Harvard, Stanford fall to shockingly low levels in this latest MBA ranking

The two business schools have fallen out of the top 10 on this particular list.

Feb 14, 2024 - 04:30

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Harvard, Stanford fall to shockingly low levels in this latest MBA ranking

If you think about some of the top business schools in the world, chances are you're going to think of Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

But on the global MBA list for 2024 released by the Financial Times on Sunday, Feb. 11, neither of the iconic institutions even made the top ten. Harvard finished just out of the top ten at No. 11, while Stanford shockingly dropped all the way to No. 23.

In 2023, the two schools were tied for fourth on the Financial Times' list, and in 2022, Harvard finished third while Stanford was sixth. The two schools did make the top ten in US News 2023-2024 Best Business Schools list, with Harvard at fourth and Stanford at sixth.

University of Pennsylvania: Wharton topped this year's list, while France-based INSEAD and Columbia Business School rounded out the top three. Other schools that made the top-10 were Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (tied-sixth), MIT's Sloan (tied-sixth, and London Business School (eighth).

There are several reasons that could explain why these two top institutions fell down the rankings on the Financial Times' list. The publication did not respond to TheStreet's request for comment in time for this story, but their website does explain the methodology behind each of the rankings.

First, there is an entry criteria that includes surveys of alumni from the past three years where at least 20% of total alumni must respond. It's unclear whether this is the reason why Harvard and Stanford were actually not on the list in 2021 and neither was this year's leader, Wharton.

The methodology also considers 21 criteria, eight of comes from the alumni surveys and has a weight of 56% of the results. Another 12 criteria comes from data given by the school and accounts for 34%, while the remaining 10% is for the research.

Interestingly, when the list is ranked by weighted salary — which is the alumni's average salary three years after completion — Stanford leads the way while Harvard comes in second and Wharton is in third. And that criteria is actually tied for the largest weight on the score at 16%.

But Wharton managed to be consistent across the board — except in value for money, where it ranked 95th — while Stanford and Harvard did not perform particularly well in some categories.

Harvard and Stanford tied for last out of the 100 schools in sector diversity rank, which takes into account the diversity of sectors of students at the time they were admitted.

Another factor that's affecting these schools is Covid. When the 2020 list of the Financial Times was published in Feb. 2020, Harvard and Stanford were in the top three with Wharton sandwiched in between.

But the pandemic has put a wrench in the operation of many institutions — and plans of many students and post grads — which may represent a significant factor in these rankings.

Rankings are ultimately arbitrary and change depending on the different criteria by each evaluator, so it's important for any student — or critic — to be mindful of all factors involved in these list.

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