FT MBA Rankings 2025: Wharton secures #1 for the 12th time, Harvard Business School saw highest avg salary

FT MBA Rankings 2025: The 2025 Financial Times global MBA Rankings are out, showcasing the top 100 business schools worldwide. Once again, the University of Pennsylvania: Wharton has secured the number one spot for the 12th time, with the Columbia Business School in the United States following closely behind. Wharton alumni reported an average weighted salary of $241,522, ranking third among all global MBA programs.

Wharton continued to excel in the research category, demonstrating its commitment to producing high-quality publications in leading academic and practitioner journals. Additionally, the school also saw significant improvement in alumni career progress, now ranking 15th in this category.

Harvard Business School stood first among the top five schools with the highest alumni salaries, boasting an impressive average salary of close to $257,000. This figure surpasses the average salary of graduates from other institutions by over $10,000. Alumni have praised the program for its transformative impact and the exclusive opportunities it provides.  

In overall ranking, the Harvard Business School is at the 13th position in the Global MBA rankings, alongside Cornell University: Johnson. Other prominent colleges -- Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore followed at 22nd, with Yale School of Management at 24th and University of Oxford at 26th.

MBA program global rankings

The MBA program rankings showcase the excellence of programs worldwide, with the top-ranked program surpassing the 100th-ranked school by a margin of 148 points. The schools are categorized into four tiers based on their performance, with Tier I and Tier II institutions scoring above the cohort average, while Tier III and IV schools fall below it. 

Tier I comprises esteemed institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania: Wharton and Esade Business School, while Tier II includes schools like HEC Paris (9th) and the University of Florida: Warrington (48th). Tier III, led by Carnegie Mellon: Tepper, encompasses schools ranking between 49th and joint 86th position, which includes IIM Kozhikode. Lastly, Tier IV consists of schools ranging from Grenoble Ecole de Management (89th) to Eada Business School Barcelona (100th).

Financial Times MBA Rankings 2025: Top 10 Colleges

1. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton, US

2. Columbia Business School, US,

3. IESE Business School, Spain

4. Insead, France

5. SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy

6. MIT: Sloan, US

7. London Business School, UK

8.Esade Business School, Spain

9. HEC Paris, France

10. Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, US

Indian business schools

The Indian School of Business in Hyderabad secured the top spot among Indian B-Schools, achieving a global ranking of 27, with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad following closely behind at 31st place.

XLRI—Xavier School of Management in India experienced the most significant salary growth among all ranked schools, with alumni salaries increasing by an impressive 249% to reach $142,022. This substantial improvement led to XLRI's jump of 16 places to a joint 83rd ranking. The school also demonstrated enhanced performance in career progression, as well as in categories related to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and net-zero teaching hours.