Released today, the QS MBA by Specialization Rankings 2021 provide insight into the world’s top business schools and MBA programs for seven different areas of specialism.

Schools are ranked based on employer reputation and research strength for each of the seven areas, as well as the number of career placements MBA graduates from the school have achieved in the field. Each of these three indicators is assigned a score out of 100.

The Wharton School has been ranked as the best business school in the world for specializing in finance once again, with 35.8 percent of its graduates going into financial services. The complete top 10 can be found below. 

10) MIT Sloan School of Management

Sloan kicks off the top 10 for the finance specialization ranking – earning a near perfect score for employer research.

Sloan’s two-year MBA program offers ‘Introduction to the Practice of Finance’ in the first semester. Other required courses include Managerial Finance, Corporate Finance, and one Action Learning course. Pre-approved action learning courses include:

·   Proseminar in Capital Markets/Investment Management

·   Proseminar in Corporate Finance/Investment Banking

·   Finance Lab

·   Fintech Ventures

Sloan’s MBA Class of 2022 has 484 students, of which, 33 percent are international, 38 percent are female, 51 nationalities are represented, and students have an average of five years’ work experience. Students have a median GMAT score of 720. For the academic year 2020-2021, students would pay US$77,168 in tuition. 

9) Johnson College of Business

The MBA program at Johnson scored highly for career placements and research strength.

After completing an immersion during the first year of the two-year MBA program, students can choose to structure their second-year electives around one or more areas of focus. Elective courses that could benefit a career in finance include:

·   Asset Management/Investment Research

·   Consulting & Strategy

·   Corporate Finance

·   Emerging Markets

·   Investment Banking

·   Private Equity & Venture Capital

·   Sustainable Global Enterprise

Tuition and living allowance for the academic year 2020-21 (first year cost) is US$99,760.= 

8) London Business School

LBS boasts an established reputation in finance, which is unsurprising given its status as the leading institution in one of the world’s financial capitals.

At LBS, students can customize their MBA with a selection of more than 70 electives. To tailor your MBA down a finance track, you can choose:

·   Advanced corporate finance

·   Banks and financial institutions

·   Distressed investing

·   Fixed income securities

·   Hedge funds

·   Real estate finance

LBS MBA students can also tailor their program to complete it in 15, 18 or 21-months – so you decide your period of study, offering even more flexibility. Tuition fees for the 2020 MBA intake are £87,900 (US$114,039). Students must also pay £240 (US$311) for the Student Association Fee which covers the Student Association (SA) subscription. 

7) Saïd Business School

The one-year MBA (finance track) is well-regarded, scoring a near perfect score employer reputation and very highly for the other indicators.

Students accepted onto a relevant financial program at Saïd can apply to the Oxford Saïd Finance Lab. The program helps students break into investment banking, private equity and asset management industries through online and in-class finance and valuation modelling programs, case studies presented by leading banks and firms, and participation in challenges.

Saïd’s MBA class profile for 2020-21 features a class size of 311, 67 nationalities, 92 percent international students, 47 percent female students, an average of five years’ work experience, and a median GMAT of 680. Students will pay £63,000 in tuition for the year long program. 

6) NYU Stern

Located in Manhattan, a stone’s throw away from Wall Street, NYU Stern is close to the beating heart of US finance.

Sample courses on the MBA that would be applicable to careers in finance and real estate include:

·   Asset Management

·   Investment Banking

·   Corporate Finance

·   Private Client Services

·   Equity and Fixed Income Research

·   Real Estate Finance

·   International Sales/Emerging Markets

·   Sales and Trading

Students work with field leaders and can participate in real-world learning programs like the Michael Price Student Investment Fund.

Stern’s finance faculty have won numerous awards for teaching and research, including Professor Robert Engle who received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics. 

Student clubs tailored to the world of finance include: Graduate Finance Association; Real Estate Club; Stern Investment Management and Research; Stern Private Equity Club.

Students in the 2020-2021 program will pay US$119,251 per academic year. 

5) Chicago Booth

Booth’s MBA program scored very highly for career placements and employer reputation, with 31.3 percent of graduates working in the financial services.

According to Chicago Booth’s website, “a good percentage of students pursue MBA interests in finance and banking”.

Finance courses at Booth include financial instruments; portfolio management; advanced investments; financial markets and institutions.

Stats for the 21-month MBA class of 2020 feature a class size of 591, 52 countries represented, an average GMAT score of 731 and an average of five years’ work experience. Students can also expect to pay US$108,683 in tuition. 

4) Columbia

Founded in 1911, CBS is one of the oldest business schools in the world. Its program scored very highly across all indicators.

Some finance-based electives at Columbia include applied value investing; the future of financial services; impact investment.

And if you want to add even more finance to your bow, some CBS clubs that will help include:

·   Columbia student investment management association

·   Columbia wealth management club

·   Community career and money skills

·   Equity research club

·   Investment banking club

For the academic year 2020-2021, first year will pay a base budget of US$117,633, which incorporates tuition, mandatory fees, health services & insurance, and other expenses.

3) Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908, HBS is one of the most recognizable business schools in the world and ranks at or near the top of almost every MBA specialization.

Some of the financial electives MBAs can take at HBS include corporate finance; entrepreneurial finance; finance and capitalism; private equity finance; real property; sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure; investment strategies, and more.

Students undertaking HBS’s MBA program in the academic year 2020-2021 will pay US$111,818 for the full program and additional expenses. However, a married MBA would pay US$132,176; a married student with one child would pay US$147,790, and so on.

2) Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford’s two-year MBA landed the top spot in our QS World University Rankings: Global MBA Rankings 2021 – with the finance track earning a perfect score for employer reputation and near perfect for the other indicators.

The topics in Finance I during the first year include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, and capital structure choice.

For the academic year 2020-21, the cost of attendance for a first-year MBA student is US$118,644 for a single student, and $142,080 for a married student. 

The Stanford MBA Class of 2022 has 436 students of which 47 percent are female, and 35 percent are international. Students have an average of 4.7 years’ work experience, and an average GMAT score of 733. 

1）The Wharton School

Table-topper Wharton has long been considered a powerhouse in finance, and with its MBA finance specialization landing the number one spot again, it’s no surprise.

Wharton earned a perfect score for employer reputation, as well as near perfect scores for research strength and career outcomes.

MBA students choosing to major in finance are required to take the two core requirements (Corporate Finance and Macroeconomics and the Global Economic Environment) and four upper-level elective finance credit units.

Wharton’s Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance aims to stimulate cutting-edge teaching and research as well as student and industry engagement focused on the revolutionary impact of information technology on financial services.

MBA students Wharton will feel a pinch in their purse to attend the prestigious school, with students paying US$111,900 per academic year.

Released today, the QS MBA by Specialization Rankings 2021 provide insight into the world’s top business schools and MBA programs for seven different areas of specialism.

Schools are ranked based on employer reputation and research strength for each of the seven areas, as well as the number of career placements MBA graduates from the school have achieved in the field. Each of these three indicators is assigned a score out of 100.

Stanford Graduate School of Business has been ranked as the best business school in the world specializing in entrepreneurship for yet another year, with 15 percent of its graduates starting their own business. The complete top 10 can be found below.

10) Saïd Business School

Kicking off the entrepreneurship specialization top 10 is Saïd Business School. The one-year MBA program scored a near perfect score for employer reputation.

The entrepreneurship integration module at Saïd looks at entrepreneurship as the ability to effectively deploy resources to devise business solutions to complex and multifaceted challenges. It focuses on two main areas of entrepreneurship: social entrepreneurship and technological entrepreneurship.

Saïd’s MBA class profile for 2020-21 features a class size of 315, 67 nationalities, 92 percent international students, 479 percent female students, an average of five years’ work experience, and a median GMAT of 680.

9) IE Business School

The Madrid-based full-time MBA program at IE scored a perfect score for the career placements indicator (the only program in the top 10). The 2019 graduating class boasted a cohort of 598, of which 22 percent of grads started their own business.

IE had 35 international venture days in the last three years, and students are able to shape, design, and develop their business ideas in the Venture Lab.

The program takes one year to complete, with intakes in September and January. Tuition fees for the 2020-21 academic year are €72,200 (approx. US$82,000).

8) Judge Business School

Judge’s entrepreneurship concentration gives students the skills and knowledge to help them start their own business and grow it successfully.

During the entrepreneurship concentration, students will learn about different types of entrepreneurship, including social enterprise, family businesses, blended models, life-style companies, consulting, bootstrapped businesses, and venture-funded businesses.

There were 206 students in the MBA graduating class of 2019. Fees for the 12-month Cambridge MBA program for the class of 2021/22 are £59,000, plus additional program charges. 

7) IESE Business School

IESE prides itself on its innovative ethos, inspiring the leaders and start-up entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The program – with 368 students – scored a close to perfect score for the employer reputation indicator.

IESE’s Entrepreneurship Department focuses on new venture creation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurial management within existing organizations. Interestingly, a third of IESE alumni have participated in the creation of a company at some point during their career.

The entrepreneurship course – taught since 1974 – covers such topics as:

·   Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Management

·   Entrepreneurial Strategies for Social Impact

·   Entrepreneurial Negotiations

·   Financing Entrepreneurial Opportunities

6) Wharton

Students undertaking the Entrepreneurship & Innovation major at Wharton can prepare themselves for entrepreneurial ventures as autonomous entrepreneurs, family-business entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs in corporate settings. The MBA program scored a perfect score for employer reputation.

The entrepreneurship and innovation major at Wharton includes electives, such as:

·   Managing Strategic Partnerships

·   Corporate Development: Mergers & Acquisitions

·   Change, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

·   Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management

·   Social Entrepreneurship

·   Entrepreneurship through Acquisition

·   Strategies and Practices of Family-Controlled Companies

In fact, there are 20+ entrepreneurial programs at Wharton and Penn. 183 MBA students are currently enrolled on the entrepreneurship and innovation major and the school has a clear track record of producing entrepreneurs. Students will pay US$111,695 in tuition for their first year.

5) Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School’s MBA program is one-year in total. Copenhagen earned high scores for research strength and employer reputation indicators, with 14 percent of students starting their own business after graduation.

The entrepreneurship platform connects CBS' resources in entrepreneurship research and education, including CBS' global networks to business leaders and experts, with entrepreneurship in the Danish society and in the Nordic Region.

Students on the MBA program will pay US$50,000 in tuition.

4) Imperial College Business School

Located in London, England’s capital and global business hub, Imperial scored very highly for the Research Strength and Employer Reputation indicators.

Imperial students can utilize the Imperial Enterprise Lab, The Venture Catalyst Challenge, WE Innovate @ Imperial Program, Imperial Business Pitch, and Advanced Hackspace.

The fees for the full-time MBA are £54,500 for both UK and international students. If you have your own business ideas, the school’s entrepreneurship club may be a good place to start.

3) Harvard Business School

HBS has long been regarded for its stellar MBA program – with the entrepreneurship track earning a perfect score for the employer reputation indicator.

There are 450 students in entrepreneurship club at HBS, as well as 35 different professors teaching entrepreneurial management electives.

HBS’ Rock Centre for Entrepreneurship supports faculty research, fellowships for MBA and doctoral students. Students can undertake the annual New Venture Competition, and symposia and conferences, one-one-one meetings with the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and Rock Summer Fellows.

Harvard’s class of 2022 has 732 students – much smaller than the usual 930 students, as participants were given the option to defer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Within the cohort, 33 percent are international, 44 percent are female, with an average of 4.7 years’ work experience. Tuition fees for the 24-month program are US$111,818.

2) MIT Sloan

Sloan has soared up the top 10 for entrepreneurship ranking by nine places this year – earning a close to perfect score for research strength and employer reputation.

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) Track focuses on learning how to launch and develop innovative and emerging technology companies and emphasizes the integration of academic and practitioner lessons, team practice, and real-world application in entrepreneurship.

Required subjects on the track include:

·   Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship

·   E&I Study Tour

·   New Enterprises

·   Entrepreneurial Strategy

Students can also compete in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and the MIT Clean Energy Prize.

Sloan’s MBA Class of 2022 has 484 students, of which, 33 percent are international, 38 percent are female, 51 nationalities are represented, and students have an average of five years’ work experience. Students have a median GMAT score of 720. For the academic year 2020-2021, students would pay US$77,168 intuition.

1) Stanford Graduate School of Business

Landing the top spot in the MBA specialization rankings for entrepreneurship yet again is Stanford. Stanford scored very highly in all ranking indicators, with a perfect score in employer reputation. Of the graduating class of 2019, 15 percent of the 417 students started their own business.

There are many entrepreneurial-themed courses you could study at Stanford including Social Ventures Practicum; Creativity Rules: Inventing the Future; The Lean Launchpad: Getting Your Lean Startup off the Ground, and many more.

The two-year program has tuition fees of US$74,706 per academic year.