P&Q’s Must Reads: U.S. News 2026 Best Business Schools Ranking: MIT Joins Wharton At The Top

Hello everyone — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it.

No. 1: U.S. News 2026 Best Business Schools Ranking: MIT Joins Wharton At The Top

There’s a new top business school in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report — or should we say, there are now two top schools.

MIT Sloan School of Management climbed into a tie for first place with long-time leader Penn Wharton in the ranking released today (September 23). Wharton was first in last year’s ranking — as well as all of US News’ business school rankings since 2019. It has been the top B-school in Poets&Quants’ undergraduate ranking for seven of the last eight years, too.

Wharton has more than 10,000 undergraduate students. MIT has fewer than half that.

You can see how the rest of the top 10 shook out, now on our homepage.

No. 2: ‘Covering Less And Less & Charging More And More’: Wharton EMBA Students Challenge The Value Of Their Degree

Our next Must Reads story also comes from Wharton, this time from its top-ranked Executive MBA with a price tag of more than $230,000.

But some recent EMBAs tell Poets&Quants that the program just isn’t living up to the pricetag.

“I chose Wharton because I thought it was the most rigorous,” one student says. “I turned down a scholarship for this. But the rigor isn’t there. Not in the way it’s delivered.”

This is the second in a two-part series on Wharton’s EMBA reported, in part, from a video town hall airing student frustrations. You can find it in our trending tab, along with our first story: ‘We’re Paying A Quarter Of A Million Dollars To Get Graded By AI’

No. 3: Business Master’s Grads Face A Tough Job Market In The U.S. — But Europe Offers Hope

With inflation still biting and hiring freezes persisting across sectors, business master’s graduates are confronting one of the most challenging job markets in years. Data from the GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey 2025 shows a stark divide: while U.S. employers remain committed to hiring MBAs — with just 12% saying they have no plans to do so — a majority report no intention of hiring specialized business master’s graduates in 2025.

In Western Europe, the outlook is more promising. More than three-quarters of employers there report plans to hire the same number or more graduate business talent compared to last year. Canadian firms are similarly upbeat, with most companies anticipating steady or increased hiring in 2025.

In this article, up now on our homepage, career directors at top business schools like Porto, Imperial & Frankfurt share how they’re helping students land roles in a shifting market.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: Dressing For The MBA Interview. This article reminds you to be memorable for the right reasons, not for attire that makes a bigger statement than you do. Find it on our homepage.

Next: The Most Popular MBA Courses. In this article, which you can find in our admission hub, graduating MBAs share their favorite classes, from Carnegie Mellon to Yale.
Finally: Preparing For Alumni-Led MBA Interviews. In this article, also in our admission hub, former admission directors from Fortuna Admissions outline the ways alumni interviews are different from those administered by admission committees. And – more importantly – how you should prepare for them.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap.

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.

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