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As we approach the end of the year, many MBA hopefuls are already considering their strategies for the 2025–2026 application season. Deciding which schools to target can seem like an overwhelming task. Of all the top MBA programs out there, which one is right for you? What makes an MBA program stand out from the rest?

Many MBA applicants look at rankings when they begin to choose their target schools. MBA rankings can be an easy way to get a general idea of the top MBA programs, but rankings should be regarded as what they are: simply one aspect of the application process. The schools included among the top ten or top 15 in MBA rankings are undoubtedly all great programs; they are not, however, right for every applicant.

For example, Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) can be found near or at the top of global MBA rankings each year. Both are certainly wonderful institutions that attract applicants from around the world, but they are two completely different schools. For one, HBS uses the case method in nearly all classes, while the teaching methods at Stanford GSB range from lecture and case method to simulation and action-based learning. All top business schools teach their MBA students such essential skills as problem solving and leadership management. How the basics are taught and what lies beyond the basics, however, vary greatly among schools. Therefore, take MBA rankings with a grain of salt.

Consider the fact that MBA rankings have been published for more than two decades, and most (if not all) of the schools on top have stayed within the top 20 throughout the years. Which business school is ranked number one in any given year matters much less than maintaining consistent quality.

If you are looking for excellence in a particular aspect, however, rankings may be a useful tool for research. For example, an applicant who is interested in joining a nonprofit for an internship during their studies or for employment after graduation would benefit from looking at the U.S. News & World Report MBA ranking for nonprofit management, where the Yale School of Management is consistently ranked number one. Also, the New York University Stern School of Business is well known for its finance program and is often ranked highly by U.S. News for finance MBA programs.

With regard to schools that consistently rank among the best in the world, one can turn to the so-called M7 to gain a general idea. The M7 is a group of top business schools within the United States that are known to provide continuously high-quality education and career outcomes for their students. The M7 consists of HBS, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford GSB, Columbia Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, and the Chicago Booth School of Business. We at mbaMission offer our extensive and detailed Insider’s Guides on 17 business schools, including the M7 schools. Below, we offer a glimpse into each of these schools.

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What does a 3.8 GPA + a 670 GMAT Classic score + four years of work experience + three years of community service equal? It could equal a letter of admission or rejection. However, knowing with absolute certainty is impossible because admissions is not a science. If it were, the Admissions Office would just do away with the entire time- and resource-consuming admissions process and use a simple formula. Why not make life that much easier for everyone?

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How can you convert your GRE score to a GMAT score? And should you? We get questions all the time on the topic of the GRE versus the GMAT. Our GRE-taking clients want to know what their equivalent GMAT score would be to ensure that they fall within the GMAT range for their target schools. Unfortunately, no exact conversion for these tests exists. Although you can plug your GRE score into the ETS site to see the general range of equivalent (“predicted”) GMAT scores, that does not give you the full picture!

Most U.S. business schools accept both the GMAT and the GRE (and some even accept the executive assessment—we see you, Columbia Business School and NYU Stern!), but the GRE has historically trailed the GMAT as the standardized test of choice for MBA programs. However, it has gained significant traction in recent years, and now, approximately 30% of applicants to the top 25 business schools submit GRE scores. Because of the GRE’s “newer” status, though, the range of acceptable GRE scores has historically been a bit more flexible than the range of GMAT scores.

Take, for example, Kellogg’s admissions stats: the average GMAT score for incoming members of the Class of 2025 was 731. The median GRE scores for this same group of students were 163 Verbal and 163 Quant. According to the ETS conversion tool, these GRE scores equated to a predicted GMAT score of 690, more than 50 points lower than the school’s average. Essentially, Kellogg admitted candidates who had a lower “equivalent GMAT” when they submitted the GRE instead. 

So, the conversion of a particular score does not convey one’s chances of admission based on that score. Using the Kellogg stats just mentioned, if a candidate with the school’s median GRE score (163) had converted that number to a predicted GMAT score (690) and assessed their chances of admission based on that information, they would have likely assumed that their chances were low. They might not have even applied to Kellogg as a result! But, given Kellogg’s median GRE score, we know this process is clearly more of an art than a science, and the definition of a “strong” GRE score simply varies more widely.  Pay more attention to a school’s GRE score ranges than to its average GMAT figure.

If you have questions about your test scores, need some basic guidance on your application essays, or wonder which schools you would be competitive at, you can start getting answers from an experienced mbaMission consultant. Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with one today!

You may be surprised to learn that the University of Chicago Booth School of Business is making inroads into an area that its crosstown rival (Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management) is known to dominate: marketing. Through the James M. Kilts Center for Marketing—named for the Chicago Booth graduate who was formerly CEO of Gillette and Nabisco (and is now a partner at Centerview Partners, which he co-founded)—Chicago Booth offers students roughly a dozen marketing electives. In particular, the school is growing its experiential opportunities in the marketing field, with students taking part in marketing management labs (semester-long consulting projects) at companies that in the past have included Abbott Laboratories, Bank of America, and Honeywell International. Further, professors in the department saw opportunities for increased practical involvement and created “hybrid” classes such as “Digital Marketing Lab” and “Lab in Developing New Products and Services” that involve a lecture component but also allow students to work on shorter-term consulting projects. In addition, students can apply for Kilts Fellowships, which provide scholarship funds and a two-year mentoring relationship.

If your supervisor is writing your business school recommendation and you are having trouble ensuring that they are putting the proper thought and effort into it, you are not alone. Because of this asymmetry of power, junior employees can only do so much to compel their supervisor to commit the necessary time and write thoughtfully. So, before you designate your supervisor as a recommender, you must first determine how committed this person really is to helping you with your business school candidacy. In particular, your recommender needs to understand that using a single template to create identical letters for multiple business schools is not okay. Each letter must be personalized, and each MBA program’s questions must be answered using specific examples.