year, but Washington University’s Olin School in St. Louis is not far behind and neither is The University of Washington, which came in third among the top 25 schools. Truth is, any school with an employment rate above 90% is in great position here.

Schools Ranked By Employment Rates

Source: P&Q analysis from publicly available data