What are the odds and what are the returns?

Those two questions drive every business school decision. At their core, applicants are asking if an MBA is worth the time, price, and sacrifice – the loss of a steady paycheck, career momentum, and comfortable routine. The input data can clue you in on who gets in – at least in terms of test scores and demographics. And output data can reveal how much you’ll make in a particular industry, function, or region.

Problem is, numbers only tell you part of the story.

After all, MBAs are social creatures too. They want to know who’ll be around them in classroom, events, and treks. Where did they grow up? What did they study? Where did they work and what did they do? Most of all, they want to know what they value and what they plan to do. In business school, you’re not just making friends. You’re also building relationships with experts who can guide you, champions who can support you, and partners who can amplify you.

At Poets&Quants, we cover both ends of the equation. Every fall, we dive into the class profiles of the top full-time programs, analyzing which numbers stand out and how they compare to historical trends at these schools. Soon enough, we dig through MBA employment reports to do the same. Throughout the year, P&Q tackles the opposite with its “Meet The Class” series. Profiling a dozen incoming students at over 45 top programs, our readers get a personal look at who gets in, why a program is different, and how to improve their chances for admission. That doesn’t count our exclusive interview with top school administrators in each story.

If you have questions, these stories can set you on the path to the answers. Here is our analysis of business school inputs and outputs – along with peeks inside the cultures, differentiators, and students at your favorite programs.

 

 MEET THE CLASS

Meet USC Marshall’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Emory Goizueta’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Indiana Kelley’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Chicago Booth’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet UCLA Anderson’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet The CEIBS MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Northwestern Kellogg’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet INSEAD’s MBA Class Of 2023

Meet Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Stanford GSB’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Columbia Business School’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet The Texas McCombs MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet The Michigan Ross MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet The Rice Jones MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Toronto Rotman’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Georgia Tech Scheller’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Minnesota Carlson School’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Washington Olin’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Washington Foster’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Notre Dame Mendoza’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Oxford Saïd’s MBA Class Of 2023

Meet IESE Business School’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet The MBA Class Of 2025: Inspiring, Inventive, Impactful

Meet The Berkeley Haas MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Ivey’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Esade Business School’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet Carnegie Mellon Tepper’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Cornell Johnson’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet NYU Stern’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet IMD Business School’s MBA Class Of 2023

Meet IIM Kozhikode’s PGP-BL Class Of 2024

Meet Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet MIT Sloan’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet The Michigan Ross MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Columbia Business School’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet London Business School’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet The MBA Class Of 2025: UC-Riverside Anderson Graduate School Of Management

Meet Virginia Darden’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Chicago Booth’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Yale SOM’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet INSEAD’s MBA Class Of 2024

Meet TCU Neeley’s MBA Class Of 2025

Meet Wharton’s MBA Class of 2025

 

MBA CLASS PROFILES

University of Chicago (Booth)

Columbia Business School

Cornell University (Johnson)

Dartmouth (Tuck)

Duke University (Fuqua)

Emory University (Goizueta)

Harvard Business School

University of Michigan (Ross)

MIT (Sloan)

New York University (Stern)

Northwestern University (Kellogg)

University of Oxford (Saïd)

Stanford Graduate School of Business

UC Berkeley (Haas)

UCLA (Anderson)

USC (Marshall)

University of Virginia (Darden)

Wharton School

Yale School of Management

 

MBA PAY

Median Pay For Chicago Booth MBAs Is Now Over $200K

At Cornell, MBA Jobs Are Fewer & Pay Growth Slows — But Consulting Is A Robust Exception

Dartmouth Tuck 2023 MBA Employment: Jobs Aplenty, But Salaries & Bonuses Plateau

Duke Fuqua 2023 MBA Jobs Report: Another Big Jump In Median Salary & Total Comp

Median Salary Flattens For 2023 Emory Goizueta MBAs

Georgetown’s 2023 MBAs Report Big Gains In Average Salary & Bonus

Harvard Hit Hard By The 2023 MBA Job Market: Offers, Accepts & Total Comp All Decline

Average MBA Salaries Flatten At Premier European B-School INSEAD

London Business School Jobs Report: Shining In Tough Times

Jobs Are Scarcer, But Michigan Ross MBAs Get Another Big Boost In Median Salary & Total Pay

2023 Was MIT Sloan MBAs’ Harshest Employment Landscape In A Decade

Northwestern Kellogg MBAs Join The $200K Club

NYU Stern MBAs Join The $200K Compensation Club

Stanford MBAs Now In Striking Distance Of $300K Starting Pay

Berkeley Haas MBAs Got A Big Boost In Pay & Bigger Bonuses In 2023

Darden MBAs Report Another Record Class Salary In 2023

The 2023 MBA Job Market Is Unkind To Another Elite B-School: Wharton

Yale MBAs Joined The $200K Pay Club In 2023

 

DON’T MISS: 2022 MBA CLASS PROFILES & EMPLOYMENT REPORTS