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Jon M. Huntsman Hall of the Wharton School on Oct. 25. Credit: Abhiram Juvvadi

The Wharton School ranked No. 4 in LinkedIn’s inaugural list of the best MBA programs in the country. 

The LinkedIn Top MBA Programs 2023 list ranks 50 business schools based on how they prepare graduates for long-term career success. Harvard Business School took the top spot, followed by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College at second and third, respectively. 

The new ranking assesses MBA programs based on five pillars: hiring and demand, ability to advance, network strength, leadership potential, and gender diversity. LinkedIn relied on its data on career outcomes either for all alumni or those who graduated between 2018 and 2022. The list reflects data related to recruiting, job placement and promotion rates, advancement to senior positions, and network connections. 

To be eligible for the LinkedIn MBA ranking list, MBA programs were required to be based in the United States and have 2000 alumni by Aug. 31, 2023. Executive, part-time, mini, and certificate-driven MBAs were excluded from the data. 

LinkedIn’s assessment put Wharton one spot lower than its U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools list ranking. For the 2023-2024 ranking, Wharton fell to No. 3 from its previously held top spot. The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, which U.S. News ranked No. 1, came in ninth on LinkedIn’s list. 

The methodologies of the two lists differ significantly. U.S. News scores each school based on eight ranking factors, which include employment rates and qualitative assessment scores from business school leaders and corporate recruiters. For its student selectivity factor, U.S. News relies on schools reporting data on admissions statistics. LinkedIn drew on aggregated and anonymized profile information of members globally for its list. 

More recently, Wharton ranked first in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 list of the best undergraduate business programs, which was based on peer assessment surveys.