M7 MBA – The 7 “magnificent” business schools

1. M7 MBA – The magnificent 7 schools:

M7 MBA is an informal term mentioning a group of 7 super elite business schools (b-schools) in the USA. They are known to provide the best MBA program all over the world. Here are those 7 schools (in alphabet order): 

• Columbia School of Business (a.k.a CBS or Columbia)
• Harvard Business School (a.k.a Harvard or HBS)
• Kellogg School of Management (a.k.a Kellogg)
• MIT Sloan School of Management (a.k.a MIT Sloan or Sloan)
• Stanford Graduation School of business (a.k.a Stanford or GSB)
• The University of Chicago Booth School of Management (a.k.a Chicago Booth or Booth)
• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (a.k.a Wharton)

There are other great b-schools in the USA but not named in this group, such as Yale School of Management, Haas School of Business (University of California Berkeley), NYU Stern School of Business, etc. 

Similarly, we also have well-known international b-schools, such as INSEAD (France) or London Business School (LBS in London).

M7 MBA vs Ivy League

It is not very common to compare those two notions together as they belong to two different universes: M7 mentions the group of 7 post-graduate business schools while Ivy League mentions the group of 8 private universities. However, I want to briefly compare those two concepts to clear any confusion, especially for non-US students. 

Ivy League comprises 8 private universities, including: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, The University of Pennsylvania (a.k.a UPenn), Princeton University and Yale University.

Among 8 Ivies:  

• Brown University and Princeton University do not offer MBA programs as other Ivies do, but those 2 still provide high quality post graduation courses. 
• Columbia, Harvard and UPenn are also in the M7 list. 
• Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale are the top US b-schools but not within M7. 

Hence, M7 and Ivy League have some overlap but are not completely the same. Furthermore, people don’t use the word “Ivy League” for post-graduate courses. 

M7 MBA school rankings

Which one is the best among M7 business schools? It is a hard question to answer because each school has their own strength. There are several publications that you can refer to to partially answer this question. Some common names that you can look for are Financial Time MBA Ranking, The Economist MBA Ranking, Forbes ranking or US news. 

We combine here the latest ranks of those M7 across table leagues so that you can have an overview: 

Overall, with or without non-US institutions, M7 MBA schools are consistently always in the top 20. The publications also validate the quality of business education in those schools and they also work together to ensure that their curriculums are updated to the new business settings. 

However, M7 does not mean that they are the best 7 b-schools. 

Even if we only look at the US market, being an M7 B-school does not equal to be ranked within top 7 or Harvard does not always rank #1. However, I am pretty sure that, when talking about MBA, M7 is still the top-of mind of all applicants and Harvard is still the most desired MBA program. M7’s reputation among the biggest corporates and their notable alumni in the business world have built up the brands for hundreds years. 

Each ranking will be based on certain criteria that you should spend some time to go through. For example: US news will take into account Average GMAT score and Average GPA while Financial Times base on the course itself (such as diversity of the program, research rank, etc) and career progress after graduation. That is why a school can be in top 10 of Forbes’ list but is out of top 10 in Financial Times’ list. 

The school rank is a good reference to consider your target schools as it somehow reflects how good the school is and also the employment opportunities after graduation. However, ranking should not become the key decision factor because it cannot reflect how fit you are, as a person, to the school’s culture and network. Most applicants often ignore this essential step in their MBA admission process. We will call out other factors in our Part 2 – Which school is the best for me?

 M7 MBA statistic numbers

Source: schools’ website

Statistic numbers, once again, confirm the competitiveness to save a seat in Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia and Wharton. Not more than 15% of applicants can be the members of M7 class and M7 schools recruit top 8-10% GMAT test takers globally. Hence, if you are dreaming of a seat in M7, do prepare yourself ahead for GMAT and the tough application process.

2. Which school is the best for me? 

As I mentioned in the MBA ranking session, there are other factors that an MBA applicant should take into account when shortlist his or her MBA dream school.  

In this part, I will suggest several customized questions that, in my opinion, could be helpful when thinking of which B-schools you should apply for. We bundle those criteria into 3 big categories: personal preference, school profile and financial factors. These bullets are not only applicable for only M7 MBA but also other b-schools in general. 

• Personal preference: short term and long term career. 
• School profile: employment report, location, and alumni network
• Financial factors: Total expenses, tuition fee and scholarship

Your short term and long term career goal 

This is the question you have to answer, sooner or later, because it appears in every single MBA application form. Maybe some schools will ask in a different way, like “Tell us where you will be in the next 3-5 years” but the ultimate goal is that the admission committee wants to know how the MBA program can help a person in their career progress. Having a clear answer for this question and researching strengths of each school, you will have a good personalized shortlist. 

For example: if you aim to learn more about AI, discuss emerging topics with like-minded folks and join a leading corporate in this sector, then perhaps Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University is a better option than any M7 schools. Within M7, MIT Sloan is the best school that can facilitate this career path. 

But what if you are not so sure about your long term and short term career or you are open to other industries? Do not worry too much if you are in this situation because other recommendations still can support you in this hard decision. Furthermore, all B-schools understand that students can change their minds during the program and no b-schools track who follows the career goal in the application and who does not. An MBA program is a great opportunity for all candidates to explore opportunities they have never even heard of before. 

Employment industry placement after MBA

I always recommend any MBA applicant to check the school’s employment report as it is  a perfect reference to know about that school’s strength. 

Across M7 schools, top 3 industries post graduation are Consulting, Financial Services and Technology. However, each school will have strengths in different fields and you can check that via school employment report, which is annually released. It does not mean that being in a school that sends most of their post graduates to Financial services will guarantee your seat in Wall Street; it means that the school network and alumni are more available for people who want to land a job in Financial Services than in Technology

Let’s take an example, Wharton will be more preferred for individuals who want to be in IB, PE or VC as 35.8% of the class accept a job in Financial services in 2019 – the highest ratio among M7 B-schools. Or if you want to land up a job in Technology, perhaps MIT Sloan can provide you a much better network and opportunities because 30.7% Sloan students land a job in tech, the highest ratio in M7 MBAs. 

School location – Urban vs College Town

This is a factor that a lot of people often ignore, especially international students as they often believe that being in a school is already a big milestone for them. Those students are not wrong, but, for some MBA candidates I talk to, school locations even degrade their MBA experiences. They wished they had studied their schools more before paying the tuition fee. 

If you are an extrovert person and plan to explore metropolitan life in the US, maybe an urban campus school is more suitable. However, if we also consider the financial factor, urban campus schools tend to have higher housing costs and it will add up your total expenses for the MBA. Monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment for a Kellogg student is around $1,200 – $1,500 but could be up to $2,500 – $3,500 for an MIT Sloan student. 

Here, we categorize M7 schools into two groups so that you could have a better idea of M7 location.

Recently, some international students are willing to fly half of the globe to conduct school visits before or during the admission process to have a sense of “how the school looks like?” and “do I enjoy the school’s vibe?”. If you can afford those expenses, I highly recommend you to pay a visit.

Financial factors: tuition fee, total expenses and scholarship. 

An MBA, especially an MBA in M7 is a huge investment as total expense can be up to $200K for a two year program. Therefore, a lot of people give up their MBA dreams due to financial difficulty. 

Yet, well-known schools always have enormous endowments and are willing to give scholarship to talents. Furthermore, fellowships and educational loans are also available to support MBA students. 

We summarize the tuition fee and total estimated cost for a two year MBA for M7 schools here.

MBA candidates from M7 are also top earners in the MBA world. Most of them can pay back the educational loan within 3-5 years after graduation. Therefore, financial is a huge topic to think of but definitely can be solved.

Final words