The 2026 US News Best Business Schools report has just been released, with some surprising and some not so surprising results!
This year, Stanford GSB swapped places with Wharton, returning to the top spot in the US News Best Business School rankings (a spot it also occupied in 2024). Wharton (Personal MBA Coach founder Scott Edinburgh’s alma mater) ranked second, followed by Chicago Booth, which also reclaimed the 3rd place position it held in 2024. Harvard Business School and Kellogg tied for the fourth position. While this 4th place is an improvement for HBS, it is worth noting that Harvard continues to lag behind in employment rates (dragging down its ranking). Just over 61.4% of graduates were employed at graduation and 80.4% were employed after three months. By comparison, over 74.7% of Chicago Booth students were employed at graduation, and 86% were employed three months after graduation. Similarly, over 87.6% of Wharton students were employed three months after graduation.
Despite Harvard’s performance in the US News Best Business Schools ranking over the past few years, HBS remain a popular choice for Personal MBA Coach clients.
MIT Sloan dropped from the 5th to the 6th position this year. Another school to return to its 2024 US News Best Business School ranking is NYU Stern, which tied with Columbia Business School for the 7th spot. Dartmouth Tuck came 9th, and Berkeley Haas joined the top ten this year.
UVA Darden ranked 11th again this year, tying with Yale SOM. Michigan Ross remained 13th, pushing Duke Fuqua to the 14th spot this year. Cornell Johnson closed out the top 15.
US News Best Business School Rankings Methodology
This is the third year that US News used methodology centered on employment data (referred to as Attainment Success), which makes up 50% of a school’s overall score (four years ago, only 35% of the score was based on employment rate).
Quality Assessment, which includes both peer assessment score and recruiter assessment score, makes up 25% of the ranking. The remaining 25% is based on Student Selectivity, which includes GMAT/GRE score, average GPA and acceptance rate.
Using median GMAT/GRE scores means outlier scores have less effect on rankings. This may be welcome news for unique applicants with a low test score, as the change in ranking methodology could lead admissions directors to consider applicants they previously might have excluded.
This methodology is not without controversy, which is why it is even more important this year to remember that rankings are NOT the be-all, end-all.
How to Use MBA Rankings
Personal MBA Coach would like to remind MBA applicants that rankings are just one source of data and often change year-to-year based on ratings criteria. This methodology (and the resulting rankings) will not necessarily change a hiring manager’s perspective of a school in the short (or even medium) term. This is why changes over time are more significant than year-to-year and guide-to-guide fluctuations.
However, the constant shuffling at the top demonstrates the growing competition among elite business schools and many compelling options for MBA hopefuls.
While the M7 business schools receive a lot of attention, Personal MBA Coach urges our clients to consider a broad range of schools. Our average client applies to five to seven programs to maximize their chances of acceptance.
For more information on how to use the US News Best Business Schools 2026-2027 report or other MBA rankings, check out our tips in this blog.
Beyond MBA rankings, when choosing a business school, you should consider factors including a school’s location, culture, academic programming, areas of specialization, and job placement rate. Similarly, culture and teaching style vary across schools. To learn more, we encourage you to review Personal MBA Coach’s new school guides.
Finally, available financing also should be a key consideration since you may be able to secure more funding from one school than another. Last cycle, Personal MBA Coach’s clients earned $11M in scholarships. Depending on your personal circumstances, you might be inclined to select a school with a more favorable financial package regardless of ranking. Some M7 schools are very generous with scholarships while others award them much more sparingly.
Looking for help with school selection? Reach out today for a consultation!
