For the third year in a row, Harvard Business School (HBS) has been named the most desirable MBA program in the world. Despite high tuition fees and political pressure, more than 20% of students and graduates named Harvard their “dream school” if admission and finances were not an issue. This is evidenced by the results of Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual Best B-Schools survey.
In the survey, which determines the most desirable business school, Harvard confidently bypassed its competitors.
- Harvard Business School was chosen by more than 20% of respondents.
- The Stanford Graduate School of Business, ranked first in the overall US ranking, received 15% of the votes.
- No other business school in the world managed to gain more than 5%.
Experts explain this phenomenon by HBS’s century-old reputation as the “gold standard” in management education. According to Andrew Crisp, a partner at consulting firm CarringtonCrisp, a Harvard degree is seen by graduates and employers as a near-guarantee of a prestigious job.
The “dream school” status comes at a price. Tuition and fees at HBS have increased by 5.5% to $87,608 per year. At the same time, the selection process is extremely rigorous: in 2025, the admission rate was only 14%.
However, the actual employment rates may not be ideal. According to data for 2024, only 77% of HBS graduates seeking employment found a job within three months of graduation. This suggests that even a Harvard degree is not a guarantee of instant success in a challenging job market.