A new report asked prospective MBA students where they would study if money or admissions were no obstacle. There was a clear winner for the best business school: Harvard Business School.
The Cambridge-based MBA may be the oldest in the world—but its appeal to business school students shows no signs of ageing.
The school came out on top in the new global survey by Bloomberg Businessweek, which asked students where they would study an MBA if there were no obstacles. Just over 20% of respondents said Harvard, with 15% citing fellow US school Stanford. No other business school received more than 5% of the votes, including the other US institutions to appear such as top-ranked Wharton, MIT Sloan, Columbia, and Chicago Booth.
INSEAD Business School in France was the top-ranked European school in the list, finishing just ahead of London Business School. Oxford Saïd and Spain’s IESE Business School were the other European schools to feature.
The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore was the only school outside Europe or the US to receive votes. It’s also the top-ranked Indian MBA in the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking.
Harvard's reputation remains robust, despite a challenging year
The survey is a welcome vote for confidence for Harvard amid a challenging year for the school. The US government threatened to cut its federal funding and ban it from enrolling international students, which led to a high-profile recent court battle. Harvard has also suffered in major rankings, dropping out of the top 10 in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, and remaining outside the top five in the U.S. News ranking.
Meanwhile, 23% of Harvard Business School MBA class of 2024 graduates were still jobless three months after graduating—the highest unemployment rate among the elite group of M7 business schools.
But according to Andrew Crisp, co-founder of educational consultancy firm CarringtonCrisp, it shows that the prestige and reputation of a school can still outweigh factors like rankings or employment rates.
"The Harvard name opens doors. Just like Oxford and Cambridge, name recognition is high. Even if knowledge extends only a little beyond knowing the name, people have strong perceptions of what Harvard stands for—whether that is students considering study or employers recruiting.”
"It's all about the power of the brand,” believes Barbara Coward, founder of MBA 360 Admissions. “Telling someone you went to Harvard elevates how people perceive you, instilling immediate confidence and credibility. The brand's social capital is bigger than any individual ranking."
The strong showing for both Harvard and Stanford comes at a difficult time for US business schools. Official data released this week showed that international student arrivals to the US have fallen by 20% year-on-year, while a recent report by CarringtonCrisp found that the UK and Germany are now seen as more favorable study destinations than the US. Crisp believes that shift has been driven by a number of factors.
“Reputations can be tarnished and performance decline,” he explains. “There are plenty of football teams who have played in the [UK soccer] Premier League that now languish in the lower divisions. CarringtonCrisp's recent study, 'The Business of Branding', found that Germany had overtaken the US as a preferred destination for business education, driven by perceptions of lower study costs, greater opportunities to stay and work after graduation, and a growing number of high quality business schools."
The report also found that 26% of those who previously considered the US are reconsidering their plans in 2025. More than 20% worried that they would be unable to get a US visa or access enough employment opportunities after graduation.
As such, it remains to be seen whether the likes of Harvard and Stanford can continue to remain resilient in the face of such challenges. But Barbara Coward believes that they can.
“Demand might be down in some key market segments, but individual brands can still thrive,” she says. “Take Hermès, which is outperforming much of the luxury goods sector despite global economic headwinds due to tariffs and geopolitical tensions.”
“A brand's focus on exclusivity drives its desire. That's because human nature craves what we can't easily have. Harvard doesn't just "sell" degrees: it sells desire. Both Harvard and Hermès have mastered the scarcity principle. That's why I'm not worried about Harvard—and Stanford for that matter—amongst reports of a decline in international students.”
