Top 10 MBA Programs in the U.S.

Nudging aside Stanford, Harvard emerged as the No. 1 program for the fifth time in six years in Poets&Quants’ composite ranking, evidence that an MBA from the school remains the quintessential credential in business.

Here are Poets&Quants’ top 10 U.S.-based MBA programs.

1 Harvard Business School

2014 Rank: 2

Applications For Class of 2017: 9,686

Incoming Class: 937

Average GMAT: 725

Female: 41%

International: 34%

2 Stanford Graduate School of Business

2014 Rank: 1

Applications For Class of 2017: 7,899

Incoming Class: 407

Average GMAT: 733

Female: 40%

International: 40%

3 University of Chicago Booth School of Business

2014 Rank: 4

Applications: 4,286

Incoming Class: 585

Average GMAT: 726

Female: 42%

International: 34%

4 University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business

2014 Rank: 3

Applications: 6,590

Incoming Class:861

Average GMAT: 732

Female: 43%

International: 32%

5 Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management

2014 Rank: 6

Applications: 4,400 (estimate)

Incoming Class: 492

Average GMAT: 724

Female: 43%

International: 40%

6 Columbia Business School

2014 Rank: 5

Applications: 5,829

Incoming Class: 762

Average GMAT: 715

Female: 36%

International: 42%

7 MIT Sloan School of Management

MIT Sloan
MIT Sloan's two-year MBA program is comprised of a combination of case studies, team projects, lectures, live case discussions, interactions with industry leaders, and hands-on lab classes. The first-semester core serves as a foundation for the rest of the program. Working with a team of five or six classmates, MIT students take courses in economics, accounting, managerial communication, business statistics, and organizational processes (as well as an elective in either strategic marketing or finance).

2014 Rank: 7

Applications: 4,254

Incoming Class: 402

Average GMAT: 716

Female: 41%

International: 38%

8 UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business

2014 Rank: 10

Applications: 3,592

Incoming Class: 246

Average GMAT: 715

Female: 41%

International: 40%

9 Dartmouth Tuck School of Business

2014 Rank: 8

Applications: 2,487 (estimate)

Incoming Class: 286

Average GMAT: 717

Female: 42%

International: 32%

10 Yale School of Management

2014 Rank: 12

Applications: 3,449

Incoming Class: 326

Average GMAT: 721

Female: 40%

International: 40%

Methodology: Poets&Quants's lineup of the best U.S. MBA programs combines the five most influential rankings. Those include rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times, and The Economist. Instead of merely averaging the five, each ranking is separately weighted to account for our view of their authority. U.S. News is given a weight of 35%, Forbes, 25%, both the FT and Businessweek are given a 15% weight, and The Economist receives a 10% weight.