P&Q’s Must Reads: IE Business School Claims Top Spot In Financial Times 2024 Online MBA Ranking

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: IE Business School Claims Top Spot In Financial Times 2024 Online MBA Ranking

In a ranking better known for the absence of major players in business education, the Financial Times named the online MBA program at IE Business School in Spain the best long-distance MBA in the world. With more than 350 online MBA options in the U.S. alone, this global ranking lists a mere ten programs, with only two of them in the U.S.

Every year, few schools agree to participate in this incomplete ranking. In contrast, Poets&Quants ranks more than five times the number of online MBA options, while U.S. News & World Report asigns numeical ranks to 345 online MBAs. 

The winner of both those rankings–Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business–isn’t even included in the FT ranking. The Financial Times‘ list even lacks some of the most prominent European online options, including that of ESMT Berlin’s disrputively priced long-distance MBA.

You can read all about his ranking and our full analysis from our homepage.

No. 2:  She Didn’t Want To Choose Between Motherhood And A Stanford MBA — So She Did Both

On her very first day at Stanford Graduate School of Business — what MBAs call Day 0 — Srishti Kawatra got some big but not altogether unexpected news: She was pregnant.

As former assistant dean of MBA admissions, Kirsten Moss, gave her welcome speech, Kawatra was thinking about the very special journey she was about to begin: MBA, wife, mother, an accomplished career woman on the cusp of what comes next. While much has been written about the “motherhood penalty” for women pursuing business school as well as demanding post-MBA careers, Kawatra’s pregnancy was welcomed and very much deliberate. All the pieces were falling into place.

For International Women’s Day, we asked Kawatra to reflect on her career so far, deciding to become a mother, and juggling it all in a top MBA program. 

Read the full story on our homepage.

No. 3: Meet Harvard Business School’s MBA Class Of 2025 

What does it take to earn a spot into one of the most vaunted MBA programs in the world?

In this story, we share profiles from five elite MBA candidates at Harvard Business School as part of our popular Meet the Class series. 

You can see what these enterprising students have in common, and what sets them apart. 

The full collection, and other Meet the Class features from top business schools can be found in our students tab from the main menu.

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: MBA Admissions In Rounds 3 And Beyond: How To Make The Most Of Your Chances. This story, available from our home page, helps you make the most of your chances in the late admission cycle.

Next: HBS Deferred MBA: Top Tips For The 2+2 Essays. This story has important advice on what Harvard is looking for in candidates. You can find it on our admissions hub.

Finally: Applying In Round 3? Here’s What to Consider. This story offers even more advice on late-season admissions while telling you how to maximize the month of March. Find it on our homepage.

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

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is 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.