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

Under Dean Scott Beardsley, Darden has earned its highest P&Q rank ever, a fifth place finish that for the second year makes Darden the top public university MBA in the U.S.

AN EFFORT TO LURE MORE PE-TYPES TO KELLOGG

Most recently, Kellogg has put in place a new initiative to boost its appeal to applicants with private equity experience. Its high-touch, mentorship driven Advanced Private Equity Experience (APEX) program attracted roughly 20 one- and two-year MBAs to what is a highly selective program that combines rigorous academics with industry mentorship. Kellogg expects the initiative to increase the percentage of MBA grads to go onto lucrative careers in private equity. Last year, just under 10% landed PE jobs. The program boasts an accelerated finance curriculum with advanced courses, including the Private Equity Deep Dive which is very popular among APEX students. The program also features real-world projects and case studies that look at why real deals are made – or not made. Now in its second year, the program is led by Erik Brown, Kellogg MBA ‘06, founder of Red Cedar Capital with more than 20 years of experience in private equity and venture capital.

All of these innovations are girded by some big money from donors. Most notably, the Zell Family Foundation last year gifted Kellogg $25 million to endow the existing Zell Fellows Program in perpetuity. Founded by the late real estate investor and entrepreneur Sam Zell, the foundation gift supports students who are keen to start a new venture or acquire an existing one. “The program focuses on the entrepreneurial spirit at the school,” explains Hanifee. “It’s to inspire an entrepreneurial mindset in leaders, not just business and ideas. The Fellowship program has experiential elements in it and a trip to Israel as conditions allow to meet with leaders in Tel Aviv and experience that ecosystem as well.”

UVA DARDEN ACHIEVES ITS HIGHEST P&Q RANK: FIFTH PLACE

The other big news in this year’s Top Ten is at UVA Darden, which for the second year in a row is the highest ranked public university MBA. Darden moved up three places this year to rank fifth. When Scott Beardsley left McKinsey & Co. as a senior partner to become dean of Darden in 2015, the school’s flagship MBA program ranked tenth. During his timeframe as dean, starting MBA pay and signing bonuses for Darden grads have risen to $199,247 in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available, from $147,250 in 2015, a more than 35% increase in eight years.

Its ranking momentum can be attributed to significantly improved performance on the Bloomberg Businessweek lists, which in the past two years has Darden in the Top Five in the U.S., and the inclusion by Poets&Quants of The Princeton Review rankings, which give greater prominence to the quality of faculty teaching and the student experience overall, attributes that Darden has excelled in over many years. Darden also moved up four spots to tenth place in U.S. News‘ ranking this year, matching its highest rank ever achieved in 2016 on that list. Darden’s excellence in providing an exceptional student experience in a collaborative culture with highly engaged and supportive faculty,  is not new. When The Economist ranked MBA programs, Darden had been ranked first for having the best business education experience in the U.S. for 10 years in a row.

At Darden, the story is always the faculty who are not only masters in the classroom but just as importantly deeply connect with students. Decades of MBA student surveys show again and again that the school can legitimately claim that it has the best MBA teaching faculty in the world. Brianna Huff, a second-year MBA student, speaks of the “unwavering commitment of faculty to ensuring student success – within the classroom and beyond.”The faculty’s commitment to our success was evident in their approach to challenging us,” she says.  “They didn’t just spoon-feed information; instead, they encouraged us to think critically, pushing us to develop our problem-solving skills and analytical thinking. Yet, at the same time, they provided the necessary support and guidance to ensure that we were equipped to rise to these challenges.”

A TRANFORMATIVE TIME FOR UVA DARDEN

The school’s leadership has done an exceptional job of delivering for students above and beyond the school’s long-time differentiation for exceptional case study teaching. Beardsley was honored as P&Q’s Dean of the Year in 2020, while admissions chief Dawna Clark won P&Q’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in Admissions this year. Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Darden’s senior associate dean for professional degree programs, is not only a powerhouse of intellectual energy; she has even officiated a wedding for former students.

Beardsley, who arrived at Darden in 2015 after more than a quarter of a century at McKinsey,  has had a truly transformative impact on the school that will last long after he departs. For one thing, the look and feel of Darden’s grounds have been altered forever with the addition of The Forum, a $130 million hotel and gathering space with an expansive arboretum and gardens, as well as the recent groundbreaking for a $150 million student living project with a major renovation of the school’s faculty office building. That project alone will allow Darden to offer a residential MBA experience akin to Harvard or Dartmouth Tuck, accommodating 80% of first year MBAs when it opens in 2027.

The dean has raised more than $600 million in support of these and other major changes that range from the recent launch of the LaCross Institute for Ethical AI to a major expansion of the faculty from 75 members in 2015 to 99 today. Darden also has launched a healthcare initiative this year to appeal to students who want to work in that growing field. All of this is in addition to his earlier expansion of the school’s presence in Washington, D.C., metro area in a 40,000 square-foot space with classrooms, meeting facilities, office and academic space.

The improvements, along with innovative admission changes, more scholarship funding and new degree programs in business analytics and a part-time MBA in D.C., have helped to give the school a significant boost in rankings. It is little wonder why Darden has achieved its highest rank ever in the Poets&Quants survey this year.

OUR FIXATION WITH RANKINGS

Ultimately, of course, our fixation with rankings obscures the most basic truths about these controversial lists. They reward exclusivity at the expense of inclusivity. They allow schools to premium price education and charge outsized tuition rates. And they lead candidates to believe that the luster of the business school they attend, based largely on a ranking, will not only define their place in the world but also determine their professional success and happiness. That Top Ten program, they think, would bestow some kind of magic on their resumes.

Yet, there are many outstanding MBA programs that allow a graduate to gain the skills and tools necessary to access a successful, fulfilling and meaningful professional career. In fact, many of the less selective programs ranked 50 to 100 and above might well be a better fit than the schools that crowd the top of this or any other ranking. As New York Times columnist Frank Bruni rightly points out, “where you go is not who you’ll be.” So as you consume this or any other ranking, do so with a very big grain of salt.