Do You Need An MBA To Move Up In PE?

Best Business Schools For Education

Sometimes, education feels like a secondary concern in the business school world. It is marketed as a “transformational experience” where students can “test their limits.” Students themselves exalt programs for their far-reaching networks and lavish starting salaries for graduates. No doubt, you’ve heard the “grades don’t matter” mantra for business schools. Based on such perceptions, you could almost liken MBA programs to longer versions of company meetings, replete with speakers and free booze (on occasion).

In the MOOC era, content is often treated as a commodity. But delivery never is. Anyone can lecture. With a natural skepticism (and cynicism towards students), anyone can master the case method too. But teaching is an art. It is choosing the right examples and questions to help students internalize the lessons. It is creating an atmosphere of high expectations and trust, where teachers marshal curiosity and ambition into a force multiplier. Some schools, such as the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, even emphasize teaching excellence among faculty.

So how do you measure an intangible like teaching excellence? One way is simply to ask students. That’s what GraduatePrograms.com did as part of its “25 Business Schools with the Best Quality of Education.” Based on online surveys with over 10,000 current and former graduate business students, GraduatePrograms.com used a 1-10 scale (with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest) to measure “schools where students have access to relevant, interesting, and challenging courses taught by qualified professors.” Mind you, the differences between schools ended up being relatively small using this scale – with just .04 of a point separating the top two schools – and .58 separating the top program from the one ranked 20th. Still, this poll reflects the perception. And, to borrow a lesson learned long before business school, the customer is always right.

The Wake Forest University School of Business sits atop GraduatePrograms’ ranking with a 9.85 score. Known for its academic rigor at the undergraduate level, Wake Forest is actually shutting down its full-time MBA program (though maintaining its executive MBA and specialized business master’s programs). However, that doesn’t diminish some graduates’ enthusiasm for its graduate program. “The teaching, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills I learned propelled me into career path that continues to provide me with a great deal of personal satisfaction and financial freedom,” writes “Chris” in a Forbes review of the school. Another anonymous student in Bloomberg Businessweek touted the school’s culture, where students are given opportunities to apply what they learn. “There is a tight-knit community with very accessible professors and learning tools. Additionally, a lot of leadership opportunities are available to all students.”

When it comes to the part-time MBA program, one Bloomberg Businessweek reviewer noted the facilities were “top notch,” with a diverse faculty that applied “a mix of teaching styles.” Another plugged the school’s unique balance of business and character education. “Wake Forest is the program most focused on individual character (specifically, honesty, dedication to the program and your team, respect for the opinions of others, open-mindedness) but also develops the expected competency in business administration.”

Ranking just below Wake Forest is the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Consistently ranked as the top undergraduate business program by Bloomberg Businessweek, Mendoza graduate students – like those from Wake Forest – endorse the school’s culture. “Notre Dame selects for a special kind of MBA candidate – the type of person who isn’t myopic and who value excellence, but also is good to others,” writes one student in Bloomberg Businessweek. “It creates a culture that is collaborative, not competitive, and which makes people feel safe to take risks and strive for their highest potential.” While Mendoza is known to infuse a “higher purpose” into its business curriculum, the faculty are described by one Mendoza graduate in Forbes as “skilled and practical.”

Rounding out the top five were Case Western Reserve, Harvard Business School, and Cornell University. Based in Cleveland, Case Western Reserve’s graduate business faculty was commended for being highly engaged. “Most professor(s) are very much willing to meet with students outside of class and are vested in their students understanding of the material,” writes one student in Bloomberg Businessweek. Harvard earned high marks for its overall experience. “The quality of the education has been amazing. This is in part thanks to the excellent faculty, course material, and student body,” observes one graduate in Bloomberg Businessweek. Another student in Forbes writes, “Year after year I continue to have a deeper appreciation for the HBS case study method and the lifelong skills it taught me.” At Cornell, community is a consistent theme among alumni and students. “Johnson nails it when it comes to an MBA program,” writes one alum in Bloomberg Businessweek. “The class is the right size, the resources and connections are unsurpassed, the program is relevant and well structured and the environment encourages collaboration and leadership development.”

However, you’ll find exclusions aplenty in GraduatePrograms’ ranking. Wharton? Not listed among the top 25. Stanford? Same deal. Darden? Maybe the biggest surprise of all. Overall, only 11 of Poets&Quants’ top 20 MBA programs made the list, with Dartmouth (Tuck), MIT (Sloan), the University of Michigan (Ross), UCLA (Anderson), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), and Emory University (Goizueta) also MIA from GraduatePrograms’ list.

Here are the top 25 programs for education according to GraduatePrograms.com’s survey data: