University of Virginia: Powered by Career Outcomes, Darden Hits Top 10 in New Full-Time MBA Ranking

The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business is ranked in the Top 10 in a new ranking of full-time Master of Business Administration programs in the United States.

Fortune ranked Darden No. 10 overall as part of its Best MBA Programs in 2022 ranking. The Darden School is also the No. 1 public MBA program on the list.

The new ranking represents the second consecutive Top 10 ranking for Darden, which was ranked No. 9 overall and the No. 1 public in the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking released in September.

Fortune’s ranking methodology leans heavily on career outcomes, with 65% of the total ranking comprising median and mean base salary and placement for each program’s full-time MBA Class of 2021.

The Darden Class of 2021 reported an average base salary of $144,933, a record at the time that was subsequently surpassed by the Class of 2022.

The ranking also considers a school’s “Brand Score,” a measure based on interviews with 2,500 individuals intended to measure how business professionals and hiring managers view a business school’s brand as a whole.

The final component of the ranking considers the number of alumni from each school’s MBA program who are C-suite executives at Fortune 1000 companies.