New Rankings Place Darden Atop All Public MBA Programs in the U.S.

January 29, 2024

UVA’s Darden School of Business has made a loud statement with the latest release of the Poets & Quants MBA rankings. (Photo illustration by John DiJulio, University Communications)

The top-ranked public Master of Business Administration program in the country resides at the University of Virginia. 

Poets & Quants, a business education website, recently released its 2023-24 MBA rankings, and UVA’s Darden School of Business rose six places to No. 8 overall, and was tops among public schools. 

“At Darden, we believe high performance in organizations is driven by a singular purpose: bringing people together to create value for the world,” Darden Dean Scott Beardsley said. “It is gratifying for Darden to be recognized for excellence and for fulfilling our mission to inspire responsible leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences.”

‘Inside UVA’ A Podcast Hosted by Jim Ryan
‘Inside UVA’ A Podcast Hosted by Jim Ryan

This ranking is the highest Darden has ever placed in the Poets & Quants evaluation, which is a composite of the five most influential rankings of MBA programs – compiled by U.S. News and World Report, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, LinkedIn and the Princeton Review. 

A key driver was Darden’s success in the Princeton Review, where the school ranked in the top 10 in more categories than any other MBA program, including No. 2 in “best campus environment,” “best classroom experience” and “best career prospects.” Poets & Quants declared Darden No. 1 overall in the composite Princeton Review ranking

In November, the Princeton Review and Entrepreneurship magazine ranked Darden as the No. 8 graduate program for entrepreneurship studies

In September, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Darden as the No. 3 business school in the U.S.

Earlier this month, Poets & Quants named Darden as one of the “10 Business Schools to Watch in 2024” and highlighted advancements to the school such as the April opening of The Forum Hotel and various milestones the school achieved, including full-time MBA 2023 graduates setting a new record for starting salary.

Darden’s banner 2023 was punctuated in October when it received the largest gift in its history

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Molly Mitchell

Associate Director of Content Marketing and Social Media Darden School of Business