P&Q’s Must Reads: The World’s Most Popular MBA Programs

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: The World’s Most Popular MBA Programs 

What are the most popular MBA programs in the world?

You can answer that question in a variety of ways. Certainly, a school that receives more applicants per available classroom seat than any other would qualify. Stanford’s MBA program attracts 14.5 applicants per seat, better than any prestige MBA program in the world. Another way to get an answer is by measuring yield, the percentage of admitted applicants who actually enroll in the MBA program. Harvard sits atop this metric, nabbing 85.5% of its admitted applicants last year.

In this analysis, however, we’ve chosen the most popular MBA programs by the number of times candidates listed their target schools in our highly popular Handicapping Your MBA Odds series. 

See which school was most target in our full story, now on our homepage.

No. 2: MBA Pay By Occupation & Industry

Last week, we dove into what MBA’s from the top 50 programs earn by geographic region. This week, we reveal what they earn by job and industry. 

Each year, business schools slice-and-dice their graduate pay numbers, which can tip off applicants to a range of useful insights. For one, the data can reveal which schools emphasize particular fields. 

The numbers also show the return that MBAs can expect after graduation. Most of all, they provide a barometer for how much employers are willing to pay MBAs from certain schools who focused in certain areas. That can come in handy for negotiating a few extra bucks with more flexible employers outside consulting.

What are the average pay rates in Consulting, Finance, Technology Marketing, and more? How high can base pay get in these fields? 

Find answers to these questions, and more helpful analysis, in our trending tab.

No. 3 The Top 24 Companies (And 1 Organization) That U.S. B-School Students Most Want To Work For

Google is the most-desired employer among business school students in the United States for the umpteenth time in an annual survey. Why? Any number of reasons: big salaries, great working environment, even better benefits, and unreal support and resources.

That is, when you’re not being laid off in droves.

The employer branding agency Universum released its 2023 list of U.S. B-school stidents’ preferred employers this week, showing Google atop a ranking of 100 companies and organizations that MBAs and other B-school students want to work for, with about 15% of respondents choosing the tech giant as their top career destination. Despite an ongoing downturn in the industry, tech companies dominate the upper tier of the ranking, with five of the top 10 companies.

You can find the full list of employers 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: Another M7 School Launches A Master In Management Program. If you’re looking for an alternative to the traditional two-year MBA, check out Chicago Booth’s new MIM program. Read about it on our homepage.

Next: Online MBA: How It Differs From The Traditional Classroom: Get the pros and cons of online learning on our homepage.

Finally: Ace Your Stanford GSB, HBS, and Wharton Application Essays: In this webinar, Poets&Quants and the experts from Fortuna Admissions help candidates polish their H/S/W MBA admissions essays to a brilliant sheen. You’ll find it in our admissions tab.

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

I also want to alert school seekers to Centre Court’s upcoming MBA Festival. You’ll hear from alumni and career experts from leading business schools about how the MBA can fast-track your career. Our next event is Oct. 3-4, 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!