Ten Biggest Surprises In Businessweek’s 2023-2024 MBA Ranking

3) Little Love For Harvard Or Wharton

“The Big Three”, “The Three Musketeers” – even “The Holy Trinity.” The Trio of Stanford GSB, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School just go together. In the public eye, they are associated with elite business education – the incubators of innovation and the training grounds for future CEOs. Occasionally, a Chicago Booth or Columbia Business School will knock one of the triad members off their perch. As a whole, the triple threat has maintained a chokehold on the business school rankings. 

…until recently.

In The Financial Times rankings, Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton have ranked 1st 21 times over the past 28 years. In February, none of them even cracked the top three – and Wharton didn’t even make the ranking thanks to missing the minimum requirement for alumni responses. A month later, Wharton made the top three in the American-centric U.S. News ranking (at 3rd, no less). HBS and GSB trailed behind at 5th and 6th respectively, hardly the expected finish for household names. Now, the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking has followed a similar pattern. 

On the plus side, Stanford GSB clung to the top spot for the fifth consecutive year. Suspiciously, Harvard Business School tumbled from 2nd to 6th (after ranking 3rd from 2018-2021). The Wharton School slipped from 7th to 8th (which – glass half full – still bests its 9th-place finish in 2021).   

What gives? 

In Stanford GSB’s case, it was the only business school to rank among the top 10 American MBA programs in four dimensions: Compensation, Learning, Networking, and Entrepreneurship (where it finished 1st). Diversity served as its Achilles Heel, where it placed 20th. However, that dimension accounted for just 7.1% of the ranking – the lowest among the five weights. Compare that to Harvard Business School, which made the top 10 in three dimensions – Compensation, Networking, and Entrepreneurship – but produced the 26th-best score in Learning. In contrast, the Wharton School posted the 55th-best score in Learning, while making the top 10 in just two dimensions (Compensation and Diversity).   

Ouch!

Ironically, Wharton improved substantively in various measures. Notably, it climbed 16 spots over the previous year in Education Quality. Overall, Wharton rose in four out of five dimensions weighed by Bloomberg Businessweek, backsliding by just 0.4 of a point in Networking. In contrast, Harvard Business School lost ground in four dimensions, including 2.7- and 1.0-point drops in Entrepreneurship and Learning – numbers that couldn’t be offset by the school’s 4.8-point jump in Diversity.   

Notably, the survey-driven dimensions dogged HBS and Wharton. In Networking, survey respondents – alumni and Class of 2023 students – were queried on career services effectiveness and student-to-alumni and alumni-to-alumni interactions (with employers addressing questions involving school brand power). While HBS ranked a respectable 5th, it doesn’t feel commensurate with its scale (48,000 alumni in 170 countries) and the quality of its alumni base (Think Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon). The gap is even more pronounced at Wharton, which ranked 17th in Networking, behind the University of Florida and the College of William & Mary.

However, the eye-catcher remains Learning. In this dimension, survey questions zeroed in on the “quality, depth, and range of instruction,” including its real-world relevance, faculty support, and “emphasis on innovation, problem-solving, and strategic thinking.” Considering the breadth and depth of coursework and expertise at Harvard and Wharton, the programs rank 26th and 55th respectively. HBS finished behind the fearsome foursome of Texas Christian University, Baylor University, the University of Houston, and the University of Texas-Dallas. Further down, Wharton’s Learning score lags behind the likes of the University of Mississippi, Tampa University, and Willamette University among other MBA programs. Considering Learning’s 26.3% weight, this dimension may be where Harvard and Wharton should seek improvement if Bloomberg Businessweek ever releases its underlying data.

In the meantime, Harvard Business School and the Wharton School can take comfort that they aren’t ranked 10th. That’s where MIT’s Sloan School fell after finishing 6th the year before. It begs the question: Is Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking an early indicator of a new world order – or just an old-world relic that doesn’t measure what matters?   

SDA Bocconi’s new business school campus

4) SDA Bocconi – A Load Of Baloney?

Call it the Italian Job – only this time you won’t find an elaborately-planned theft. Instead, SDA Bocconi’s #1 ranking in Europe stemmed from steady improvement – and scoring high where it meant most!

Yes, SDA Bocconi’s ascension garnered the headlines when it came to the European schools in the 2023 Bloomberg Businessweek MBA ranking. Afterall, conventional wisdom would have INSEAD, London Business School, HEC Paris, or IESE Business School ahead of Italy’s best-known MBA program.

Let’s be honest: you could see it coming. Earlier this year, SDA Bocconi ranked 6th in The Financial Times ranking, behind European stalwarts INSEAD and IESE and ahead of American elites like Northwestern Kellogg and MIT Sloan. Notably, SDA Bocconi ranked among the top programs for the value for money and international course experience. A year earlier, in a survey conducted by The Financial Times, the program produced the highest student and alumni satisfaction scores. In the final global ranking released by The Economist last year, SDA Bocconi ranked 13th – down seven spots from the previous year but behind just HEC Paris among European schools.

In other words, SDA Bocconi’s summit is less of a surprise and more of an inevitability. Just look at the school’s trajectory. Just a decade ago, it ranked 48th globally in The Financial Times before its 6th-place high in 2023. In 2018, The FT scored it as the 9th-best program in Europe. That same year, it ranked 5th-best in Europe by The Economist and 7th-best outside the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek. Now, the program has taken the pole position over the likes of INSEAD, London Business School, and IESE – programs viewed as viable competitors to top American programs.

Among the dimensions weighed by Bloomberg Businessweek, SDA Bocconi earned the top score in the Networking survey among European programs. Worth nearly a quarter of the weight, Networking covered areas like the accessibility and supportiveness of alumni and the value of the career services operation. At the same time, SDA Bocconi finished 2nd for post-graduate Compensation. While Bloomberg Businessweek doesn’t release underlying data, this placement aligns with data from The Financial Times. Here, SDA Bocconi’s $192,815 average weighted salary within three years of graduation also represented a 2nd-place finish among European MBA programs. By the same token, the school also ranked 5th for Learning and 10th for Entrepreneurship – keeping it close with its nearest rivals, IESE and IMD.

More than that, SDA Bocconi improved in the areas that Bloomberg Businessweek values most. Compensation carries the most weight, making up 37.1% of the ranking. In this dimension, SDA Bocconi’s index shot up from 80.5 to 89.2 in just one year. Learning – carrying a 25.4% weight – rose nearly four points. Along the same lines, Networking surged from 82.0 to 86.4 – a huge difference in a dimension involving a 23.9% weight. While SDA Bocconi scored lowest in Entrepreneurship, its 78.4 index tied with the London Business School – and was within two points of INSEAD and IMD.

Now comes the moment of truth – the difference between being a long-term player or a one-hit wonder. After waiting in the wings, SDA Bocconi has become a target. What can they do to improve and stave off the schools gunning for them? Considering their steady rise, you won’t be able to point to complacency for any dip in their ranking next year.

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