Poets&Quant’s 2024-2025 MBA Ranking: For The First Time Ever, Kellogg Takes First

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF AN MBA RANKING

As is often the case in MBA rankings, there were some big moves, up and down the list. This year 24 full-time MBA programs experienced double-digit gains or falls on the list. The single biggest ranking increase was gained by Hult International Business School which has multiple campuses, including in Boston and San Francisco (see below). Its full-time MBA program surged 35 places to rank 57th from 92nd, the result of landing on the Financial Times‘ ranking after a long absence. The FT recognized Hult as the 40th best MBA program in the U.S. while Businessweek ranked it 67th.

After falling out of the FT ranking in 2023 when it failed to muster enough responses to the newspaper’s surveys from alumni, Wharton found its way back in this year. The result: the school’s MBA program climbed 19 places to rank 12th. While that rank undervalues the Wharton MBA, it’s a vast improvement from last year’s dismal showing of 31st place caused by the loss of its FT ranking.

In all, 11 programs advanced in double-digits, with large gains by the University of Wisconsin’s Business School, up 18 spots to rank 35th best, and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, up 16 places to finish 44th. Impressive gains also were racked up by the business schools at the University of Kansas, up 15 places to rank 72nd, and the University of Miami, which advanced 14 spots to finish 59th.

Another 13 MBA programs experienced double-digit falls in the ranking (see table below). The full-time MBA program at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst plunged the most, falling 25 places to rank 81st from 56th a year earlier.

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HOW KELLOGG BESTED STANFORD FOR TOP HONORS

More than almost any other business school, Kellogg had a great rankings year. The Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Princeton Review all played major roles in the school's ability to nudge aside Stanford. On the FT list, Kellogg gained three places to rank third; on Businessweek, it rose four spots to also rank third; and in top ten categories of The Princeton Review ranking, Kellogg ranked second behind only Darden after not ranking at all a year earlier. It also helped that Stanford was severely handicapped in our composite ranking by its dismal 15th place finish in the Financial Times ranking due to a number of declines in key FT metrics.

Kellogg's ascendance is not surprising. Under legendary Dean Don Jacobs in the 1980s, the school was among the first to pioneer a team-based approach to learning business. At the time, it was so novel that a rival dean told Jacobs that at his school--MIT Sloan--that would be considered cheating. Team-based learning is now commonplace in every MBA program, though it is still at the center of the Kellogg experience.

"Group work is still the predominant feature of being at Kellogg," explains Greg Hanifee, associate dean for degree programs and operations at Kellogg. "With the exception of independent study, every course is structured around a team. We now drill it down lower than our sections of 70 students each. We create pods of six to seven students and it is a chance for students to get to know each other at an intimate level. There is camaraderie and competition but everyone understands that the team matters more than the individual. I have been at Kellogg for 11 years and students really come to Kellogg for that group experience in the classroom, experiential learning, global travel and this idea that the community is paramount. Students learn that they can do great things if they rely on each other.

DOWN TO EARTH. AUTHENTIC. KIND. WORDS THAT DESCRIBE KELLOGG MBAS

MBA students at Kellogg invariably describe their classmates as "nice," "kind," "down-to-earth," "authentic," and "curious." They are known for their supportive and collaborative nature. Explains Henry Long, a first-year MBA at Kellogg, "People talk about 'Kellogg Nice,' but I think it goes one step further to a genuine kindness and desire to get to know each other. Every time I talk with someone, they recommend another person I should talk to -- and my favorite interactions have involved meeting someone and realizing each of us have been told 20+ times about each other!"

That strong sense of community doesn't only apply to students on campus. It also extends to the school's alumni base. "Kellogg alumni are amazingly generous with their time, advice, and friendship," says first-year MBA Mallory Kirby, a UPenn undergrad who worked at the Advisory Board in Washington, D.C., as director of health plan research. "Kellogg doesn’t just talk about community, but goes out of their way to foster that inclusive environment before you even set foot on campus."

And while Kellogg has long been known for its faculty expertise in marketing, the school has been a powerhouse in consulting which typically claims 42% of its graduates, a full 20 percentage points higher than the next industry, financial services. Under Dean Francesca Cornelli, the school has retained its reputation for being among the most market-responsive business schools in the world, with important curriculum innovations in healthcare, private equity, sustainability, and artificial intelligence.

MORE THAN 50 NEW COURSES CREATED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS

More than 50 new courses have been created in the past five years at Kellogg to address modern-day challenges in business and society, from classes on the interactions between humans and machines to what every MBA needs to know about climate change. Kellogg also linked up again with Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering to launch the MBAi, a joint degree program that puts the focus on AI applications in business, from how to leverage big data to how to use generative AI to segment customers in marketing. This fall Kellogg brought in its fourth MBAi intake of 50 students. This is in addition to the long-standing prestige MMM program with McCormick that provides students with both an MBA and a MS in design innovation, a program that attracts an annual cohort of 70 students.

Eight of every ten Kellogg MBAs in the full-time program now sign up for courses in social impact or sustainability. "It is a tremendous recognition that our faculty are providing amazing content with rigor in this space, and this generation of students is hungry to learn more about how the world will be for them and their children and what role they can play to make things better," says Hanifee.

Coming out of COVID, Kellogg also leaned in heavily to the business of healthcare. The school launched a certificate program in its Executive MBA programs in 2021 and then made that option available to both full-time and part-time MBA students. "So students can take a selection of courses on the business of healthcare and earn the certificate on top of their MBAs," adds Hanifee. "This has gained a lot of interest from our students in a field that is one of the biggest parts of our economy. They are looking at the big questions and issues from biopharma and medical devices and hospital practices."