P&Q’s Must Reads: The 100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class Of 2026

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: The 100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class Of 2026 

Now in its 12th year, Poets&Quants’ annual Best & Brightest list honors the top full-time MBA graduates at the world’s top business schools. We received 216 nominations from 83 top programs, evaluating submissions based on extracurricular leadership, personal excellence, insightful responses, and faculty recommendations. 75 business schools are represented on this year’s list. 

You can find all 100 MBA profiles in this story, now in our trending tab. 

No. 2: How Executives Rank The World’s Best Business Schools In 2026  

Last week, CEOWorld’s released its annual “Best Business Schools In The World Ranking For 2026” and London Business School replaced Wharton at the top.  

The top of the list is dominated by U.S. schools, which claimed seven out of the top 10 spots. The United Kingdom claimed the other three. 

You’ll find the full list, as well as our in depth methodological analysis, on our homepage.  

No. 3: Deans Decry Journals’ Removal From Influential Financial Times List 

Deans of prominent European business schools have expressed dismay over The Financial Times’ decision to delist three top business journals from its influential rankings. 

In late April, the publisher removed three prominent journals from its influential FT50 list assessing “high-quality research” out of the world’s leading business schools. The FT has swapped out Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies in favor of three journals it says are more relevant. 

You can find the full article from our news tab. 

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

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

First up: The Ultimate MBA Application Timeline. This step-by-step guide acts as a structured roadmap for compelling MBA applications. Find it on our homepage.  

Next: The Top MBA Admissions Consulting Firms Of 2026. This list, which you’ll find in our admissions hub, offers all the data to help you choose the right consultant to get you into your target school.  

Finally, How To Improve Your MBA Odds If You’re 30+. This article, also in our admissions hub, offers tips for overcoming the B-school bias for 20-somethings. 

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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