The best MBA alumni networks

The ability to connect with alumni is one of the main perks of any program—the connection built by alumni status can be second to none. If you attend a certain school, you could be in the same directory as names like Tim Cook (Duke Fuqua), Satya Nadella (Chicago Booth), or Michael Bloomberg (Harvard)—the list goes on.

But more importantly, networking with fellow alumni can be the key to your next internship, job, or simply an invite to an exclusive event. As a result, business schools and their applicants highly value the prestige that their alumni bring.

To try to answer the question of what school has the best alumni network, Fortune analyzed the top 25 best MBA programs. In making this assessment, we looked at four different factors, including recent graduation class sizes (collected by Fortune over the years via questionnaire) as well as the number of alumni who are now C-suite alumni at Fortune 1000 companies. (See our methodology for more information).

The best MBA alumni networks

The Magnificent 7, or M7, business schools are home to most of the best MBA alumni networks—with Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), and Chicago (Booth) being among the top three. Duke (Fuqua), UVA (Darden), and NYU (Stern) are the non-M7 schools with the best networks. Each of the top placed schools on this list have many Fortune 1000 C-suite MBA alumni as well as somewhat larger cohort sizes.

However, it is notable that some schools, such as HBS, only have a traditional, in-person program. Other schools also have substantial online, executive, or part-time MBA options that are part of their alumni network (this data was not considered in this assessment).

MBA programs by the numbers

Many of the best of the best MBA programs tend to have some of the biggest programs. All have around at least 400 graduates each year. 

HBS exceeds that number, though—with closer to 1,000 graduates in its class of 2023 cohort. In total, the school claims to have more than 90,000 alumni in 173 countries. According to the school, more than 9,800 alumni and friends of the school donated $158 million in fiscal year 2023 alone.

Other large networks include Wharton's more than 100,000 graduates globally, the 65,000 alumni of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Columbia University with 45,000 MBA alums. The latter school—Columbia—reported that between 2022 and 2023, more than 7,300 donors contributed $44 million in gifts to its business school. 

Meanwhile, smaller MBA alumni networks can be just as effective. In fact, some may find that smaller networks are the strongest. 

Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, for example, has a smaller class size with approximately 280 to 290 students per year, but this can create a group of dedicated alumni. In fact, the school self-proclaims to have the “world’s best alumni giving participation rate,” with over 61% of alumni making a gift in fiscal year 2022.

Business schools: leading university investment

If you’ve been on a college campus tour, you'll recognize that oftentimes the business schools have some of the biggest and shiniest buildings on campus—and alumni play a big role in this. Schools across the country are constantly touting new investments from graduates.

For example, both Texas A&M University (Mays) and Arizona State University (Carey) recently announced $25 million donations to fund new buildings and programming. Vanderbilt University (Owens) is planning to build an entirely new campus in West Palm Beach, Florida—and alumni alone are working to raise $300 million.

The endowments at universities are also increasingly massive. While many schools do not release specifics about their business school endowment in particular, others do. HBS’s endowment, for instance, was valued at $5.1 million as of June 2023. For context, Indiana University—which has the No. 25 best alumni network according to our assessment, has an entire university endowment of $3.558 billion.

The takeaway: Should I base my decision on the alumni network alone?

If you are someone who loves LinkedIn and handing out your business card, picking a school with a strong alumni network can certainly be a great idea. While one of the largest selling-points of any MBA experience is networking, it should only be one factor when making a decision. Ultimately, all programs have positive aspects to their alumni network and you could easily become their next generation of alumni leaders.

Many universities have dozens of paid staff dedicated to their supporting alumni, but a willingness from alumni to give back their time and money time and time again to the program they attended also contributes heavily to the strength of its network. Some schools may give you access to alumni directories, events, or even continuing education opportunities.

It is up to you whether you take advantage of the said and unsaid advantages of your school’s alumni network. By being an active member, you can ensure that your MBA experience will be a lifelong investment.

Methodology

To create a list of the best MBA alumni networks, we analyzed four different factors, including recent graduation class sizes of traditional, full-time MBA programs (collected by Fortune over the years via questionnaire) as well as the number of alumni who are now C-suite alumni at Fortune 1000 companies:

• Fortune 1000 score: 40%
• Size of graduating class, 2023: 20%
• Size of graduating class, 2022: 20%
• Size of graduating class, 2021: 20% 

While this formula is not perfect—and could be boosted by data some schools keep tight to their chest, like exact number of alumni, their successes, and donor information—our calculation is one way to see which schools have the current and future generation of business leaders.

It is notable that some schools, such as HBS, only have a traditional MBA program. Other schools also have substantial online, executive, or part-time MBA options that are part of their alumni network (though this data was not considered in this assessment).

Frequently asked questions

Check out all of Fortune’s rankings of degree programs, and learn more about specific career paths.