The Best Speciality MBA Programs in the U.S.
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In college you had to pick a major, which may or may not have had an impact on what you actually did after graduating. In business school, it’s a different story. The concentration or track you choose in business school largely determines the kind of job you’ll get after you obtain your MBA. This makes sense as business school, like most graduate programs, is about obtaining specialized knowledge and skills and making connections that will help you pursue a particular career path.
Business school should be approached as a necessary step on a journey towards a specific destination — perhaps to direct marketing for a fortune 500 company or follow your passion to become a serial entrepreneur or change industries to go into supply chain and logistics. Your choice in where to attend should correspond to what you want to go on to accomplish after business school. There’s more schools with stellar programs than just the well-known institutions, especially when you sort by specialities. Who would have thought to see Georgia State sandwiched between Wharton and Stanford in a top-10 listing?
We’ve reproduced U.S. News’ business school rankings for speciality programs along with GMAT data to show the current best schools in finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, management, accounting, information systems, nonprofit, supply chain and logistics, and product and operations in the U.S.
Finance
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 2 | University of Chicago (Booth) | 724 |
| 3 | New York University (Stern) | 721 |
| 4 | Columbia University | 716 |
| 5 | Stanford | 732 |
| 6 | MIT (Sloan) | 713 |
| 7 | University of California – Berkeley (Haas) | 717 |
| 8 | University of California - Los Angeles | 714 |
| 9 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 713 |
| 9 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
Entrepreneurship
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Babson College (Olin) | 641 |
| 2 | Stanford | 732 |
| 3 | MIT (Sloan) | 713 |
| 4 | Harvard University | 726 |
| 5 | University of California – Berkeley (Haas) | 717 |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 7 | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 8 | University of Texas - Austin (McCombs) | 700 |
| 9 | Indiana University- Bloomington (Kelley) | 669 |
| 10 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 690 |
Marketing
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwestern University (Kellogg) | 713 |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 3 | Stanford University | 732 |
| 4 | Harvard University | 726 |
| 5 | Duke University (Fuqua) | 697 |
| 6 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 7 | Columbia University | 716 |
| 8 | University of Chicago (Booth) | 724 |
| 9 | New York University (Stern) | 721 |
| 10 | University of California – Berkeley (Haas) | 717 |
Management
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harvard | 726 |
| 2 | Stanford | 732 |
| 3 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 5 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 713 |
| 6 | Dartmouth College (Tuck) | 716 |
| 7 | University of Virginia (Darden) | 706 |
| 8 | University of California - Berkeley (Haas) | 717 |
| 9 | Columbia University | 716 |
| 9 | Duke University (Fuqua) | 697 |
Accounting
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Texas - Austin (McCombs) | 700 |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 1 | University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign | 666 |
| 4 | University of Chicago (Booth) | 724 |
| 5 | Stanford University | 732 |
| 6 | Brigham Young University (Marriott) | 667 |
| 7 | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 8 | New York University (Stern) | 721 |
| 9 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 690 |
| 10 | Indiana University - Bloomington (Kelley) | 669 |
| 10 | University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) | 700 |
Information Systems
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MIT (Sloan) | 713 |
| 2 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 693 |
| 3 | University of Arizona (Eller) | 646 |
| 3 | University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Carlson) | 689 |
| 5 | University of Texas - Austin (McCombs) | 700 |
| 6 | University of Maryland - College Park (Smith) | 668 |
| 7 | New York University (Stern) | 721 |
| 8 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 9 | Georgia State University (Robinson) | 554 |
| 10 | Stanford University | 732 |
Non-Profit
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yale | 722 |
| 2 | Stanford | 732 |
| 3 | University of California - Berkeley (Haas) | 717 |
| 4 | Harvard University | 726 |
| 5 | Northwestern University (Kellogg) | 713 |
| 6 | Columbia University | 716 |
| 6 | Duke University (Fuqua) | 697 |
| 6 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 9 | New York University (Stern) | 721 |
Supply Chain/Logistics
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MIT (Sloan) | 713 |
| 2 | Michigan State University (Broad) | 665 |
| 3 | Arizona State University (Carey) | 672 |
| 4 | Ohio State University (Fisher) | 664 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania State University (Smeal) | 657 |
| 6 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 693 |
| 7 | Stanford University | 732 |
| 8 | University of Tennessee - Knoxville | 612 |
| 9 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 10 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
Production/Operations
| Ranking | School | Average GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MIT (Sloan) | 713 |
| 2 | Carnegie Mellon University | 693 |
| 3 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross) | 706 |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 728 |
| 5 | Stanford University | 732 |
| 6 | Northwestern University (Kellogg) | 713 |
| 7 | Purdue University – West Lafayette (Krannert) | 631 |
| 8 | Harvard University | 726 |
| 9 | Columbia University | 716 |
| 10 | Ohio State University (Fisher) | 664 |
4 Comments
Any chance you could do this for HR MBA’s?
Any chance you could do this for HR MBA’s??
Hey Josh,
Good suggestion, especially since finding info and rankings for MBAs with HR concentrations is difficult. Because HR accounts for a small portion of the jobs MBA graduates go into, not many organizations provide data or rankings on this speciality.
However, that doesn’t mean there are not any good HR MBA programs out there. A good place to start is this blog post. It’s a little old, but the programs it ranks are worth looking into.
Hope this helps!
-The Prep4GMAT team
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