As you know, the MBA degree includes several specializations. But usually, schools are considered to have their own specializations even with the MBA program. For instance, if you want to pursue a career in finance, your first choice should be Wharton or Booth.
For IT, you go to MIT Sloan. Future specialists in marketing would choose Kellogg, and aspiring top managers aim for Harvard.
Rankings By Specialization
The 2019 U.S. News & World Report rankings of top MBA programs will show you how different business schools specialize, and whether the stereotypical school specializations are even true. Some of the top rankers might give up their specializing reputation to fresh and daring schools, Poets&Quants reports.
The U.S. News report has given 10 specializations overall, starting from finance and finishing with logistics. All in all, the highest ranked schools are not surprising anyone. Finance is topped by Wharton and Booth, while Harvard shows best specialization in management, and MIT Sloan – in IT and operations. Still, only two programs have been given a rank in every category: Michigan Ross (overall #7) and Stanford.
There’s only one school – MIT Sloan – that was given two #1 rankings – in operations and information systems. Harvard Business School was awarded two 2nd places – nonprofits and international business. Stanford has three #2s – management, nonprofits and entrepreneurship. Stanford Business School has no lower rankings than #9 (international business). Hence, this school is the absolute best in specialization.
Surprising Runners-Up
However, some schools that are not usually found among the top rankers, showed interesting specialization trends. For instance, Darla Moore School of Business (University of South Carolina), which has an overall ranking of 65, received a #1 in international business. Due to its Sonoco International Business Department, this school hasn’t given up the #1 place for almost twenty years. Broad College of Business (Michigan State University) has kept the #1 rank in logistics for six years already, while accounting is still dominated by Austin McCombs School of Business (University of Texas).
There are only two programs that got a rank in every suggested category, but many have dabbled in all categories but one, for instance, Harvard, Wharton and Kellogg, as well as Berkeley Haas. Berkeley, with an overall ranking of #7, got a 4th place in international business and nonprofit, as well as a 5th in entrepreneurship. The only category it didn’t obtain a ranking in was informational systems.
According to Berkeley Haas’s dean, the school showed such high results thanks to the faculty’s commitment to developing many areas of specialization at once. The dean is most proud of the school getting a ranking in finance, as over the last years the program started to develop courses in newer spheres of finance, like fintech.
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