What It Is: One of the oldest rankings of US-based full-time MBA rankings with an emphasis on job success.

Why It Matters To You: Each school’s ranking is based on surveys of recruiters, alumni, and students, as well as recent graduates’ success at landing jobs and securing high starting wages.

Considerations: Schools are both ranked and given individual ranking index scores. Index scores allow for finer differentiation between schools. In addition to providing a comparison tool, one can also compare schools based on their overall rank as well as their ranking in each one of the five components: employer survey (35%), alumni survey (30%), student survey (15%), job placement rate (10%), and starting salary (10%). Previous rankings are not easily accessible.

Created By: Bloomberg Businessweek

What It Is: This ranking focuses on one thing: Is an MBA worth it?

Why It Matters To You: Most people considering MBAs are looking for either a career change or an in increase in salary so the main factor in this ranking is the 5-year MBA gain.

Considerations: The ranking is easily sortable by location, salary increase, number of years it takes to pay back, pre- and post-salary, tuition, and GMAT score. It is also important to note that since individual returns can vary greatly, the rankings beyond the top tier tend to have more variation. Previous rankings are not easily accessible.

Created By: Forbes

What It Is: A ranking of the world’s 100 best full time MBA programs.

Why It Matters To You: A comprehensive list of factors is taken into account ranging from alumni responses to school data and the research rank. Salary, faculty quality, and internationalization make up the bulk of the ranking.

Considerations: The ranking is interactive and easily sortable by a variety of factors such as country, previous ranking, weighted salary, and salary increase. There is also a comparison tool to compare up to three schools across a variety of factors.

Created By: Financial Times

What It Is: One of the premier MBA rankings including the usual battery of factors such as salaries, jobs available, and the prestige of the university. This international ranking includes delineations between full time MBAs, executive MBAs, and Masters in Management.

Why It Matters To You: Students are surveyed in four main categories: open new career opportunities, which includes diversity of recruiters, placement success, and student assessment of careers services; personal development/educational experience, which includes faculty/student quality, student diversity, and educational diversity; increase in salary, considering both post-MBA salary and the salary change from pre-MBA to post-MBA; and potential to network based on alumni interaction opportunities. The categories are weighted based on importance to students.

Considerations: In addition to taking precautions to verify data collected, memory is built into the rankings by taking a weighted average of the previous years in addition to the current year. Rankings are easily sortable by region or country. The Executive MBA ranking is provided bi-annually.

Created By: The Economist

What It Is: One of the leading rankings of graduate business schools that looks at both full and part time MBA programs as well as online programs.

Why It Matters To You: Employment rates, student selectivity, and academic reputation are used to rank the top graduate business schools.

Considerations: The rankings are easily sortable by location, tuition, school size, and test scores. Previous rankings are not easily accessible.

Created By: US News & World Report