What are the best MBA programs?

Hi!

I totally empathise with the confusion on the topic. It's very difficult to form an opinion from the outside. 

You can start from the following resource that will give you a thinking framework around how to select an MBA program (and also challenge you whether you really need it): 

• Expert Guide: Are MBAs worth it?

But beyond that I suggest that you also try and connect with current students or recent graduates and get their honest perspective on the program. 

Good luck!
Cristian

Hi,

there's a lot of different sources you can use to get information about MBAs and I would distinguish them in 2 buckets:

- Information about the program: courses, professors, student body, post MBA employment opportunities, campus...you name it. For these you can relate to the official brochures produced by the schools. I would read carefully the "Employment reports" that give you data on where the graduates of a specific class ended up working full-time (in terms of industry, company, geography, etc). Another very useful source are alumni, a coffee chat with someone who attended the MBA would give you the chance to interact with someone who lived the real experience and talk to you about the pros and cons of the program.

- MBA rankings: they give you the chance to "compare" different schools, the most important are published by the Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist and Poetsandquants.com. These ranks will give you an idea of which are the "best" programs worldwide but don't forget that they are based on a set of criteria (like how many alumni are employed 3 months after graduation, their weighted salaray n. years after graduation, their satisfaction rate, etc.) that is not consistent from one to the other, so the same MBA can be in different positions in different rankings, just to give you an example  in 2016 Insead was ranked 1st by the FT and 13th by the Economist.

Out of the many ways you have to assess the best MBA for you, I'll give you my view based on my personal experience: if you aren't sure about your future plans go for the program that inspires you the most, if you do have a future plan in terms of what job you want to do and where you want to work, consider the "geographic factor", which is more relevant than what you will read in most of the publications. So if you are interested in working in Venture Capital in the Silicon Valley, for example, try to get into an MBA that is in that area, the networking opportunities and the interactions with companies located there are obviously going to be more frequent than if you study somewhere else and that will be a key factor in your future job placement; this obviously doesn't mean you can't get a job in the Valley if you study in NYC or Chicago but it could be a bit more challenging due to the distance.

Hope this helped.

Best,

marco

I have a similar question... what are universities with good MBA programs other than the top mba schools (in case I'm not able to get into those)?

Hello! Best resources to look to rankings are Financial Times + Poets & Quants. 

On top of that... only personal preference :) 

Best, 

Clara 

I want to study MBA but couldn't decide which program is in demand and has a vast scope nowadays. I have searched and study about lot of programs but not able to decide. There are many universities that are offering online degree programs but these programs also have variations among courses as i have seen at this link. https://chestnuteducationgroup.ae/our-courses/ Kindly guide me about anything useful.