P&Q’s Must Reads: This Is What It Costs To Get An MBA From A Top Business School 

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: This Is What It Costs To Get An MBA From A Top Business School 

If you want an elite MBA degree from a top business school in the United States or Europe, be prepared to pay more than $200,000 — and significantly more than that if you’re eyeing one of the M7 or M7-adjacent B-schools.

Nineteen of the top 27 schools analyzed by Poets&Quants charge tuition and fees and estimate living expenses that, combined over two years, equal or exceed $200K. That’s up from 15 B-schools last year. Four more schools are currently on the threshold of that club, sitting at $196,000 or more. For the 2023-2024 school year alone, 21 of the 27 schools estimate an annual cost in excess of $100,000.

If you want to know just how much an MBA from your target schools will set you back, check out our annual cost outlook, which you can find in our trending tab.

No. 2: The Absolute Worst MBA Rankings 

In recent years, law and medical schools began a crusade to stop cooperating with U.S. News & World Report’s rankings. And the crusade has entered the business school arena with academic attacks on the methodology behind the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking.

Truth is, however, that prospective students are obsessed with rankings and so are current students, alumni, faculty and the leadership of a school. There’s no question that in the U.S., the leading MBA ranking is produced by U.S. News & World Report. In Europe, the most watched ranking is put out by the Financial Times. While flawed on several dimensions, those two organizations put considerable effort into getting it right.

But what are the rankings that seem to consistently get it wrong? Poets&Quants editor in chief John Byrne dives deep into three of the worst MBA rankings on the market. Find his full analysis in our rankings tab.

No. 3 Harvard, Stanford & Wharton Admit On How He Got Into 3 Of The World’s Top MBA Programs 

Jay Bhandari applied to three of the world’s most elite business schools – Harvard , Stanford, and Wharton – in round 1 admission cycle. Between them, they are among the most selective B-schools in the world, with acceptance rates between 8% and 23%.

Bhandari got into all three.

How’d he do it? You can read all about his journey from 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: 3 Steps To Strategically Plan Your Career: This story features advice from experienced executive career coaches and is available now on our homepage.

Next: GMAT Versus GRE: Which Top-50 MBA Programs Prefer Which Test? This story, on our homepage, can help you decide which test to focus on for your dream school.

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!