The Top U.S. MBA Programs With The Most International Students

Days away from the inauguration of the most anti-immigration president in modern American history seems a fitting time to explore the levels of internationalization in the MBA programs of the leading U.S. business schools — to, if nothing else, understand the moment and set a data baseline from which to judge the full impact of the return of Donald Trump.

What the data plainly tell us: The numbers are a year ahead of the political reality. After three years of gradually climbing levels of foreign-born students in the top U.S. MBA programs, international MBA enrollment in the U.S., seemingly spooked by the looming prospect of Trump’s return, didn’t just hit a wall in 2024 — it reversed significantly. Of 29 top schools, only six reported increases in 2024 in the percentages of international students in their programs, compared with 11 schools in 2023. In 2022, 22 of 27 programs analyzed by Poets&Quants reported increases from the previous year.

Meanwhile, 21 schools of 29 saw declines in 2024, and only two were even, meaning they had the same percentages of international students in both 2023 and 2024. Between 2022 and 2023, just 10 of the top 27 schools had declines in foreign MBA student enrollment.

HIGHEST INTERNATIONAL MBA POPULATION – CLASS OF 2026

P&Q Rank 2025	School	Internationals 2023	Internationals 2024	Year-To-Year Change
25	Georgetown McDonough	59%	49%	-10
19	Washington Foster	56%	46%	-10
7	Columbia Business School	47%	46%	-1
34	Indiana Kelley	58%	46%	-12
23	Emory Goizueta	48%	45%	-3
21	Washington Olin	51%	44%	-7
29	Michigan Ross	43%	44%	+1
18	UNC Kenan-Flagler	34%	43%	+9
10	Duke Fuqua	47%	41%	-6
14	UCLA Anderson	47%	41%	-6

Source: Business Schools

5 TOP B-SCHOOLS LOST DOUBLE-DIGIT INTERNATIONAL STUDENT VOLUME

Of course, other factors contribute to fluctuations in international enrollment, not least the ever-rising cost of an MBA in the United States. It’s conjecture to attribute most of the steep decline in 2024 to the impending return of Trump, whose long history of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies fueled a massive decline in international enrollment during his first term in office. But it is fact-informed conjecture: One analysis showed that the U.S. was considered for study by just 50% of international business school applicants in 2019, dropping from 62% a year earlier and 67% in 2017. Scared off by anti-immigration rhetoric and worries over work visas, the decline of international students in MBA applicant pools is a major reason behind what was then a five-year drop in applications to full-time MBA programs in the U.S.

In hindsight, 2024 looks like an early return of the Trump years. Of the 10 top B-schools in P&Q‘s 2025 ranking, eight reported decreases in international students as a percentage of their full-time MBA populations between 2023 and 2024. Eight of the top nine schools overall for highest percentage of internationals in their MBAs, meanwhile, actually lost ground from 2023 (see table above).

Across 29 top U.S. B-schools examined by P&Q, 21 saw declines between 2023 and 2024, six of them by double digits. Notably, all 29 schools are up from 2020, the Covid-19 cycle when numbers were deflated by world events. (Note: This story originally incorrectly stated that Yale SOM was the only school with a decline from 2020, but P&Q was using the wrong data for comparison.) It’s also worth noting that in the four years since 2020, some top schools have changed their methodology for measuring internationals, in some cases yielding significant shifts in the totals.

The growth of international populations in top U.S. MBA programs is plain: In 2020, nearly half the top 25 reported 25% or lower international students; the next year, that number had dropped to four schools. The next two years, it was zero schools. However, in 2024, it was one: Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, at 24%. Conversely, in 2020 the number of B-school with 40% or more internationals in their full-time MBAs was just two. That number grew to eight in 2021, then ballooned to 17 the next two years. Then in 2024, it shrank back to 13 schools.

BIGGEST DECLINE IN INTERNATIONAL MBA POPULATION 2023 TO 2024

P&Q Rank	School	Internationals 2023	Internationals 2024	Year-To-Year Change
15	Carnegie Mellon Tepper	53%	39%	-14
19	Georgia Tech Scheller	37%	24%	-13
34	Indiana Kelley	58%	46%	-12
5	Virginia Darden	30%	41%	-11
19	Washington Foster	56%	46%	-10
25	Georgetown McDonough	59%	49%	-10
17	UC-Berkeley Haas	38%	47%	-9

Source: Business Schools

CMU TEPPER SAW BIGGEST 1-YEAR INTERNATIONAL DROPOFF: 14 POINTS

In 2021, there were no top-ranked U.S. MBA programs with 50% international students — surely an effect not only of the recently departed administration but the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as well. Two years later, there were five schools at or above that benchmark. But the trend has reversed again, and in 2024 there were, once again, none. Georgetown McDonough School of Business led all B-schools in 2024 with 49% internationals.

More data wrinkles:

Six schools boasted 40% or more internationals in 2023 that had 25% or lower in 2021. In 2024, that number sank to four: NYU Stern School of Business, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Washington Foster, and Michigan Ross School of Business.
Smallest international population in 2024: Georgia Tech Scheller, 24%
Biggest gain 2023-2024 in the top 10: Stanford Graduate School of Business, +3 to 39%. In 2023, while 36% of the class was officially international, DACA and otherwise undocumented, dual citizens (8%), and U.S. permanent residents (3%) brought the true international total to 47%
Biggest gain 2023-2024 in the top 29: UNC Kenan-Flagler, +9 to 43%
Average decline top 10: 4.6 points (8 schools)
Average decline top 29: 7.0 points (21 schools)
Biggest decline top 29: Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, -14 to 39%

Business schools commonly publish one other measure of international diversity: countries represented in the class. In 2024, Stanford GSB led all schools with 72 countries, a school record, up 17 countries from 2023. As Stanford reports in its class profile, “The MBA Class of 2026 hails from around the world and is our most international class ever.” Stanford also notes that 67 languages are spoken in the class. Chicago Booth was next with 66 countries, up from 54, and Wharton was third with 65, down from 70.

HOW THE TOP SCHOOLS FOR INTERNATIONAL MBA POPULATION IN 2023 FARED IN 2024

P&Q Rank 2025	School	Internationals 2023	Internationals 2024	Year-To-Year Change
25	Georgetown McDonough	59%	49%	-10
34	Indiana Kelley	58%	46%	-12
19	Washington Foster	56%	46%	-10
15	Carnegie Mellon Tepper	53%	39%	-14
8	Yale SOM	50%	37%	-13
11	NYU Stern	48%	40%	-8
23	Emory Goizueta	48%	45%	-3

Source: Business Schools

WHAT WILL 2025 BRING?

Those mulling an MBA at a smaller program in the U.S. are more likely to be dissuaded by Trump than those aiming for Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton. “Our applicants typically go to top schools so the allure of H/S/W (Harvard/Stanford/Wharton) beats any pessimism about Trump,” says Rajdeep Chimni, founder of Gateway Admissions in India. “Our applicant numbers are up and that could lead to a reasoning that all is well and many people do not perceive any issue with a Trump presidency. Trump says things that seem pro the ‘educated’ immigrant, though you never know what he may finally do or not do.”

Harvard lost ground in 2024, Stanford gained, and Wharton was even, but many other top schools lost international student numbers — and Trump had not yet taken office. If the mere threat of a Trump second term was enough to dramatically deflate international enrollment in U.S. MBA programs, what will the reality of Trump Part 2 mean for American B-schools? Or is the downturn due to other causes

Manu Smadja is cautiously optimistic. The founder and CEO of lender MPOWER financing says the debate, and some proposed policy reforms, could actually strengthen the H1-B visa program for international students — and thus boost interest in U.S. MBA programs among key international populations.

“Is this the ideal environment for immigration? Probably not,” Smadja tells P&Q. “But I’m still a strong believer in the transformative power of U.S. and Canadian education.

“The fundamental value of a U.S. degree hasn’t diminished.”

INTERNATIONAL MBA STUDENTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE WHOLE CLASS — CLASSES OF 2022-2026

P&Q 2025 Rank	School	International Students As A % Of The MBA Class	Countries Represented – 2024	Internationals 2023	Internationals 2022	Internationals 2021	Internationals 2020	2-Year Change	4-Year Change
1	Northwestern Kellogg	40%	NA	39%	38%	36%	26%	+1	+14
2	Stanford GSB	39%	72	36%	46%	47%	35%	+3	+4
3	Chicago Booth	35%	66	36%	37%	39%	30%	-1	+5
4	Harvard Business School	35%	NA	39%	38%	37%	33%	-4	+2
5	Virginia Darden	30%	30	41%	43%	40%	24%	-11	+6
6	Dartmouth Tuck	30%	41	33%	43%	41%	25%	-3	+5
7	Columbia Business School	46%	NA	47%	51%	48%	44%	-1	+2
8	Yale SOM	37%	42	41%	48%	44%	27%	-4	+10
9	Cornell Johnson	35%	35	42%	43%	35%	34%	-7	+1
10	Duke Fuqua	41%	45	47%	39%	36%	27%	-6	+14
11	NYU Stern	40%	50	48%	44%	32%	23%	-8	+17
12	Penn Wharton	31%	65	31%	35%	36%	19%	Even	+12
13	MIT Sloan	40%	53	40%	40%	43%	33%	Even	+7
14	UCLA Anderson	41%	39*	47%	47%	36%	36%	-6	+5
15	Carnegie Mellon Tepper	39%	27	53%	56%	34%	28%	-14	+11
16	Texas-Austin McCombs	29%	NA	26%	28%	24%	10%	+3	+19
17	UC-Berkeley Haas	38%	39	47%	41%	37%	30%	-9	+8
18	UNC Kenan-Flagler	43%	40	34%	35%	26%	11.5%	+9	+31.5
19	Georgia Tech Scheller	24%	14	37%	26%	19%	19%	-13	+5
19	Washington Foster	46%	10	56%	43%	24%	24%	-10	+22
21	Washington Olin	44%	27	51%	49%	40%	36%	-7	+8
22	USC Marshall	35%	22	41%	41%	34%	22%	-6	+13
23	Emory Goizueta	45%	18	48%	50%	35%	28%	-3	+17
24	Notre Dame Mendoza	30%	13	36%	49%	35%	18%	-6	+12
25	Georgetown McDonough	49%	41	59%	50.2%	37%	27%	-10	+22
26	Rice Jones	37%	28	42%	42%	39%	20%	-5	+17
29	Michigan Ross	44%	40	43%	36%	28%	23%	+1	+21
30	Vanderbilt Owen	30%	21	29%	31%	25%	10.3%	+1	+19.7
34	Indiana Kelley	46%	NA	58%	45%	42%	31%	-12	+15