MBA Graduation

Who do you picture when you think of an MBA student?

Maybe it’s an investment banker decked out in a tailored suit, capped off with a crisp shirt and buffed Oxfords. For others, an MBA comes straight out of consulting, replete with ThinkPad, coffee mug, and credit card. Of course, there are the images of the ever-casual engineer wrestling with soft skills or the ever-anxious poet sweating through the LBO model.

Closer to home, reflect back on your own career. Chances are, you’ve partnered with an MBA client who could see around every corner and anticipate every angle. If you were lucky, you worked for an MBA boss who could magnify individual talents while channeling clashing agendas. No, these individuals didn’t follow the tropes of the corporate shark, PowerPoint prodigy, or career-shifting dreamer. Instead, they were people who had similar backgrounds and ambitions as your own. They earned their way into top business schools and they made the most of their time when they were there.

No doubt, you could follow in their footsteps. At one time, they were just as uncertain as any MBA applicant – and just as overwhelmed as any first-year. This reality is one reason why Poets&Quants continues to run two of its most popular series: Best & Brightest MBAs and Meet the Class. Combined, these stories profile over 1,000 students and graduates annually. The former takes readers inside the business school experience, as students share their favorite professors, courses, traditions, and memories. In contrast, Meet the Class explores who students are when they arrive on campus: exploring their career paths and goals (along with what excites them most about the coming year). The goal is to humanize these students, a timeless reminder of where future leaders often start – and how far they can go. After all, Jamie Dimon was once a disenchanted consultant before Harvard Business School, while Tim Cook earned his MBA by taking night classes at Fuqua.

Of course, student stories only form one half of the equation. The remainder is balanced by P&Q’s commitment to analyzing school profiles and employment reports. This past year, P&Q dug deep into the data of 20 business schools. Here, P&Q supplied year-over-year data to reveal trends in who gets accepted, where they land jobs, and how much they earn. Combined with student stories, this data delivers a clear picture of what it takes to find the right fit and gain the biggest return from a graduate business school investment.

Looking for guidance and inspiration? Here is our collection of school data and student profiles, along with links to profiles of favorite professors, student startups, and Best in Class awards.

2025 MBA Class Profiles & Employment Reports

EMPLOYMENT REPORTS

CLASS PROFILES

BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAs

BEST & BRIGHTEST BUSINESS MAJORS

BEST & BRIGHTEST ONLINE MBAs

BEST & BRIGHTEST EXECUTIVE MBAs