1. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
2. University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School
3. Thunderbird School of Global Management
4. University of Southern California Marshall School of Business
5. University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School
The schools were ranked based on student rankings, corporate rankings, and an evaluation of the skills taught. Student and corporate rankings were each given 40% weight, and the corporate skills score was given 20% weight.
What are some of the characteristics of the top two Kellogg and Wharton are both big programs, with 843 people enrolled in the seven programs offered by Kellogg and 403 people enrolled in the two programs offered by Wharton. Also, these two programs got very high marks from corporations, high enough to outweigh somewhat lower rankings by the students. The top student-ranked school was the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, whose overall rank was number 5.
Surveyed were over 4,000 students and recent graduates from 72 executive MBA programs at 53 schools in nine different countries. Additionally, 455 human resources and executive development managers across 23 industries were surveyed on the education received at executive MBA programs. Management Resource Group of Portland, Maine developed the survey and analyzed the results.
Five “Hidden Gems” were schools that received great marks, but did not have a large enough response rate to qualify for the overall list. They are:
1. Ashridge Business School, Ashridge, UK
2. Em Lyon Business School, Lyon, France
3. Mannheime Business School, Mannheim, Germany
4. Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management
5. University of Miami School of Business Administration