P&Q’s Must Reads: The Financial Times MBA Ranking Now Encourages U.S. Schools To Break The Law

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: The Financial Times MBA Ranking Now Encourages U.S. Schools To Break The Law

Among the 21 different metrics used by the Financial Times to rank full-time MBA programs are a number of measures that have little to do with quality and can easily be labeled politically correct boxes that the newspaper asks business schools to check. They include penalties or awards for schools based on the diversity of students, faculty, and advisory board members by gender and citizenship.

Under today’s Trump Administration, all of those seven diversity metrics are illegal. 

So, what is a U.S. business school supposed to do? Poets&Quants founder John Byrne has some ideas in this commentary, which you can find in our trending tab.

No. 2: The Daunting Challenge Facing U.S. Business Schools 

In the first four decades as an economics professor and dean, Yale’s Edward A. Snyder saw demand for U.S. management education rise both domestically and around the world. The upcoming academic year may very well be different. 

In this guest column, Snyder says U.S. business schools are now facing the biggest challenge in their collective history. For one, recent attacks on international student visas could discourage these students from a U.S. degree for years to come. For another, the U.S. Senate’s proposed tax increase on private university endowments. 

The coming changes will put American B-School deans in uncomfortable positions. 

Read the full column from our news tab.

No. 3: GRE Scores & Submission Rates At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs 

The GRE has steadily gained ground on the GMAT in MBA admissions over the last several years, and the latest admission cycle is no different. The upward trend for the GRE has continued even in the wake of the launch of the shortened GMAT.

According to the latest available data, 17 of 54 top U.S. MBA programs received more GRE than GMAT submissions in the most recent admissions cycle — a figure that has nearly doubled since 2022. Even more telling, nine of the top 10 U.S. business schools saw an increase in GRE volume this year, continuing a quiet but consistent shift that’s been building over the last decade.

Read more about the trend, and see all the GRE and GMAT data for top U.S. schools, in this story. You’ll find it on our homepage.

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: Want A Career In Climate? Advice On Making The Most Of Your Time As An MBA Student.  In this article, now up on our homepage, b-school educators describe how to align your degree with impact-driven climate work. 

Next: How To Stand Out In The Application Pile. In this article, learn how to sidestep the overflowing buckets of banker, consultant, and tech profiles – and craft an application that truly shines. Find it in our admission hub.

Finally:  5 Tips To Craft A Killer MBA Resume: This story, up on our homepage, offers valuable insider tips with specific examples.

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.