If you’ve ever wanted to get your MBA—this is a great week to get started on the journey, in part thanks to the release of Fortune’s latest ranking of the best MBA programs for 2025.
The highly competitive ranking process saw that many of the top schools retain their clout—with Harvard Business School, University of Chicago (Booth), and Northwestern University (Kellogg) landing the coveted top three spots, respectively.
But there’s much more to meet the eye than the initial data shows. Each program is unique, and for many students, any ranking is just part of the decision-making process to figure out where is best for their own education and career goals.
Fortune used nearly a dozen different data points to gauge 98 MBA programs across the country. For context, these are the averages among all the programs:
What makes the best MBA programs the best?
Holistically-speaking, the best MBA program prepares students for the business world of today and tomorrow through a modern lens. Students become the best at problem solving, critical thinking, and making data-driven decisions. Having an industry-experienced faculty and a constantly-evolving curriculum are paramount.
Looking more quantitatively, the best programs are highly sought after, and thus students enter with competitive application materials, including multiple years of professional work experience, decent undergraduate GPA, and high GMAT or GRE scores. Because of the growing costs of higher education, Fortune also weighs high tuition negatively. Once in the program, exceptional retention and graduation rates are key. Finally, after graduation, success is indicated by the ability to land jobs with high-paying salaries.
View this interactive chart on Fortune.com
The M7 schools often check all of these boxes. Take Northwestern University (Kellogg), for example. Entrants had median GMAT scores of 740 and average undergraduate GPAs of 3.7. Retention and graduation rates are both above 99%. Three months post-grad, about 92% of students seeking a job were able to land one—with median salaries of $175,000.
Fortune also heavily factors unique data from our lists of the biggest companies in the country.
This in part has helped some programs soar in the ranking. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) is a glaring example. The school’s MBA program is the alma mater to 19 Fortune 1000 CEOs and CFOs.
“I’m proud of the momentum here at Olin and honestly not surprised that an outsized share of our students make it to the C-Suite. At Olin, we’re a tight-knit, hyper-connected community: We have the unique ability to provide a truly individualized educational experience,” Mike Mazzeo, dean of the Olin Business School, tells Fortune.
The school’s faculty, alumni network, and regional business community contribute heavily to students’ success at Olin, he adds.
“Students choose Olin because they know our approach makes them ready on day 1 and poised for career 6," Mazzeo says.
WashU experienced the biggest jump of any school this year, rising 18 spots to No. 21.
Sleeper MBA programs with stories to tell
Experts will remind candidates to not forget to look at programs that typically fall outside of the top of the top in the rankings since they often have very similar statistics in terms of outcomes, but may be slightly less competitive and expensive.
Take, for example, the University of Texas–Austin (McCombs). Fortune deemed them to be the No. 12 best MBA program (an increase of five positions from last year). The cost of tuition per year is about $60,000—which is nearly $20,000 cheaper than many of the top 20 programs. And guess what, their students have almost identical job land rate and salary outcomes as the M7.
Georgia Tech (Scheller), the No. 19 best MBA program, has a similar story to tell. Graduates typically see median annual salaries of $165,000, and the tuition is just $42,790 per year. Plus, the school does not require students to submit GMAT/GRE scores to apply.
One of the universities that may be an even greater bang-for-your buck—as long as you are willing to live in Utah—is Brigham Young University. The school was ranked No. 37 for 2025, but the tuition per year for students is only about $15,500. That’s significant especially considering graduates leave the program with about $120,000 in median base salary.
The 5 cheapest MBA programs
The 5 easiest top MBA programs to get into
If you’re looking to go to a top MBA program, but are worried about getting accepted, then the percentage of applicants receiving an offer is likely top of your mind. Among the top 25 programs, the University of Washington (Foster) has the highest acceptance rate.
How does the ranking actually work?
We will be the first to say that the rankings world is not perfect. Each year, schools will be happy if they rose, and frustrated if they declined. However, we hope to just provide applicants a glimpse into how schools compare to each other with metrics we feel best measure success.
Fortune’s ranking is based on an opt-in process, meaning only schools that respond to Fortune’s invitation and submit a response to our data questionnaire have the ability to be included. This is done in order to judge programs with the most consistent, consistent, and across-the-board data metrics. While many schools release data about their applicants and graduates, specifics often differ from school to school.
Fortune reached out to more than 200 schools this year, and close to 100 chose to participate. Some schools that typically appear on Fortune’s rankings, such as Georgetown University, Babson College, and Marquette University, decided to not participate this time. We hope to see them back next year.
There were also several new-comers to our list this year, including University of Georgia (Terry), San Jose University State University (Lucas), and Troy University (Sorrell).
With a revised methodology as well as different schools, there is bound for ranking change. The biggest ranking risers were:
- Washington University in St. Louis (Olin): No. 21 (+18)
- University of Tennessee-Knoxville (Haslam): No. 36 (+16)
- Southern Methodist University (Cox): No. 30 (+13)
- University of Massachusetts–Amherst (Isenberg): No. 41 (+13)
The biggest decreases were:
- Indiana State University (Scott): No. 60 (-35)
- University of San Diego (Knauss): No. 87 (-29)
- CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College (Zicklin): No. 76 (-29)
- University of Denver (Daniels): No. 83 (-28)
However, ultimately, while ranking can be important, it is not an end-all-be-all assessment of one school. It should merely present prospective candidates a general idea of the level of prestige one school may be on par with—and where they might take their career.
Harvard Business School declined to comment for this piece.
Check out all of Fortune’s rankings of degree programs, and learn more about specific career paths.
