FT Releases 2016 Master in Finance Rankings
The Financial Times has released its 2016 Master in Finance rankings. Although there are no shocking changes, there are some winners and losers.
Because Master in Finance, or MiF, programs vary in how much work experience they require from applicants, FT ranks pre-experience and post-experience programs separately. For 2016, FT’s top ten pre-experience programs are:
1. HEC Paris
2. ESCP Europe
3. IE Business School
4. EDHEC Business School
5. MIT: Sloan School of Management
6. ESADE Business School
7. ESSEC Business School
8. University of St. Gallen
9. Bocconi University
10. SKEMA Business School
You can find FT’s full rankings of the top 55 pre-experience programs here.
No schools entered or left the top ten between 2015 and 2016, and HEC claimed the top slot for the sixth year in a row. However, there were still some significant changes in the rankings.
Maybe the largest is that ESADE has fallen to sixth, from second in 2015. On the other hand, EDHEC has risen back up to fourth, after dropping from third to eighth between 2014 and 2015.
Beyond the top ten, University of Hong Kong is the biggest overall winner. The school rose from 45 to 29 between 2015 and 2016, partly as a result of a 25 percent increase in alum salaries. FT heavily weights alum salaries, international mobility and other indicators of career opportunities.
FT’s post-experience MiF rankings are less extensive than the pre-experience rankings. Rather than 55 schools, the 2016 post-experience rankings include 5:
1. University of Cambridge: Judge Business School
2. London Business School
3. Singapore Management University: Lee Kong Chian School of Business
4. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
5. Florida International University: Chapman Graduate School of Business
From 2015 to 2016, the only change in FT’s post-experience rankings was that London Business School and Judge swapped places.
Judge’s ascendance reflects gains in its alums’ career success. The average salary three years after graduation was $130,000, making Judge the best overall value for money. That said, LBS still had the highest-earning graduates, at $137,000.
So no major surprises in either the pre-experience or post-experience rankings, but still some shifting around of schools that reflects trends in how alums have been doing on the job market. To learn more about the methodology and results, read FT’s summary of the 2016 Master in Finance rankings here.