Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013; the business school ranking and programme costs are from 2013 and have changed since, and its description of Amancio Ortega as one of the world’s best businesspeople reflects that year.
Having an MBA can give you a big advantage in the business world, especially if you’ve chosen the right school. For the fourth year running, Business Insider has drawn up its own ranking of the best business schools in the world, this time for 2013.
The university that has produced the most successful entrepreneurs and millionaires, by a huge margin, is Harvard University, followed by Stanford. When various experts were asked why these universities create a kind of student that others don’t, many replied that it isn’t the money invested or the professors, or even the training (although obviously it all adds up). The secret of these universities is the contacts students make while they’re there: contacts with a clear entrepreneurial mindset, ambitious and creative.
Most of the best business schools tend to be American, although this year the University of Cambridge (#8), the University of Oxford (#9) and the London School of Economics (#19) made it into the top 20. They are great universities that are turning out more and more leading businesspeople.
So the top 10 business schools are as follows:
- 10. Boston University, Massachusetts, with tuition and fees of 74,000 dollars.
- 9. University of Oxford, UK, at 67,000 dollars.
- 8. University of Cambridge, UK, at 62,000 dollars; it is the university that has won the most Nobel prizes.
- 7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan), Cambridge, at 89,000 dollars; its Sloan School of Management has one of the most highly rated MBA programmes in the world.
- 6. Cornell University (Johnson), at 42,000 dollars.
- 5. Duke University (Fuqua), Durham, at 55,000 dollars.
- 4. Columbia University, New York, at 93,000 dollars; known as the university where Warren Buffett studied economics.
- 3. Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, at 94,000 dollars; it has turned out a high percentage of the new millionaires from today’s tech companies.
- 2. Yale University, New Haven, at 84,000 dollars.
- 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, at 91,000 dollars; it is the great point of reference in the business world.
As you can see, studying at these universities is far from cheap, which is why most Americans who don’t come from wealthy families tend to finish their degrees in debt because of student loans.
So if, for whatever reason, you would have liked to attend one of these universities to become more competitive in your career or in business, and unfortunately your finances and your family’s mean you can’t afford it, don’t be discouraged: Amancio Ortega (Inditex) didn’t go to any of these universities, and today he is one of the best businesspeople in the world.
Further reading
- The most lucrative university dropouts
- The best advice ever given to university students
- Which university degree to choose (2013)
Featured image: Brian Carlson from Overland Park, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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