The Best Cities (And Towns) To Earn An MBA

Is this heaven?

No, it’s Hanover.

With apologies to the Field of Dreams, the real magic is found in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley. Instead of baseball diamonds and corn fields, you’ll find hockey rinks and hardwood forests. In the fall, the trees blend into a kaleidoscope of gold, crimson, and copper. In the spring, the Connecticut River glistens as it winds though hamlets, farms, and vineyards. Amid it all, there is Hanover, home to Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.

Picture a scene out of Gilmore Girls, a cultured and cozy nest of coffee shops, bakeries, and book stores. Think crullers, omelets, and maple creemees. Slow, serene, and safe – a place to reflect, connect, and create. Here, you make your own fun, as students adopt an ‘all-in-this-together mindset, paving the way for deep friendships and indelible moments. Away from campus, Hanover is a four-season, outdoor paradise, featuring nature paths, mountains, and waterways perfect for hiking, skiing, and canoeing.

A PLACE TO BE ‘PRESENT’

Among Tuck’s MBA Class of 2026, Hanover was an unexpected highlight. That was certainly the case for Jack Noble, who was “pulled” into a life he had never experienced.

“Hanover is a peaceful, quaint town that slows you down and makes you appreciate where you are,” writes Noble, who ended up in Atlanta after graduation. “Summers on the Connecticut River were spent kayaking and swimming and never got old, no matter how many times I did it. Fall brought some of the most stunning foliage I have ever seen, with long walks around campus that made it easy to slow down and appreciate where I was. Winter meant learning to ski at the Dartmouth Skiway for the first time and skating on Occom Pond, two things a kid from North Carolina never expects to love as much as I did.”

These surroundings – along with the “rhythm of life” – adds a rare social component, Noble continues.

“Walking across the Green, you are always running into someone worth stopping for, and conversations have a way of lasting much longer than you planned. The town encourages you to be present, and that presence deepens friendships and memories in ways that are harder to replicate anywhere else. Hanover has a way of expanding what you thought your life could look like, and I leave with more than I ever expected to find here.”

A LOOK AT OVER 40 TOWNS & CITIES

Noble’s classmate, Kayla Hergott Heiny, jokes that Hanover feels “straight out of a Hallmark movie – complete with its annual Christmas tree lighting.” The calm it fosters, she adds, enables students to “do more” than they might otherwise.

“Business school is hard. Recruiting is stressful. And as an introvert, the social scene can be overstimulating, which can quickly lead to burnout. What makes Tuck different is what happens the moment you walk out of the classroom. You step into a quaint college town surrounded by hundreds of miles of trails, woods that change color every season, charming coffee shops, and local farms where you can pick up fresh produce for the week. Hanover creates the conditions for you to thrive academically, socially, and professionally because there is a calming, grounding force the second you leave Tuck Hall.”

The first rule of real estate, as the saying goes, is “location, location, location.” Business schools follow a similar rule. Location dictates more than culture, opportunities, and network. Most times, it also determines the experience. Earlier this year, Poets&Quants asked this year’s Best & Brightest MBAs and MBAs To Watch to share what they loved most about the city or town where they earned their MBA. From Ahmedabad to Wellesley, here is how location made all the difference for 60 MBA graduates from the Class of 2026.

Ahmedabad: “What I love most about Ahmedabad is how it lets you time-travel in a single day. You can start with a heritage walk through the pols of old Ahmedabad, end up at the Sabarmati riverfront or Law Garden, and reward yourself with fafda–jalebi, roadside ice creams or creative fusion plates at places like Swati Snacks. On quieter days, there’s birdwatching at Nalsarovar; on more ambitious ones, there’s the corporate skyline of GIFT City reminding you where the future of finance is.”
Abhishek Batra, IIM Ahmedabad

Ann Arbor: “Ann Arbor is the quintessential college town, and I absolutely love that about it. I mean two things by this. First, residents, storeowners, and even those with no direct association with the University of Michigan still LOVE the school. It’s palpable with every random “Go Blue” you hear on the streets. This is true especially on game days, when the energy is unmatched. Second, the town is small enough that very few people in our class, if any, are actually from the area. We lean on each other, and that leads to a tighter-knit, stronger community.”
Rahul Narain, University of Michigan (Ross)

“I would be remiss not to mention the Ann Arbor community, which supports its neighbors and celebrates the school’s accomplishments with immense pride. Beyond its vibrant community, I love the access to nature. My partner and I spend every minute we can outside, provided it isn’t zero degrees and snowing. The University of Michigan Nichols Arboretum (The Arb) is an idyllic natural escape just minutes from campus that I discovered during my first finals week. Since that moment, we have had countless hikes, walks, floats, and picnics in or around The Arb. There is nowhere else on earth where you can be surrounded by 100,000 screaming Michigan fans one moment and later that afternoon walk to The Arb and be surrounded by chirping birds and running groundhogs.”
Jack May, University of Michigan (Ross)

Atlanta: “I have come to believe that Atlanta is often misunderstood. One of its lesser-known nicknames is the “City in the Forest,” and it is well earned. The tree canopy, rivers, and green space give the city a character that feels both vibrant and grounded.

You can run or walk along the Atlanta Beltline, kayak down the Chattahoochee River, or drive north and hike near the start of the Appalachian Trail. Few cities offer that combination of professional opportunity and immediate access to nature. For me, Atlanta represents both home and possibility, which made earning my MBA here even more meaningful.”
Clayton Marshall, Georgia Tech (Scheller)

Austin: “Austin is an incredibly vibrant, active, and eclectic town. Whether you want to have a picnic at Auditorium shores, go for a swim in Barton Springs, or enjoy live music at virtually any restaurant in town, there is always something to do. The vibe is open and welcoming, and Austin really made this MBA experience spectacular.”
Kasey McCravey, University of Texas (McCombs)

“What I loved most about Austin was its vibrant energy and the feeling that there is always something happening. The city perfectly blends the charm of a small town with the dynamism of a large city, creating a welcoming and exciting environment for students. From iconic events like South by Southwest and Formula 1 to the countless live music shows, food festivals, and outdoor activities, Austin constantly offers opportunities to explore and connect with others. At the same time, it is a wonderful place to decompress during the more stressful moments of the MBA, especially during recruiting, whether that means spending time outdoors, enjoying great food, or simply taking in the city’s lively atmosphere. That balance between energy and relaxation made Austin an incredibly special place to spend my MBA years.” Soham Mukherjee, University of Texas (McCombs)

“What I love most about Austin is how it blends food, music, nature, and innovation into everyday life. The food scene is nothing short of incredible, especially the variety of taco spots – De Nada and Matt’s El Rancho are mandatory for anyone visiting Austin. The live music culture ranges from Austin City Limits to intimate sets on 6th Street; from country to EDM, there is something for everyone. It is also easy to get outside, from time on Lady Bird Lake to cooling off at Barton Springs, and it is a given that I will see a fellow McCombs student doing the same. On top of that, it often feels like you are living in an innovation incubator, with a Waymo picking you up or discovering the coolest new made‑in‑Austin brands.”

Caroline Murray, University of Texas (McCombs)

Barcelona: “Barcelona has the scale and energy of New York, London, or L.A. with endless arts, culture, restaurants and things to do – but the difference is that in Spain, you leave work at work. IESE students work incredibly hard on campus, but when the day is done, dinner starts at 10 p.m. at a crowded table with a dozen friends. Everyone is yelling over each other and having a blast, and nobody is talking about work. In other big cities I’ve lived in, people bring their work to dinner with them. Barcelona doesn’t let you do that.

Then there’s Catalan culture, which is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Just last week I went out for a Sunday morning coffee and stumbled right into a “castells” ceremony right outside my door with music, human towers and the whole community out to support. I’ve never lived somewhere where life can be this fast and slow at the same time.”
Timothy Hoffmann, IESE Business School

“I’ll try not to spoil the secret too badly. But…Beach in 20 minutes. Skiing in two hours. Food that makes you rethink what you thought was good food. Architecture that makes you stop mid-sentence and look up to take pictures you’ll never upload (and never delete).

But what stayed with me most was the rhythm. Barcelona operates at a pace that forces you to be present. Walking to a meeting while eating a sandwich? Unheard of. People sit down for meals and stay an hour after the plate is cleared. After years of treating every minute as something to optimize, that pace was a recalibration I didn’t know I needed. I realized the importance of being present in the space you’re in… and that rest is not the opposite of productivity.”
Federico E. Alatorre, IESE Business School

Berkeley: “Berkeley is a rare combination that just works: it has a small-town feel – walkable, calm, genuinely neighborly – yet San Francisco is 30 minutes away, and Oakland is right next door. The outdoors are everywhere: I could step off campus and be hiking within minutes. And 70 degrees in January is something you never quite get used to, in the best way. For an MBA experience that gets intense sometimes, having that kind of environment to decompress in made a real difference.”
Gonzalo Vásquez Neyra, UC Berkeley (Haas)

Bloomington: “My favorite part of Bloomington has been trying the local coffee shops. I love grabbing a coffee from Hopscotch and taking a walk along the B-Line Trail with my dog, Barnes. The fall in Bloomington is fantastic with all the beautiful trees changing colors. When I think of a classic college town, Bloomington is exactly what comes to mind. It has a charming little main street and a downtown area where you can’t walk more than a few blocks without running into someone you know. There’s IU gear everywhere, and a sense of Hoosier pride, especially this year because of all the excitement from football.”
Sarah Wales, Indiana University (Kelley)

Boston: “Growing up just south of Boston, it’s always been home for me. The city’s history, food, and sports are hard to beat. In the winter, it’s easy to escape to the mountains for a weekend ski trip. Come summer, you have the beaches down on Cape Cod and the stunning coastline up in Maine. Despite being a smaller city, there’s just so much to do and I couldn’t imagine going to school anywhere else.”
Tyler Farrar, Boston College (Carroll)

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