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The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the smaller top MBA programs in the United States, with an average class size of between 240 and 300 students. Despite its small size, however, Berkeley Haas offers a diverse community, both regionally and professionally. Nearly half of each incoming class is made up of international students, and each entering class as a whole reflects a wide array of interests and professional backgrounds. Each of Berkeley Haas’s incoming classes is divided into smaller groups, called cohorts, and students remain in their cohort for the first semester, taking all core courses together. Within the cohort, students are further divided into study groups. Study group members work together to prepare for presentations and exams as well as to study cases, and these small groups help enhance and reinforce the relationships between classmates. Noted a second-year student with whom mbaMission spoke, “With everyone trying to work out their identity at the start,” the cohort “makes everything less overwhelming.”

Located just an hour’s drive from Berkeley Haas, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is similarly well known for its close-knit atmosphere, though its typical class size is a bit larger, with approximately 400 to 450 students. However, the school’s relatively small class size allows it to provide students with individualized coaching. First-year students at the GSB receive academic advising to help them create a customized plan for fulfilling their core requirements based on their strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and interests. Students can also take advantage of Career Management Center advisors, who can offer new perspectives on life beyond the GSB, and Arbuckle Leadership Fellows, who work with first-year students through lab sessions and one-on-one meetings.

For more information on Berkeley Haas, the Stanford GSB, or 15 other leading MBA programs, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

Applying to business school is certainly not something to be taken lightly or put off until the last minute! It is a significant decision, and the process is time-consuming, but earning your MBA has the potential to provide meaningful returns, both financially and personally. If you are a natural planner who likes to thoroughly evaluate and assess all your options and seek the guidance and perspective of others, starting the application process as much as a year before your target program’s application deadline is ideal.

Six to Twelve Months in Advance – Test Taking, School Research, Additional Coursework Evaluation

At a minimum, you want to set aside six months from start to finish. This assumes a relatively short test-preparation time frame and that you will feel good about your scores on your first official test or two. Although test taking is only one part of the application process, it is a good place to start, not only to calibrate the schools you hope to attend (given their average test scores) but also to ideally get this step out of the way so you can then focus on the many other elements of the application. 

Almost all schools accept the GMAT and GRE, usually with no preference given to one exam over the other. GMAT now refers to what was temporarily called the GMAT Focus Edition during the transition to the current version in early 2024. The test now includes a Data Insights section to accompany the Quantitative Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning sections. Business schools will still accept scores from the previous version of the GMAT, as long as they are not more than five years old. A handful of traditional two-year MBA programs now also accept the Executive Assessment (EA)—which was initially developed for executive MBA applicants—though its popularity as a third testing option for applicants is growing. 

Determining which test is better (or best, for schools offering the EA) for you depends on your individual strengths, but we recommend that you do some online research to understand the methodologies, specific subject areas, and scoring involved in each one, and that you take free practice exams to see which test you naturally score better/best on. Note also that some schools offer test waivers; make sure to review the unique requirements and instructions provided on each school’s website to learn whether you might qualify for one and, if so, how to acquire it. 

Most applicants set aside several weeks, if not months, to study for their chosen exam and take practice tests, often completing official study programs or working with tutors. Test scores are not the end-all be-all, but they do provide an objective data point that can help you assess your odds of acceptance at a specific business school. Also, a strong score can help negate a weaker GPA, given that the two statistics are considered together when an admissions committee is assessing a candidate’s academic track record and potential for successfully managing the rigorous course load at top business schools. For additional perspective, check out our YouTube video on how much time you should dedicate to test preparation.

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As we approach the end of the year, many MBA hopefuls are already considering their strategies for the 2025–2026 application season. Deciding which schools to target can seem like an overwhelming task. Of all the top MBA programs out there, which one is right for you? What makes an MBA program stand out from the rest?

Many MBA applicants look at rankings when they begin to choose their target schools. MBA rankings can be an easy way to get a general idea of the top MBA programs, but rankings should be regarded as what they are: simply one aspect of the application process. The schools included among the top ten or top 15 in MBA rankings are undoubtedly all great programs; they are not, however, right for every applicant.

For example, Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) can be found near or at the top of global MBA rankings each year. Both are certainly wonderful institutions that attract applicants from around the world, but they are two completely different schools. For one, HBS uses the case method in nearly all classes, while the teaching methods at Stanford GSB range from lecture and case method to simulation and action-based learning. All top business schools teach their MBA students such essential skills as problem solving and leadership management. How the basics are taught and what lies beyond the basics, however, vary greatly among schools. Therefore, take MBA rankings with a grain of salt.

Consider the fact that MBA rankings have been published for more than two decades, and most (if not all) of the schools on top have stayed within the top 20 throughout the years. Which business school is ranked number one in any given year matters much less than maintaining consistent quality.

If you are looking for excellence in a particular aspect, however, rankings may be a useful tool for research. For example, an applicant who is interested in joining a nonprofit for an internship during their studies or for employment after graduation would benefit from looking at the U.S. News & World Report MBA ranking for nonprofit management, where the Yale School of Management is consistently ranked number one. Also, the New York University Stern School of Business is well known for its finance program and is often ranked highly by U.S. News for finance MBA programs.

With regard to schools that consistently rank among the best in the world, one can turn to the so-called M7 to gain a general idea. The M7 is a group of top business schools within the United States that are known to provide continuously high-quality education and career outcomes for their students. The M7 consists of HBS, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford GSB, Columbia Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, and the Chicago Booth School of Business. We at mbaMission offer our extensive and detailed Insider’s Guides on 17 business schools, including the M7 schools. Below, we offer a glimpse into each of these schools.

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You finally took the GMAT, and though your score was not bad, it was not what you had hoped—not your ideal score, but certainly not so low that you unquestionably need to try again. So, when you have a score that is just below where you think you should be, should you retake the test? The truth is that you risk very little in taking the GMAT a second—or even a third—time in pursuit of a better outcome.

Most high school students in the United States are taught to write essays that have a formal introduction, a body that supports that introduction, and a conclusion that reinforces the main point presented in the introduction. Although this approach and structure yield easily comprehensible academic work, business school application essays are constrained by word count—so candidates often must use alternative, less lengthy openings because they do not have the luxury of “wasting” 100 words to introduce their topic.