P&Q’s Must Reads: Financial Times 2023 MBA Ranking: The Biggest Bombshell Is Wharton’s Disappearance

Hello everyone  –- Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Financial Times 2023 MBA Ranking: The Biggest Bombshell Is Wharton’s Disappearance

For the very first time in a quarter of a century, Columbia Business School has captured first place in the Financial Times Global MBA ranking. But the biggest bombshell in the new 2023 ranking is the complete disappearance of The Wharton School, which claimed top honors last year. It’s the most glaring of many surprises on FT ranking which is celebrating its 25th iteration since launching in 1999.

The Financial Times tossed Wharton out of its ranking after it failed to reach the minimum threshold of responses to its alumni survey. While other MBA programs have suffered a similar fate over the years, that has never happened to as prominent an MBA program as Wharton, particularly because the FT‘s survey requirement is a low bar to overcome for a school with ample resources to track and keep in touch with its alums. 

Before the toss, Wharton has won more No. 1 places on the FT lists than any other business school, topping the list 11 out of the 25 times it has been published.

See the full story, and other analysis from the FT’s full list, in our rankings tab.

No. 2: A New Winner Tops Our 2022-2023 International MBA Ranking

Speaking of rankings, Poets&Quants also released our own ranking on international MBA programs, and we also have a new winner at the top.

After racking up an impressive six-year run at the top, INSEAD has moved aside to make room for another elite European business school. IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, takes the top prize in the 2022-2023 ranking, followed by Italy’s SDA Bocconi, IMD in Switzerland, ESADE Business School, also in Barcelona, and the National University of Singapore.

See the full list, and our analysis on the schools’ movements up and down, in our ranking tab. 

No. 3: Top 50 Consulting Firms To Work For In 2023

For the third consecutive year, Bain & Company ranked as the #1 consulting firm in the world according to the Vault Consulting 50 from Firsthand – regarded as the gold standard for evaluating consulting firms. In a survey of 16,000 practicing consultants, Bainies were bullish on their Compensation, Culture, and Long-Term Outlook. On top of that, Bain posted the second-highest employee satisfaction rate too.

Bain was followed by Boston Consulting Group and No. 2 and McKinsey at No. 3, rounding out all the three big MBBs. 

This package is packed with analysis and insights to other great consulting firms most popular with MBA graduates. 

You can find it in our news tab. 

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: How do you stand out in a sea of qualified MBA candidates? Choose the right MBA admissions coach. Fortuna Admissions tells you what to look for and how to budget for a coach that will help take you over the finish line to your dream school. Find it in our Admission Tab. 

Next: If you’re still on the fence about applying for an MBA, North Star Admissions Consulting offers some insider insight on what the current decline in MBA applications could mean for you. Check it out in our admissions tab. 

Finally: Juno, a loan servicer that uses collective bargaining to negotiate better terms for private student loans, offers valuable advice for negotiating the best tuition deals from business schools. Read How To Pay For Your MBA in our financing tab. 

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert anyone considering a graduate business master’s degree to CentreCourt’s upcoming Specialized Masters admissions event. In these virtual panels, you’ll get to explore Masters in Management, Finance, Business Analytics and other specialized business degrees to help determine which degree is right for you. Our next event is March 14 and 15, and you can register now for free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay informed!