10 Best MBAs in the United States

MBA: Business Administration

For those who are interested in taking this next big step, we have brought you the list of the ten best MBAs in universities in the United States for you to start your search. Any of these will enable high-quality global education, hands-on experience and internships, and networking with professionals from around the world.

Top 10 MBAs in the United States

The TopMBA ranking – or, its full name – QS World University Rankings: Global MBA Rankings – is part of QS’s Global Top 10 series, several lists of the best universities in the world according to the field of study.

In the most recent edition, there was a tie for first place. Mystery? Both universities are American. Stanford University excels in return on investment, entrepreneurship, and graduate success. Wharton, on the other hand, fared better in diversity, employability and leadership.

QS uses five quality indicators in its methodology to evaluate all universities. The percentage is the weight of each indicator in the final grade:

• Employability: 40%
• Entrepreneurship and graduate success: 15%
• Return on investment: 20%
• Leadership: 15%
• Diversity in classes and faculty: 10%

QS is helped by thousands of global employers, alumni and business leaders who vote and evaluate universities each year.

The United States always performs exemplarily in the TopMBA rankings. In fact, the top ten that we will list below were all among the top 20 in the world!

Stanford University

• =1st place in the United States
• =1st place in the world

The Graduate School of Business at Stanford University is made up of several departments and specializations.

Ready for the huge list? Accounting, e-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Non-Profit Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Portfolio Management, Public Administration, Public Policy, Real Estate, Sports Business, Supply Chain Management/Logistics, Statistics/Quantitative Analysis, Operations Research and Technology.

The annual tuition fee for a one-year full-time MBA program averages $70,590 per year. If you’re up for the expense and competition, the admissions process always runs until April every year.

According to the official website of Stanform Business, the MBA program lasts for two years full-time and results in a general academic degree in management. The course helps its students develop their own vision and the right skills to achieve it.

University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

• =1st place in the United States
• =1st place in the world

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) was the first business school in the United States. It currently has the largest alumni network in the world.

Wharton has two types of MBAs: full-time, which costs $72,300 a year; and the executive, with a total cost of US$ 205,200.

A distinctive feature of Penn is that students can choose dual degrees in partnership with other schools and colleges at the University, such as:

• Accelerated MBA & Professional Doctorate of Law from Penn School of Law;
• An MBA & Master of Arts (M.A.) in International Studies from Penn;
• An MBA from Penn & an academic degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Governance.

MIT (Sloan)

• =3rd place in the United States
• =3rd place in the world

The Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the famous MIT, has an MBA with a strong international focus, allowing several opportunities to study and work abroad during the two years of the course, including in India and China.

The MBA costs $74,200 per year full-time. According to Sloan’s official website, the school’s mission is invention. “Here, we discover the interesting and important challenges of tomorrow.

Sloan’s departments and specializations: Accounting, e-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Information Systems Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Supply Chain Management/Logistics, Operations Research and Statistics/Quantitative Analysis, Tax, and Technology.

Harvard University

• 4th place in the United States
• 5th place in the world

Harvard University Business School offers a mostly hands-on MBA through the case method, which presents real problems and students must analyze and solve them as a team. Experiential learning includes field study, when classes evaluate existing organizations and go on immersion trips. These are intense weeks of on-site studies all over the United States or, often, in another country during the winter holidays.

Harvard Business School (HBS) also has a huge list of departments and specializations: Accounting, Consulting, e-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, and many others.

Harvard students can take a dual MBA and PhD degree in partnership with the University’s schools of Law, Medicine, and Government. The annual MBA fee is $73,440.

University of Chicago (Booth)

• 5th place in the United States
• 8th place in the world

The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business offers three MBA options:

Integral

$72,000 per year

21 months duration

13 different specializations

Part-time

$7,130 per credit

Options to study in the evenings or on weekends

Flexibility to complete between 2.5 to 5 years

Executive

$189,000 for the full course

21 months duration

18 compulsory subjects and four electives

5 weeks of classes abroad

Booth has the following departments and specializations: Accounting, e-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, International Business, Marketing, Information Systems Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Public Policy, and Operations Research and Statistics/Quantitative Analysis.

UC Berkeley (Haas)

• 6th place in the United States
• 9th in the world

The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley benefits from its San Francisco campus location near Silicon Valley, the world’s largest hub for technology, innovation and startup companies such as Google, Facebook and Visa. It is a very convenient place to find internships during your studies.

Students choose between a traditional 21-month MBA or a three-year MBA with classes in the evenings or on Saturdays. There is also a 19-month program for entrepreneurs called Berkeley MBA for Executives.

Haas Departments and Specializations: Accounting, Consulting, e-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Portfolio Management, Public Administration, Public Policy, Real Estate, Supply Chain Management/Logistics, Operations Research and Statistics/Quantitative Analysis, and Technology.

The values of the different MBAs for international students:

• Full – $61,442 per year
• Part-time – $3,363 per credit
• Executive – $190,550 for the full program

Northwestern University (Kellogg)

• 7th place in the United States
• 10th in the world

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management also has different MBA options, such as full-time and part-time, with classes in the evenings or on Saturdays. There’s also how to earn additional credits toward a master’s degree in design innovation from Northwestern’s School of Engineering and Applied Science or a law doctorate from the School of Law.

In addition, outside of the classroom, students can engage with dozens of the University’s research centers, including General Motors for Management Strategy and the Center for Executive Women.

Kellogg’s departments and specializations: Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Production/Operations Management, Operational Behavior, Public Policy, and Real Estate.

The full MBA costs $71,544 per year; part-time, $6,950 per credit; and the executive, $104,076 for the full program.

Columbia University

• 8th place in the United States
• 11th place in the world

Columbia Business School at Columbia University has application deadlines in January and August. One of the advantages of this school is its location in New York, a hub of companies and organizations from different sectors, which exposes students to different case studies, environments and professionals.

There are two course options: the more traditional full-time MBA (US$74,400 per year) and the Executive MBA.

Columbia is comprised of the departments and specializations of Accounting, Consulting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Production/Operations Management , Portfolio Management, Real Estate, Operations Research and Statistics/Quantitative Analysis, and Technology.

UCLA (Anderson)

• 9th place in the United States
• 13th place in the world

The Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has a traditional full-time MBA with one year of mandatory courses followed by another year of elective courses. Students have the chance to choose from different specializations and paths or one of ten joint programs, including an MBA/JD with the Law School of Law or an MBA/Md with the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.

In addition, Anderson has partnerships with the National University of Singapore and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, in Chile, to teach the Global Executive MBA with a part abroad.

The available specializations are as follows: Accounting, Consulting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Management, Healthcare Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Non-Profit Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Portfolio Management, Real Estate, Sports Business, Supply Chain Management/Logistics and Technology.

The full MBA costs US$59,866 per year for international students and the Executive has a total cost of US$81,120.

Yale University

• 10th place in the United States
• 18th place in the world

As part of the Yale University School of Management’s integrated MBA, students study “raw” cases, analyzing a variety of materials, such as stock charts and articles, rather than standard business case studies.

All MBA students complete the Leadership Development Program as well as the global studies module, which usually includes a trip abroad. Elective courses in the curriculum can be taken at other Yale schools and colleges, such as the Faculty of Law.

Yale School of Management departments and specializations: Accounting, Consulting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Finance, General Management, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, International Business, Leadership, Production and Technology Management, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Portfolio Management, Public Administration, Real Estate, Supply Chain Management/Logistics, and Operations Research and Statistics/Quantitative Analysis.