Five things you don't know about top MBA programs

3. Have deep business experience? Go UK:

Ranked by post-MBA salary, five of the top 10 programs are in the United Kingdom. Like Ashridge, the top MBA for salary growth, many top European programs focused on executive MBA training grounds before expanding standard MBA education. Thus, their deep experience working with seasoned managers can take them the extra mile.

4. American business grads take care of their own:

Of the top 25 schools with top alumni effectiveness, 21 are American, led by the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, Stanford University, and the Mendoza College at Notre Dame. Founded in 1900, Tuck has a honed curriculum that focuses on building students' ability to work both within teams and intimately with faculty members. Those personal connections may be something what translates into alumni who will really go to bat for freshly-minted grads. (Editor's note: This sentence has been corrected to remove a reference to Tuck as the oldest business school. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1881 and is in fact the oldest institution.)

5. Head down under for a top student experience:

Monash University in Caulfield East, Australia, claimed the top ranking for personal development and educational experience. It's superlative only in the quality of one's eventual MBA colleagues (where it ranks 3rd). It isn't barn-burning in any other category – 15th in faculty quality, 17th in diversity, and 25th in educational experience – but in aggregate these strong showings build a cohesive whole. The trade-off? Its post-MBA salaries lie in the bottom quarter of schools surveyed.

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– David Grant is a Monitor contributor. Want to chat about what makes a great business school? Look us up on Twitter. Or read about the ways in which universities are creating networking opportunities for their graduates.

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