Fit Over Fame: Finding The Best B-School For You, Regardless Of Rankings

Don’t get me wrong—rankings and league tables are great for first impressions. If a business school is highly ranked, it’s likely doing something right.

However, fame alone doesn’t ensure the best fit for you. It’s crucial to look beyond rankings and find the B-school that best aligns with your goals and aspirations.

Close Rankings, Big Differences

There are many league tables in the business school landscape, with The Financial Times ranking being the most well-known in Europe and Asia. Rankings assess quality based on a variety of different criteria, such as graduate salaries, selectivity, and placement success. Criteria can vary even within the same source. For instance, while scientific research accounts for 10% of the FT’s MBA rankings, it’s not considered in its Master’s in Management ranking.

Despite the different criteria, top schools often appear in similar positions across various rankings. This consistency may seem logical, as the best schools are expected to rank highly, no matter which criteria are used. Also, if one ranking produced drastically different results from all others, it would likely lose credibility due to a lack of face validity, and such rankings typically disappear quickly.

That said, similar ranks within the same league table don’t necessarily indicate that programs are alike. In fact, there can be major differences. For example, HEC Paris and the University of St. Gallen consistently top the FT’s master’s ranking. But HEC has a tuition of about €60,000 and a class size of 600, while St. Gallen costs around €15,000 with just 50 students. These differences highlight the contrasting realities that similarly ranked programs can offer.

Clear Strength, Beyond Rank

Such differences can lead to varying student experiences, which makes it crucial to look beyond rankings and focus on a business school’s unique strengths and features. What matters most to you should take priority. Let me share two examples of business schools I’m most familiar with: ESCP Business School and Kühne Logistics University (KLU).

ESCP is notable for its six-campus structure across Europe and its multicultural approach, allowing students to study in multiple locations. If you’re passionate about different countries and want to develop your cultural intelligence, ESCP could be a great choice. Kühne Logistics University, as the name suggests, has deep roots in logistics and supply chain management, though it has grown into a full business school and management university. Consequently, all KLU programs leverage their expertise in logistics, emphasizing data-driven decision-making, efficiency, resilience, sustainability, and turning vision into action—in other words, getting things done. If these strengths resonate with you, KLU could be the right fit.

In addition to the strengths of a school, you might have more specific interests. For instance, if you’re planning an academic career, you may choose a school based on a specific professor or research area. Why wait until your PhD to connect with a professor whose work interests you? Don’t limit your priorities—your criteria can be as broad or specific as you like.

Complex Data, Better Instincts

Interpreting rankings can be complex and requires some knowledge. For instance, an institution’s research output can be measured in absolute terms, which disadvantages smaller schools with fewer professors, even if their per-capita research quality is high. Some rankings also require a minimum number of students to be included, which may exclude small, selective cohorts. To understand a ranking fully, you need to know how it works.

Fortunately, there are other ways to assess a B-school’s quality. Check LinkedIn to see where alumni work and what roles they hold— career prospects are a major reason for attending business school. Reach out to alumni, as their willingness to engage can indicate the strength of a school’s network. Look at the faculty—where they earned their PhDs can reveal academic caliber. Watching professors on YouTube can give you a sense of their teaching style. Visiting the campus or attending an event can give you a feel for the school’s culture and whether it’s the right fit.

Evaluating a business school takes time, but given the financial investment, it’s time well spent. Finally, trust your intuition. As fit should take priority over fame, instincts can sometimes matter more than data.

Andreas Kaplan, higher education expert and author of Business Schools Post-Covid-19: A Blueprint for Survival, is the former dean of ESCP Business School Paris (Sorbonne Alliance), and current president of Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg (Germany) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).