All but one of the programs ranked in the top 10 of U.S. News's rankings of Best Business Schools were also among the 10 business schools that received the most applications for full-time admission prior to the 2010-11 academic year, according to data furnished by the schools in a 2010 survey.
Dartmouth University's Tuck School of Business, eighth in the Best Business School rankings, was the lone top-10 program that didn't also place in the top 10 of the applications list. It was supplanted by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
[In pictures: The 10 business schools that receive the most full-time applications.]
In all, 261 of the 437 business schools surveyed by U.S. News reported full-time M.B.A. program application data. Among them, the average program received 525 applications for admission prior to the 2010-11 academic year. Harvard Business School received 9,524 applications, the most of any school and 32 percent more than the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which placed second on the list.
[See 4 ways to improve your chances of getting into business school.]
Business schools that were designated by U.S. News as Unranked were not considered for this report. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs because the program did not supply U.S. News with enough key statistical data to be numerically ranked.
Below is a list of the 10 business schools that received the most applications for full-time admission in 2010:
| Business school | Full-time applications | U.S. News b-school rank |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard University (MA) | 9,524 | 2 |
| Stanford University (CA) | 7,204 | 1 |
| University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 6,832 | 3 |
| Columbia University (NY) | 6,666 | 9 |
| Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL) | 5,591 | 5 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) | 4,782 | 3 |
| New York University (Stern) | 4,501 | 10 |
| University of Chicago (Booth) | 4,299 | 5 |
| University of California—Berkeley (Haas) | 3,627 | 7 |
| Duke University (Fuqua) (NC) | 3,506 | 12 |
Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find complete rankings and much more.
U.S. News surveyed more than 400 schools for our 2010 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.
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