The 10 best business schools in the Northeast

9. Carnegie Mellon University — Tepper School of Business

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Average starting salary: $115,300

Average GMAT score: 687

Tepper graduates are encouraged to pursue careers within one of the four major corporate functions: marketing, finance, consulting, and operations. The career center helps students connect with companies, meet with potential employers, and build their networks. Students are directly recruited by some of the biggest names in business, including Goldman Sachs, IBM, Google, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

8. New York University — Stern School of Business

Location: New York, New York

Average starting salary: $112,100

Average GMAT score: 720

Stern's MBA program heavily focuses on individuality, and students can choose up to three specializations, with options including everything from banking to real estate to luxury marketing. Post-graduation, students end up at a range of companies, including Boston Consulting Group, NBCUniversal, Morgan Stanley, and Burberry.

The school takes its name from billionaire property mogul Leonard Stern, who earned his MBA from NYU in 1959 and donated $30 million to construct a new building for the business school in 1988.

7. Cornell University — Johnson Graduate School of Management

Location: Ithaca, New York

Average starting salary: $118,900

Average GMAT score: 691

Students in the one- and two-year MBA tracks participate in the Johnson Graduate School of Management's unique immersion program, in which students spend a semester focusing solely on a specific career path, such as digital technology or investment banking, through electives, site visits, and live case studies.

The school itself takes its name from a business legacy — S.C. Johnson, founder of the global household-product company of the same name. The school adopted the name in 1984 after the Johnson family gave $20 million to it, the largest amount ever given to a business school at the time.

6. Yale University — Yale School of Management

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Average starting salary: $119,100

Average GMAT score: 713

Each MBA student at Yale's School of Management is required to complete a global studies course, choosing among the International Experience course, Global Network Courses, Global Network Weeks, or spending a full semester at an exchange partner school. Yale reported that 14.2% of the class of 2015 were hired internationally, with approximately 30% of all grads accepting jobs in finance and accounting.

5. Dartmouth College — Tuck School of Business

Location: Hanover, New Hampshire

Average starting salary: $123,900

Average GMAT score: 716

After their first year in the program, a full 100% of Tuck's class of 2016 gained hands-on experience through summer internships.

Within three months of graduation, 95% of the class of 2015 had accepted job offers, many of them at big-name companies, including Bain & Co., Goldman Sachs, Samsung, Deloitte, and Barclays Capital.

4. Columbia University — Columbia Business School

Location: New York, New York

Average starting salary: $127,600

Average GMAT score: 715

Students begin crafting their network and community within the business world the minute they arrive at Columbia, thanks in part to the school's cluster system, which places first-year students in "clusters" of 65 to 70 people who take all their core classes together. Columbia also counts some of the greatest minds in finance among its alumni, including Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and former Bank of America executive Sallie Krawcheck.

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Sloan School of Management

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Average starting salary: $126,300

Average GMAT score: 716

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is not only the best college in America, but it's also home to one of the best business schools. The Sloan School of Management, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary last year, offers three MBA tracks: enterprise management, entrepreneurship and innovation, and finance. Sloan reported that 93% of 2014 graduates accepted job offers within 90 days of graduation at companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, and 7.4% of grads went on to start their own businesses.

2. Harvard University — Harvard Business School

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Average starting salary: $131,600

Average GMAT score: 725

The world's oldest MBA program, Harvard Business School is also often considered the best due to the high average-starting salary its graduates command, the school's reputation with employers, and the HBS network of more than 44,000 living alumni.

HBS's cadre of successful alumni — littered with politicians, CEOs, and billionaires — is unrivaled as well: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former President George W. Bush, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, and HP Chairman Meg Whitman all graduated from the institution.

1. University of Pennsylvania — The Wharton School

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Average starting salary: $127,300

Average GMAT score: 732

The Wharton School earned the No. 1 spot on our full ranking in 2015 for all-around excellence. Though no other American school topped its tuition cost of $144,340, Wharton's stellar reputation, high average starting salary, and 95% job placement within the first three months of graduation make it the most worthwhile investment. Only Stanford's students scored higher on the GMAT.

The first business school in the US, Wharton was established in 1881 from a $100,000 donation by industrial tycoon Joseph Wharton. The institute now boasts one of the largest alumni networks among b-schools, including notable figures like John Sculley of Pepsi and Apple, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and billionaire financier Ron Perelman.