BusinessWeek has published the definitive ranking of US business schools since 1988. Between rankings, B-schools have changed deans, altered curriculums, stressed new expertise among their grads, and attracted or lost recruiters. Occasionally, the publication has also changed its methodology, most recently in 2015. Such shifts have prompted interesting moves in the magazine’s B-school rankings.
In the table below, you can see how the leading U.S. programs have fared over the years.
Please note that the table includes only the schools that have ever ranked within the top 20 as per BusinessWeek.
Click on the year to change the sorting.
2015 Rank | School | 2014 Rank | 2012 Rank | 2010 Rank | 2008 Rank | 2006 Rank | 2004 Rank | 2002 Rank | 2000 Rank | 1998 Rank | 1996 Rank | 1994 Rank | 1992 Rank | 1990 Rank | 1988 Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harvard Business School | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
2 | Chicago Booth | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
3 | Northwestern Kellogg | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
4 | MIT Sloan | 14 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 15 |
5 | The Wharton School | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
6 | Columbia Business School | 5 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 14 |
7 | Stanford GSB | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
8 | Duke Fuqua | 1 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 10 |
9 | UC Berkeley Haas | 19 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 17 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 17 |
10 | Michigan Ross | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
11 | Yale SOM | 6 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 19 | 22 | 14 | 19 | 20 | 22 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | 19 |
12 | Virginia Darden | 20 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 7 |
13 | UCLA Anderson | 11 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 10 | 16 |
14 | Dartmouth Tuck | 15 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
15 | Emory Goizueta | 18 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 22 | 28 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
16 | Cornell Johnson | 13 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 5 |
17 | UNC Kenan-Flagler | 12 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 10 | 12 | 8 |
18 | Carnegie Mellon Tepper | 10 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 13 |
19 | Rice Jones | 25 | 34 | 29 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
20 | Washington Foster | 37 | 37 | 31 | 27 | N.A. | 23 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 17 | N.A. | 20 | N.A. | N.A. |
21 | Austin McCombs | 23 | 19 | 25 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 17 | N.A. | 18 | N.A. |
24 | NYU Stern | 22 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 18 |
25 | USC Marshall | 21 | 28 | 26 | 25 | N.A. | 27 | 17 | 24 | 25 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
28 | Indiana Kelley | 16 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 12 |
31 | Notre Dame Mendoza | 29 | 20 | 24 | 20 | 26 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
32 | SMU Cox | 32 | 29 | 12 | 18 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
33 | Maryland Smith | 17 | 24 | 42 | 26 | 25 | 28 | 25 | 27 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
34 | Vanderbilt Owen | 30 | 25 | 37 | 30 | N.A. | 30 | 28 | N.A. | 24 | N.A. | 19 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
53 | Purdue Krannert | 43 | 41 | 41 | Second Tier | N.A. | 21 | 26 | 25 | 24 | N.A. | 20 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
Here’s a chart that tracks the schools’ ranks over time: you can examine which B-schools are on an upward climb, or a downward spiral.
You can click on the school name to highlight its progression over time.