The Most International MBA Programs At The Top U.S. B-Schools

After a sharp drop in international MBA enrollment last year, the latest class data from top U.S. business schools suggests the slide has slowed but not reversed.

Among 26 MBA programs topping Poets&Quants 2025-2026 composite ranking, 12 increased their percentage of international students in the Class of 2027, 12 decreased, and two were unchanged.

While it may paint a more balanced picture than last year – when international enrollment fell at most top programs – the percentage of incoming international students is still trending downward from recent classes. Fifteen of the 26 schools we looked at are still down from their Class of 2025 levels, and several former international-heavy programs remain well off their recent peaks.

THE ONGOING TRUMP EFFECT?

In the fall and summer of 2024, when many members of the MBA Class of 2026 were making their school decisions, Donald Trump was running for a second term as president.

By the time top U.S. business schools began reporting their class profiles, the shift was somewhat expected and hard to miss. International students had fallen at most of the schools Poets&Quants examined, including six schools with double-digit drops, before Trump had even returned to office.

Then came 2025.

Within months of his inauguration, the Trump administration tried to terminate F-1 status for thousands of international students, slowed visa processing, and renewed debate over the future of OPT and H-1B pathways that many international MBAs count on after graduation. The moves threatened to reshape the already fragile return-on-investment calculation for students who hope to work in the U.S. after earning their degrees.

Trump’s broader campaign against diversity, equity also sent the message that the United States wasn’t as welcoming to outsiders. Fearing funding cuts and DOJ investigations, several prominent MBA programs cut or suspended ties with organizations long associated with expanding access to graduate management education. Four top schools ended their membership with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management which works to increase representation of underrepresented minorities in business education and corporate leadership. At least two U.S. business schools, including Wharton, ended their partnerships with the Forté Foundation.

All of it makes the Class of 2027 data an important early read on international enrollment trends under an actual Trump administration as opposed to a theoretical one. While the numbers are not the collapse some feared, they are not a clean rebound. Instead, they suggest a market still absorbing the shock.

HIGHEST & LOWEST PERCENT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS 

Across the 26 schools analyzed by P&Q for this story, the average percentage of international students for the Class of 2027 (entering in fall 2025) was identical to the Class of 2026 (entering fall 2024) at 39%. That is down from 41% for the Class of 2025 average (entering 2023).  

University of Washington Foster School of Business had the highest share of international students in 2027 MBA Class at 56%, matching the share it posted two classes before. It actually dropped from 56% to 46% for the Class of 2026 before bouncing back.  

WashU Olin had the second highest share at 47%, four percentage points lower than the Class of 2025. 

 

On the other end of the spectrum, Wharton posted the lowest share at 26%, five points lower than its percentages for the previous two classes.  

Vanderbilt Owen has reported 29% international students for its last two MBA classes. 

TEPPER & GEORGETOWN STILL WELL BELOW RECENT HIGHS

Last year, Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business had the biggest one-year drop in international MBA enrollment among the top schools, falling 14 points from 53% in the Class of 2025 to 39% in the Class of 2026.

That percentage declined another two points to 37% of its Class of 2027, a 16-point drop over the last three classes.

Georgetown McDonough, which led all schools last year with 49% international students in the Class of 2026, has also continued to lose ground. McDonough had been 59% international in the Class of 2025, fell 10 points last year, and dropped another 5 points this year to 44%. It remains one of the more international MBA programs in the group, but it is now 15 points below its recent high.

Not all top U.S. programs have lost ground. USC Marshall posted the largest three-class gain, rising from 35% international students in the Class of 2025 to 43% in the Class of 2027. Cornell Johnson climbed 7 points, from 35% to 42%. Georgia Tech Scheller and UC-Berkeley Haas each rose 6 points over three classes, though by very different paths. Haas jumped to 47% in the Class of 2026 before settling at 44%, while Scheller plunged to 24% last year before rebounding sharply to 43% this year. Texas McCombs also continued its steady climb, from 26% to 29% to 31%.

The steepest one-year drops have slowed at some schools, and a handful have regained momentum. But among the schools with the biggest three-class declines, the Class of 2027 numbers suggest that last year’s international enrollment retreat was not a one-cycle blip.

INTERNATIONAL  STUDENTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF ALL MBAS

For a longer trendline, we can look at international students as a share of each school’s total enrolled full-time MBA population, rather than only the incoming class.

As part of its annual ranking of U.S. MBA programs, U.S. News & World Report reports the percentage of international students enrolled across each school’s full-time MBA. For most two-year programs, the most recent figure would include the Class of 2027, which enrolled in 2025, and the Class of 2026, which enrolled in 2024.

Looking at total population trends since 2021 (Classes of 2022 and 2021), the broader enrollment picture shows a similar pattern. International enrollment is up compared with the pandemic-era lows, but the momentum of 2023 and 2024 has clearly softened.

Among the 24 schools with U.S. News data available for 2026, 12 reported a higher percentage of international students across their full-time MBA programs than they did the year before, while 11 reported declines and one was unchanged. That is a more balanced picture than the incoming-class data alone, but it still reflects a market that has not returned to the rapid international growth seen earlier in the decade.

Several schools remain far above their 2021 levels. Texas McCombs, for example, reported 30% international students in 2026, up from just 10% in 2021. Vanderbilt Owen rose from 10% to 31% over the same period, while Washington Foster climbed from 24% to 51%. Wharton, Stanford, Georgia Tech Scheller, Michigan Ross, USC Marshall, and UNC Kenan-Flagler also remain well above where they stood in 2021.

DON’T MISS: HIGH & LOW MBA SALARIES & BONUSES AT THE TOP 100 U.S. B-SCHOOLS AND THE CONSULTING CONVEYOR BELT: WHERE TOP MBAS GO AFTER MCKINSEY, BAIN & BCG  

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.