American University, Kogod School of Business

The Next Big Schools

 
They don’t generate the press of M7 schools or boast a national profile. And you won’t find them near the top of most target school lists. However, they offer strengths that eventually trip ranking instruments. Some will eventually crack the Top 40. Others will drop back into obscurity. Call them “The Next Big Things” – carny hype for graduate business schools whose ranking journeys indicate they can’t be ignored any longer.

The template is Iowa State’s Ivy College of Business, which has climbed from 57th to 38th over the past four years – despite being dragged down by $82,721 post-graduation pay that ranks dead last in U.S. News’s Top 50.  Similarly, the University of Arkansas’s Walton College of Business has rocketed from 74th to 48th in just two years, buoyed by high undergraduate GPAs. This year, you’ll find three graduate business programs that could fit the ‘Next Big Thing’ moniker.

3 PROGRAMS WITH 3 UNIQUE ADVANTAGES

That starts with American University’s Kogod School of Business, which moved from 58th to 46th in the 2026 U.S. News MBA Ranking. This year, Kogod made Poets&Quants’ 10 Business Schools To Watch due to its integration of Artificial Intelligence across its programming.

One number that stands out is acceptance rate. The school accepted just 16.02% of applicants – a higher rate than either the Wharton School or MIT Sloan. Unlike many business schools – which saw its Recruiter Assessment scores decline, Kogod actually improved by 0.1 of a point. Not surprisingly, Kogod’s 2025 graduating class also undercut another narrative. Their graduates actually saw their pay increase, going from $125,381 to $127,339. It wasn’t just U.S. News where Kogod boosted its profile. The school also cracked Bloomberg Businessweek’s Top 50 (47th) too.

The University of Kansas School of Business celebrated its 100-year anniversary during the 2024-2025 school year. And the celebration continues in the next year, with the school rising 21 places to 51st. Placement numbers stand out for Kansas. At its 2025 commencement, 79.6% of its graduates already had a job in hand – a rate higher than all but two Top 25 schools in the U.S. News MBA Ranking. Within three months of graduation, that number had climbed to 95.9% – a higher rate than any program ranked in the Top 50! Like many Midwest public schools west of the Mississippi, however, the pay of Kansas MBAs lags well behind its peers.

The University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business comes with its own calling card. It consistently ranks as the top MBA program for International Business according to surveys run by U.S. News. This year, Moore achieved the same feat as Kansas with U.S. News: It improved from 71st to 53rd, also putting it on the cusp of the Top 50. By the numbers, Moore MBAs bring a 3.7 undergraduate GPA to Columbia – the same as first-year entrants at the Wharton School and Chicago Booth. Like Kansas, substandard starting pay may limit Moore’s ability to make a serious move inside the Top 50.

Source: U.S. News & World Report

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