Hello everyone — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.
I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it.
No. 1: Poets&Quants’ Best Online MBA Programs For 2024
For the second straight year, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has topped Poets&Quants’ ranking of the best online MBA programs in the U.S. It’s the third time the Kelley Direct MBA has topped the ranking in the seven years we’ve run it, also winning in 2021.
The win makes Kelley the most dominant program of the ranking so far. In fact, it is one of just two business schools to land in the top five in every single year of the ranking. Moreover, in 2021, P&Q named Kelley Direct our MBA Program of the Year, the first and only time the honor was awarded to an online program.
You can see how all the top online MBA programs ranked, as well as a host of data on admissions, career outcomes, and alumni experience, in our online MBA ranking tab.
No. 2: Harvard Hit Hard By The 2023 MBA Job Market: Offers, Accepts & Total Comp All Decline
The standard measure of success for business schools is how well they place their MBAs three months after graduation: how many get job offers, and how many accept them. This fall, at school after school, placement rates are down, but nowhere were they down by more than Harvard Business School.
Last week, HBS published Class of 2023 employment data showing that 86% of this year’s grads received job offers 90 days after graduation, down from 95% one year ago, and 80% accepted, down 10 percentage points from last year’s 90%.
That’s one in five Harvard MBAs unemployed three months after graduating — as strong a sign of a tough jobs market as you’ll find anywhere.
You can find HBS’s full employment report, along with reports from other top MBA programs, in our MBA jobs page.
No. 3: HEC Paris Tops Financial Times’ Ranking Of European B-Schools
The Financial Times this week released its annual ranking of European business schools, and HEC Paris topped the list for the fifth straight year.
HEC is followed by London Business school in second place, Spain’s IESE Business School in third, the multinational ESCP Business School in fourth, and Italy’s SDA Bocconi School of Management in fifth.
INSEAD, which placed No. 3 just two years ago, slipped to 18th.
Read the full story and see which schools are the upswing, and which are trending down, on our homepage.
No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of News You Can Use
No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.
First up: The 7 Key Differences Between US And European MBA Programs.
In this story, now on our homepage, Former Director of Admissions at INSEAD discusses why an MBA at a top international school might be just what you’re looking for.
Next: What It Costs To Get An Online MBA. This story, compiled as part of our annual ranking of the best online MBA programs in the U.S., shows how much a quality program will set you back. You can find it in our online MBA ranking tab.
Finally: How To Successfully Reapply To MBA Programs: This story offers tips on reapplying to your dream school, even if you didn’t make the cut the first time around. xou can find in our admissions hub.
And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap.
I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.
Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay informed!
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