MIT Sloan joined Wharton at the top of the 2026 U.S. News ranking of best undergraduate business schools
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 the year before that, the year before that, the year before that, and the year before that. It has been the top B-school in Poets&Quants’ undergraduate rankingfor seven of the last eight years, too.
Wharton has more than 10,000 undergraduate students (and another 14,000 grad students), skewing strongly female with 54% women; it has only a 5% acceptance rate, placing it No. 5 in Lowest Acceptance Rate in this year’s U.S. Newsranking. In the magazine’s specialization rankings, it was No. 1 in Finance and Nos. 2 in Management, Marketing, Quantitative Analysis, and Real Estate.
But now the University of Pennsylvania’s vaunted B-school must share the top spot with a school that has fewer than half the undergrads (4,535). MIT has the same acceptance rate, but skews male, with men making up more than 50% of the student body. MIT also ranked No. 1 in both Production/Management and Quantitative Analysis.
MIT has been No. 2 for several years — including the last three when it shared that spot with UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. This year, Haas dropped to No. 3, followed by Michigan Ross School of Business at No. 4 and NYU Stern School of Business t round out the top 5. The latter two schools have been ranked in those spots every year since 2022.
The business school rankings may have brought a shake-up at the top, but across U.S. News’ broader Best Colleges lists for 2026, the theme was stability — especially among elite National Universities. Princeton University retained its No. 1 spot for the umpteenth year, followed once again by MIT at No. 2 and Harvard at No. 3.
Just below that upper echelon, however, movement was more pronounced. The University of Chicago vaulted five spots to No. 6, its highest position in years, while the University of Pennsylvania rose three spots to No. 7. The biggest climbers: Yeshiva University, which is located in Manhattan, posted the single biggest jump among national universities, rising 14 places to No. 84. Northeastern University of Boston also made a strong showing, climbing eight spots into a tie at No. 46.
This year’s 41st edition of Best Colleges evaluates nearly 1,700 four-year institutions, weighing student outcomes, graduation rates, faculty resources, and more. Small changes in methodology — especially those tied to affordability and student investment — produced major shifts for some schools, particularly in regional and public categories.
“For over four decades, Best Colleges has served as a trusted and data-backed resource for students and families navigating the complex college search process,” says LaMont Jones, Ed.D., managing editor of education at U.S. News. “It reflects the changing landscape of higher education and provides a crucial starting point to identify schools that align with academic and personal goals.”
The 2026 rankings place even greater weight on student success, with outcome-related metrics — graduation and retention rates, social mobility, and post-grad performance — collectively accounting for over 50% of each school’s overall score. That focus significantly outweighs inputs like admissions selectivity or faculty resources, reflecting what U.S. News calls “a more student-centered” approach.
Among the notable methodology updates: Expenditures per student are now calculated using credit hours rather than a binary full-time/part-time designation, resulting in a more precise view of student involvement and institutional investment.
SAT and ACT scores, meanwhile, were removed entirely as a ranking factor for Regional Universities North and Regional Colleges North, where fewer than 10 schools submitted comprehensive data for new entrants. The change aligns with increasing test-optional adoption in the region. And the minimum cohort size for calculating graduation and retention rates increased from 20 to 25 students, improving the statistical reliability of outcome measures.
Back in the B-school rankings, while MIT Sloan’s headline-grabbing rise into a tie with Wharton at No. 1 will draw the most attention, much of the real movement in the 2026 undergraduate business rankings occurred further down the list — where subtle climbs, reputation shifts, and peer-assessment nuances shuffled the middle and lower tiers.
One of the biggest upward movers this year was the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School, which jumped from No. 53 to No. 41 — its strongest performance in recent memory and a 12-place gain that stands out in a year with relatively few double-digit risers. Similarly, the University of Oregon’s Lundquist College moved from No. 47 to No. 41. The University of Colorado Boulder, which had been on a steady upward trajectory until last year, resumed its positive course by rising from No. 36 to No. 32. Other well-known schools that quietly gained ground in the middle tier of the ranking: Purdue University, Michigan State’s Broad College, and Rice University, all of which moved up from No. 27 last year to a shared position at No. 24.
By contrast, Tulane University’s Freeman School, Case Western Weatherhead, and the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School fell one position to No. 41; Tulane ranked as high as No. 34 in 2023, when both Case Western and South Carolina was 39th. The University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business moved from No. 27 to No. 32, which is still better than the school’s 36th place two years ago.
There were, again this year, lots of ties. In the top 50, the clustering was thickest in two spots: at No. 24, where eight schools — including Broad, Rice, Texas A&M, Arizona State, and Purdue — share the same rank; and at No. 41, where 10 schools are tied, including Wake Forest, George Washington, Arkansas Walton, Pittsburgh Katz, and Tulane. Lower down, Missouri Trulaske jumped from 94th to 64th, American Kogod from 94th to 77th, and Clemson from 77th to 64th.
Many of these programs have hovered in this range for years. Thirteen schools tied for 51st, and 13 for 64th. Twenty-one schools tied for 88th, and 21 for 109th.
For prospective MBAs keeping an eye on undergraduate pipelines into top business schools, the overall 2026 U.S. Newsrankings reinforce the enduring strength of Ivy Plus institutions — while also highlighting upward momentum among major public flagships.
At the top, Princeton University (No. 1), Harvard University (No. 3), and Yale University (tied at No. 4) continue to serve as prolific feeders into M7 MBA programs. University of Pennsylvania, home to the Wharton School, climbed three spots to No. 7, bolstering its dual identity as both an elite undergraduate institution and a business school powerhouse.
University of Chicago, which rose five places to No. 6, reaffirms its value as a top MBA launchpad — particularly given its connection to Booth School of Business, consistently ranked among the best MBA programs globally. Similarly, Columbia University (No. 15) and MIT (No. 2) maintain their standing as critical stepping stones to their respective business schools, Columbia Business School and MIT Sloan.
Among top-ranked publics, UC Berkeley (up two spots to No. 15) and Michigan (No. 20 tie) continue to dominate in MBA admissions volume and alumni network strength. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Michigan’s Ross School remain highly competitive MBA destinations — fueled in part by strong undergraduate pipelines in business, economics, and engineering.
Cornell University (No. 12), Dartmouth College (No. 13), and Northwestern University (No. 7 tie) also remain essential feeders into their respective MBA programs — Johnson, Tuck, and Kellogg — offering students strong internal mobility and dual-degree pathways.
Of note, University of Virginia (No. 26 tie) and UNC-Chapel Hill (No. 26 tie) both hover just outside the top 25.
To support the rankings, U.S. News has also expanded its free college-planning tools. The Scholarship Finder databasenow includes more than 18,000 scholarships, and the magazine recently launched Getting In, a newsletter for parents navigating the admissions process.
Full rankings and methodology are available here.
Next page: U.S. News‘ top 100 Best Colleges, including snapshots of the top three in several categories. Page 3: The top 129 U.S. business schools, plus the top 5 in each of 13 specialization rankings.
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