- Feb 13, 2022
- 4 min read
Wharton Tops Financial Times MBA Ranking 2022 As Big Name B-Schools Return
Wharton is ranked the number one MBA program in the world in 2022 after opting out of the Financial Times MBA Ranking last year
The University of Pennsylvania Wharton MBA is the best in the world, according to the Financial Times MBA ranking 2022 ©David Tran
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is home to the world’s best MBA program, according to the 2022 Financial Times MBA Ranking. Wharton tops the FT MBA ranking for a record 11th time—the first since 2011—after placing second in 2020.
Wharton MBAs earn the highest salaries, a key metric for the FT, with an average alumni salary of $237,530 after three years around $77,000 above the average for all ranked schools.
Wharton's research output is bettered by only one other school. When recruiting, alumni of ranked schools placed Wharton sixth among institutions from which they'd want to employ graduates.
Wharton has bounced back from 2020 when more than 800 MBA students petitioned for lower tuition fees. The school, which boasts famous alumni including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, returned to participate in this year's FT MBA ranking after opting out last year.
Other M7 business schools, including the likes of Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business, also returned to dominate the ranking, taking six of the top 10 spots.
Columbia Business School achieved its highest ever finish, placing second behind Wharton, while INSEAD—who ranked top in 2021—and Harvard are joint in third place.
FT MBA Ranking 2022: US MBA programs dominate
With Wharton leading the way, the US dominates the Financial Times MBA ranking, with 14 schools featuring among the top 20.
Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management rose sixth places to rank fifth, ahead of Stanford who finished sixth, three places lower than 2020.
Only three non-US schools rank among the top 10, with INSEAD joined by London Business School, in eighth, and IESE Business School, in 10th place. MIT Sloan is the only M7 school to place outside the top 10, in 11th place.
Yale School of Management finishes in ninth place, while the schools of business at NYU Stern and University of California Berkeley also feature in the top 20. Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business dropped eight and nine places, but remain in the top 20.
US schools are helped by their strong salary prospects. The 10 schools with the highest earning graduates after three years are all US-based. Grads from Wharton, Stanford, and Columbia earn the most, with salaries between $218,000 and $237,000, far higher than the average of $161,000 across the top 100 programs.
France’s HEC Paris, ranked as the best business school in Europe by the FT, joins INSEAD and LBS as one of the top-ranked European MBA programs, in 11th place. Italy’s SDA Bocconi School of Management is ranked 13th in the world.
CEIBS is the only Asian school to feature among the top 20 best MBA programs, in 16th. National University of Singapore Business School narrowly misses out, finishing 21st. Both schools offer impressive salary jumps to students, with grads earning almost 150% more than their pre-MBA salary after graduation.
FT MBA Ranking 2022 Methodology
The Financial Times MBA ranking is based on surveys of more than 150 business schools who are accredited by either AACSB or EQUIS. The FT records data from schools and also surveys their alumni, three years after graduation.
Alumni responses are given a 61% weighting towards a school's final ranking. The highest weighted alumni criteria are salary today and salary increase, with both given 20%. Other important factors include value for money, career progress, aims achieved, and careers service.
School data makes up 29% of a school's ranking. This includes statistics on the percentage of female and international faculty, the number of faculty with doctorates, and the number of international students. Schools are also given an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rank based on the proportion of hours dedicated to ESG teaching, worth three percent.
The remaining 10% of a school's rank is attributed to research. Results are decided according to 20 criteria, school data makes up 11 criteria, alumni responses make up eight, and research makes up one.
The World's Best MBA Programs
*Weighted salary refers to the average salaries graduates earn three years after graduation
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Matt Kefford is Deputy Editor for GMAC.com, responsible for writing, editing, and producing multimedia content as well as driving content strategy for the website. A business education journalist for 5+ years, he regularly features as a judge on education industry awards and speaks at industry events.
Previously, Matt has written and produced content for national news organizations including The Sunday Times, i News, and Sky News, as well as a number of regional titles. Matt has a B.A. in History from the University of Leeds and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Sheffield. He is also a gold standard accredited journalist with the National Council for the Training of Journalists.