Wharton vs. Harvard Business School

Historical Rankings  by BusinessWeek:

The biggest question is how come Harvard has never placed number one in the most influential MBA rankings published? Over a 22-year period and 11 biennial rankings, BusinessWeek has never put Harvard at the top of its carefully watched lists of the best MBA schools. Wharton, on the other hand, has been a very big winner in the BW sweepstakes. Wharton has beaten Harvard in seven of the 11 lists, being named the number one school on four separate and consecutive occasions from 1994 to 2002. Over the years, HBS has generally landed in the number three spot, going as high as two twice and as low as number five on three different occasions. It’s important to remember that  BusinessWeek measures customer satisfaction. While students rate these schools very highly, recruiters often have other issues. At Harvard, some corporate recruiters balk at the price tag they have to pay to get an HBS grad. That’s good news for those with the degree.

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Historical Rankings by The Financial Times:

The single biggest historical winner in this ranking has been Wharton, by far. The University of Pennsylvania business school has topped this ranking nine times in the past 11 years, coming in second twice. Unlike BusinessWeek’s rankings, The Financial Times includes business schools from all over the world. So the FT is ranking both Wharton and Harvard against such places as London Business School, which ranked number one in this survey in 2010 and 2009, and INSEAD, which ranked fifth these last two years. In fact, Harvard has only bested Wharton in this survey once–in 2000 when HBS was number one and Wharton was on its heels in the number two spot. Despite the apparent rout of Harvard, however, Wharton’s lead has been so slim through the years that any qualified statistician would likely call this a draw.

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