Darden Rises to Top 10 in Bloomberg Businessweek Ranking

The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia rose one place to No. 10 in the ranking of U.S. business schools by Bloomberg Businessweek, released Thursday.

The magazine announced the results of its bienniel “The Best B-Schools” ranking on a live chat.

Bloomberg Businessweek stated that its ranking of full-time MBA programs “judges business schools on how well they serve their two main constituencies: students and corporate recruiters.” The survey is based on three elements: a poll of newly minted MBAs; a poll of corporate recruiters on the quality of graduates; and an evaluation of faculty research output.

Of the business schools in the Top 10, Darden is rated the highest for faculty. The magazine describes the attributes of top faculty as “a compelling classroom presence, an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, easy availability after class and a research record second to none.”

Darden also received the second highest score among Top 10 business schools in the survey of students. In Bloomberg Businessweek’s “graded” categories, Darden received all “A’s”: an “A+” in career services, teaching quality, critical thinking and leadership skills and an “A” in caliber of classmates. 

“We at the Darden School of Business strive to offer the world’s best educational experience,” Darden Dean Robert F. Bruner said. “We are gratified when our stakeholders – including students, alumni and corporations – publicly express their satisfaction with the Darden experience.” 

Darden’s recruiter ranking – the quality of graduates as reported by recruiters – improved from 16th to ninth in 2012, and the school’ s overall index in the ranking rose from 81 to 89.4.

The magazine’s Top 10 U.S. business schools for 2012 are:

  1. University of Chicago (Booth)
  2. Harvard University
  3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
  4. Stanford University
  5. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
  6. Duke University (Fuqua)
  7. Cornell University (Johnson)
  8. University of Michigan (Ross)
  9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
  10. U.Va. (Darden)

Media Contact

Julie Daum

Darden School of Business