Forbes 2009 Best Business Schools

Last week, Forbes released its sixth biennial list of the top business schools. They rank U.S. business schools, non-U.S. business schools and two-year, non-U.S. business schools based on the alumni ROI (return on investment) five years after graduation. The Stanford Graduate School of Business pulled ahead this year, from the No. 2 spot in 2007. The magazine says:

The Stanford class of 2004--the class now five years out--had a median salary of $82,000 before entering school, which tied with Harvard for the highest of any M.B.A. program. So the typical student made a $235,000 investment, measured by adding two years of forgone salary to the cost of tuition. That's a hefty outlay, but it has paid off for most Stanford grads, as their median salary five years after graduation has jumped to $225,000, tops among all U.S. schools. We figure that the typical cumulative gain for this class of Stanford alumni was $85,000.

After this year, Forbes is changing its ranking from biennial to annual. I'm sure we're all wondering how today's economy will affect the ROI-based ranking, and it would be disappointing if it fell on an off-year. See below for the top 10 business schools in each of Forbes' categories.

Top 10 U.S. Business Schools

1. Stanford Graduate School of Business
2. Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business
3. Harvard Business School
4. University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
5. University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
6. Columbia Business School
7. Cornell University, Johnson School
8. Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
9. University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
10. Yale School of Management

Top 10 Non-U.S. Business Schools

1. INSEAD
2. IMD
3. IE Business School
4. University of Cambridge, Judge Business School
5. University of Oxford, Saïd Business Schoo
6. City University London, Cass Business School
7. Lancaster University Management School
8. SDA Bocconi School of Management
9. Cranfield School of Management
10. HEC Montreal

Top 10 Non-U.S. Two-Year Business Schools

1. London Business School
2. Manchester Business School
3. IESE Business School
4. CEIBS
5. IPADE
6. York University, Schulich School of Business
7. HEC Paris
8. ESADE
9. AGSM
10. University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business