The NPS of HBS

150-student survey reveals 37.3 Net Promoter Score for Harvard Business School.

What do Victoria’s Secret, Nike, 3M, and Harvard Business School have in common? Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in the mid-30’s. 

This spring, The Harbus conducted a survey of 150 EC students, RC students, and partners to quantify the NPS of HBS. First coined by Bain, NPS is designed to produce “a clear measure of an organization’s performance through its customers’ eyes.” To do so, survey respondents are asked to rate “How likely are you to recommend X to a friend or colleague?” on a zero-to-ten scale. The percentage of “promoters” (9-10 ratings) less the percentage of “detractors” (0-6 ratings) is the organization’s NPS. 

At 37.3, HBS is not a top performer (Bain data puts Amazon at 51, USAA at 73, and Lexus at 81). Still, 0-30 is generally considered a solid position, as more people like you than dislike you. Plus, average NPS scores were down across North America in 2024 based on a Forrester survey of 141,687 consumers. So what does 37.3 mean for HBS?

To decompose this metric, we presented respondents with a list of central aspects of the MBA experience: the case method, career development, faculty engagement, and so on. For each, respondents answered two questions: (1) “On a scale from 1-5, how would you rate your experience with the following aspects of the HBS program?”; and (2) “On a scale from 1-5, how important are each of the following aspects to the overall MBA experience?” The gap between scores on these two questions gives a sense of where HBS under- or overperforms expectations. As Clayton Christensen might put it, the gap proxies how well HBS solves the “jobs to be done” for those that hire an MBA.

The metric of highest importance for students — career development — was also the one on which HBS most underperformed. While respondents attested to the value of the HBS brand name in their job search, they were underwhelmed with the resources allocated to the Career & Professional Development office, which, at times, translated to “cookie cutter advice.” Though sample sizes get small when segmenting by post-MBA career track, those heading into consulting or financial services tended to look favorably on HBS, with NPS scores of 57.1 and 43.8, respectively. Those targeting tech, however, were less loyal, giving HBS an NPS of just 9.7. Is this a sign of changing times, that students want to enter new industries and do not feel they are getting adequate support from HBS to do so? What can an MBA career development office do with a sudden uptick in demand for jobs at AI startups when the startup world so famously and/or infamously places little value on an MBA?

In true HBS fashion, we had complaints about underperformance of all five aspects of the MBA experience that respondents identified as the most important: career development, personal growth, the HBS brand, the alumni network, and the section experience. Outside career development, the biggest gap between expectations and reality was in the alumni network. This network is likely a benefit to be borne out over time after graduation. While still in school, respondents’ frustration likely stems from difficulty in leveraging alumni in their job searches. 

Further down the priority list, respondents found HBS outperformed expectations in categories like location, international exposure, and campus facilities. Shad’s pretty nice. 

Interestingly, the academic experience did not crack the top five, with the case method and faculty engagement ranked as the sixth and seventh most important aspects of an MBA, respectively. According to one respondent, “everything I love about HBS is outside the classroom,” while others described enjoying the EC curriculum much more than the RC. Still, HBS seems to be delivering exactly what students want for their academic experience, as the gap between expectations and reality on these metrics is among the smallest of all we measured. In other words, academics may not be the defining aspect of students’ MBA experience, nor do they want it to be.

Segmenting respondents by gender identity and class year, average NPS scores showed little variation. Female respondents’ NPS of 34.9 was marginally lower than males’ 36.9. RCs’ NPS of 37.7 was marginally below ECs’ 38.8. But the decomposition tells a different story. 

Perhaps most importantly, consider the diversity and inclusion climate. This aspect was rated much more important by women (average of 3.6 out of 5.0) than men (2.5), and while men found HBS performed reasonably well here (3.2 out of 5.0), women did not (2.8). Women also considered the brand of an MBA program to be more important than men did (4.8 vs. 4.4), but here, women felt HBS performed better than men did (4.5 vs. 4.2). 

Comparing ECs and RCs, the largest delta came from the section experience. RCs found the section experience more important than ECs (4.5 vs. 4.3), and RCs also felt HBS performed better on this aspect than ECs did (4.2 vs. 3.6). Unfortunately, this might imply the magic of the section experience wears off once students go their separate ways in their second year. Perhaps, by graduation, the nostalgia will set in, and ECs will look back fondly on the many hours passed with their 94 best friends in Aldrich. ECs did, however, find HBS performed well on international exposure (4.1 vs. 3.8 for RCs), likely reflecting the benefit of FIELD travel and many accumulated treks. 

Finding love was a low priority for respondents. We’ve all heard the trope of finding your future significant other at business school, but it seems more and more students are coming to school with partners. Either that, or they’re too busy reading cases to prioritize the search for a soulmate.

In parting, we asked respondents to sum up their HBS experience in a word. Tellingly, the top two responses were “transformative” and “intense.” The experience is a lot. But when it works well, it can offer life-changing personal and professional growth opportunities. As one respondent put it, “overwhelming and busy, but high impact.” Qualitative responses bear out this dichotomy, with comments ranging from “I love it here and never want to leave,” to lamentations about cliques, high school 2.0, and high-quantity, low-quality commenters.

Despite clear areas for improvement, our respondents provided evidence of continued faith in the value of Harvard Business School. At the end of the day, 88% said they would choose HBS again. 

Note: This survey was conducted from March 24 to April 8 using Google Forms. Respondents included 80 ECs, 69 RCs, and 1 partner. 84 respondents identified as male, and 63 as female. The median respondent’s age was 28. Respondents were not compensated (sorry!). 

Tim Ford (MBA ’25) is originally from New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees in Commerce and Spanish, and completed an M.Phil. in Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge. Prior to the HBS MBA, Tim worked in growth equity at TPG in San Francisco.