Wharton undergraduate students
It’s Wharton again. In its annual ranking of undergraduate business schools, U.S. News & World Report has once again bestowed top honors on the University of Pennsylvania’s vaunted B-school.
Wharton was first in last year’s ranking, as well as the year before that, the year before that, and the year before that. It has been the top B-school in Poets&Quants’ undergraduate ranking for six of the last seven years, too.
Much of the top 10 in U.S. News‘ 2025 ranking of B-schools was unchanged from last year, with MIT and UC-Berkeley once again tied for second place, followed by Michigan and NYU to round out the top 5. The University of Texas at Austin dropped to 6th from 5th, and Carnegie Mellon University climbed to 6th from 7th.
In 13 separate rankings for business specializations, Wharton — with an undergraduate enrollment of 9,995 in fall 2023 — was again the biggest winner, ranking in the top five in analytics, finance (where it was No. 1), international business, management (also No. 1), marketing, operations management, quantitative analysis, and real estate. Its parent school, the University of Pennsylvania, ranked No. 10 overall in best colleges and universities.
U.S. NEWS TOP 10 (REALLY 11) UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS
|
2025 Rank |
School |
State/District |
2024 Rank |
2023 Rank |
|
1 |
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
PA |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MA |
2 |
2 |
|
2 |
University of California-Berkeley (Haas) |
CA |
2 |
2 |
|
4 |
University of Michigan (Ross) |
MI |
4 |
4 |
|
5 |
New York University (Stern) |
NY |
5 |
5 |
|
6 |
University of Texas-Austin (McCombs) |
TX |
5 |
7 |
|
6 |
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) |
PA |
7 |
5 |
|
6 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) |
NC |
8 |
8 |
|
9 |
Cornell University (Dyson) |
NY |
8 |
8 |
|
9 |
Indiana University (Kelley) |
IN |
8 |
8 |
|
9 |
University of Southern California (Marshall) |
CA |
8 |
8 |
A LOT OF TIES
U.S. News & World Report‘s Best Undergraduate Business Programs rankings are based on the judgments of deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions who participated in a peer assessment survey. The magazine, surveyed deans and senior faculty members at all 532 undergraduate business programs accredited by AACSB International in the spring and summer of 2024; all 532 programs were ranked. The respondents — two at each AACSB-accredited business program — rated the quality of all programs with which they were familiar on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1).
This year, the business survey had a 46.9% response rate. That’s down from 49.9% last year.
The magazine’s methodology leads to a lot of ties. In the top 10 alone, three schools were tied at No. 6 and three more at No. 9 — making the top 10 a top 11, in reality. Further down the ranking, four schools tied at No. 14, five schools at No. 18, four at No. 23, nine at No. 27, four at No. 36, 13 at No. 40, 12 at No. 53, 12 at No. 65, 17 at No. 77, and 20 (!) at No. 94.
NOTABLE JUMPS & DROPS
Noteworthy changes in standing occurred for Washington University in St. Louis, whose Olin Business School dropped to 18th from 13th, and for two Midwestern schools: The Ohio State University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, both of which climbed to 14th from 17th.
The University of Oklahoma had among the biggest improvements in rank, climbing from 70th to 53rd, while the Air Force Academy flew from 84th to 65th. Among the biggest drops in rank: Texas Christian University dropped to 94th from 70th, and Northeastern University and University of Massachusetts–Amherst both fell from 47th to 65th. Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge dropped out of the top 100 altogether, falling from 84th to 114th.
Among states, California had the most B-schools on the list, with 11, followed by New York (10), Texas (nine), Massachusetts (eight), and Pennsylvania (seven).
U.S. NEWS 2024-2025 BEST NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES TOP 10
|
University |
2025 |
2024 |
2023 |
2022 |
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
2016 |
2015 |
|
Princeton University |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
|
Harvard University |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Stanford University |
4 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
|
Yale University |
5 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
Johns Hopkins University |
6 |
9 |
7 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
12 |
|
California Institute of Technology |
6 |
7 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
12 |
12 |
10 |
12 |
10 |
10 |
|
Duke University |
6 |
7 |
10 |
9 |
12 |
10 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
Northwestern University |
6 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
12 |
13 |
|
University of Pennsylvania |
10 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
SOURCE: U.S. NEWS
DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN GOT IT RIGHT
The Best Undergraduate Business Schools list is published as part of the magazine’s Best National Universities ranking. The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, published an advance copy of the 10 top schools in the Best National Universities ranking on September 10. It turned out to be accurate, despite the magazine insisting what the student paper had published was only a preliminary list.
In this overall ranking for universities and colleges, Princeton University took No. 1 for the 10th consecutive year, MIT placed second for the fourth straight year, and Harvard University placed third for the third year in a row. Stanford University was fourth, down from third in 2023-2024, and Yale University was fifth, same as last year. See the rest of the top 10 above.
Penn dropped to 10th from sixth place, its lowest rank since 1997, when it ranked 13th. The school, home to The Wharton School, which was No. 1 in Poets&Quants’ most recent ranking of undergraduate business programs, ranked as high as No. 4 on U.S. News‘ university list as recently as 2010.
See the next page for the U.S. News ranking of schools by business specialization. See page 3 for the top 100 U.S. undergraduate business schools.
In addition to its overall ranking of business schools, U.S. News also ranks schools in 13 specialty categories:
-
Accounting
-
Business analytics
-
Entrepreneurship
-
Finance
-
Insurance / Risk Management
-
International Business
-
Management
-
Management Information Systems
-
Marketing
-
Production / Operations Management
-
Quantitative Analysis / Methods
-
Real Estate
-
Supply Chain Management / Logistics
The magazine asks respondents to the peer assessment survey to nominate up to 15 of the best programs in the 13 business specialty areas. Programs that receive the most mentions in each area are ranked in descending order by number of mentions.
As with the magazine’s specialty rankings for MBA programs, the undergrad rankings include some long winning streaks — among them, the University of Texas at Austin atop the Accounting category, the University of South Carolina in International Business, and Michigan State University atop Supply Chain/Logistics.
But the longest streak is owned by Babson College, which was named No. 1 for the 28th year in a row.
“Babson College is proud to retain our place as the No. 1 undergraduate school for entrepreneurship,” Babson President Stephen Spinelli tells P&Q. “Our community has been pioneers in entrepreneurship education for decades, and this recognition validates our commitment to advancing entrepreneurial thought leadership and practice. The substantial impact that our more than 45,000 alumni have on the world affirms what we’ve long known — that entrepreneurship must be taught to move society forward.”
Among the biggest jumps in standing in entrepreneurship — or any category — was the one for the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, which surged 17 places to land 14th.
“Our world is changing in fundamental, revolutionary ways, via the energy transition and the implementation of generative AI. I can’t imagine a school better suited to prepare leaders ready to lead these transformative changes,” says Peter Rodriguez, dean of the Jones School. “Our course curriculum combined with real-world global experiences ensures that our graduates are ready to meet and shape the future of business.”
|
Accounting |
Analytics |
|
1 – University of Texas at Austin |
1 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|
2 – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
2 – Carnegie Mellon University |
|
3 – Brigham Young University |
3 – Georgia Institute of Technology |
|
4 – Indiana University |
4 – New York University |
|
5 – University of Pennsylvania |
4 – University of Pennsylvania |
|
Entrepreneurship |
Finance |
|
1 – Babson College |
1 – University of Pennsylvania |
|
2 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
2 – New York University |
|
2 – University of Michigan |
3 – University of Texas at Austin |
|
4 – UC-Berkeley |
4 – University of Michigan |
|
5 – Indiana University |
5 – UC-Berkeley |
|
Insurance |
International Business |
|
1 – University of Georgia |
1 – University of South Carolina |
|
2 – University of Wisconsin – Madison |
2 – Florida International University |
|
3 – Georgia State University |
3 – Georgetown University |
|
4 – Florida State University |
4 – George Washington University |
|
4 – Temple University |
5 – New York University |
|
Management |
Management IS |
|
1 – University of Pennsylvania |
1 – Carnegie Mellon University |
|
2 – University of Michigan |
2 – University of Arizona |
|
3 – UC-Berkeley |
3 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|
4 – University of Texas at Austin |
4 – Georgia Institute of Technology |
|
5 – New York University |
5 – University of Texas at Austin |
|
Marketing |
Production Operations Management |
|
1 – University of Michigan |
1 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|
2 – University of Pennsylvania |
2 – University of Michigan |
|
3 – Indiana University |
3 – Michigan State University |
|
4 – University of Texas at Austin |
4 – University of Pennsylvania |
|
5 – New York University |
5 – Purdue University |
|
Quant Analysis |
Real Estate |
|
1 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
1 – University of Wisconsin – Madison |
|
2 – Carnegie Mellon University |
2 – University of Pennsylvania |
|
3 – University of Pennsylvania |
3 – New York University |
|
4 – UC-Berkeley |
3 – University of Georgia |
|
5 – University of Michigan |
3 – University of Southern California |
|
5 – University of Texas at Austin |
|
Supply Chain Management |
|
|
1 – Michigan State University |
|
|
2 – Arizona State University |
|
|
3 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|
|
4 – University of Tennessee – Knoxville |
|
|
5 – The Ohio State University |
U.S. NEWS’ TOP UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS, 2022-2025
|
2025 Rank |
School |
State/District |
2024 Top-100 Rank |
2023 Top-100 Rank |
2022 Top-100 Rank |
|
1 |
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
PA |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
University of California-Berkeley (Haas) |
CA |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MA |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
4 |
University of Michigan (Ross) |
MI |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
5 |
New York University (Stern) |
NY |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
6 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) |
NC |
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
6 |
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) |
PA |
7 |
5 |
7 |
|
6 |
University of Texas-Austin (McCombs) |
TX |
5 |
7 |
5 |
|
9 |
University of Southern California (Marshall) |
CA |
8 |
8 |
12 |
|
9 |
Indiana University (Kelley) |
IN |
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
9 |
Cornell University (Dyson) |
NY |
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
12 |
University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) |
IN |
13 |
13 |
12 |
|
12 |
University of Virginia (McIntire) |
VA |
12 |
8 |
8 |
|
14 |
Georgetown University (McDonough) |
DC |
13 |
13 |
14 |
|
14 |
Emory University (Goizueta) |
GA |
13 |
13 |
14 |
|
14 |
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Gies) |
IL |
17 |
13 |
14 |
|
14 |
The Ohio State University (Fisher) |
OH |
17 |
13 |
14 |
|
18 |
Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) |
GA |
21 |
19 |
19 |
|
18 |
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Carlson) |
MN |
21 |
19 |
19 |
|
18 |
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) |
MO |
13 |
13 |
14 |
|
18 |
University of Washington (Foster) |
WA |
17 |
19 |
19 |
|
18 |
University of Wisconsin–Madison |
WI |
17 |
19 |
19 |
|
23 |
University of Florida (Warrington) |
FL |
29 |
23 |
23 |
|
23 |
University of Georgia (Terry) |
GA |
21 |
23 |
23 |
|
23 |
University of Maryland, College Park (Smith) |
MD |
21 |
23 |
23 |
|
23 |
The Pennsylvania State University (Smeal) |
PA |
21 |
23 |
23 |
|
27 |
Arizona State University (Carey) |
AZ |
29 |
23 |
23 |
|
27 |
University of Arizona (Eller) |
AZ |
29 |
30 |
30 |
|
27 |
University of California, Irvine |
CA |
29 |
30 |
30 |
|
27 |
University of Iowa (Tippie) |
IA |
36 |
34 |
36 |
|
27 |
Purdue University |
IN |
21 |
30 |
30 |
|
27 |
Boston College |
MA |
29 |
30 |
30 |
|
27 |
Michigan State University (Broad) |
MI |
21 |
23 |
23 |
|
27 |
Rice University |
TX |
21 |
– |
– |
|
27 |
Texas A&M University (Mays) |
TX |
29 |
23 |
23 |
|
36 |
University of Colorado Boulder |
CO |
29 |
30 |
34 |
|
36 |
Babson College (Olin) |
MA |
38 |
34 |
36 |
|
36 |
Boston University (Questrom) |
MA |
38 |
39 |
49 |
|
36 |
Wake Forest University |
NC |
38 |
39 |
41 |
|
40 |
University of Arkansas (Walton) |
AR |
38 |
39 |
36 |
|
40 |
George Washington University |
DC |
38 |
51 |
49 |
|
40 |
Tulane University (Freeman) |
LA |
47 |
34 |
41 |
|
40 |
University of Rochester (Rochester) |
NY |
38 |
39 |
36 |
|
40 |
Syracuse University (Whitman) |
NY |
47 |
51 |
64 |
|
40 |
Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead) |
OH |
47 |
39 |
36 |
|
40 |
University of Pittsburgh (Katz) |
PA |
38 |
34 |
49 |
|
40 |
University of South Carolina (Moore) |
SC |
47 |
39 |
49 |
|
40 |
University of Tennessee (Haslam) |
TN |
38 |
39 |
49 |
|
40 |
Southern Methodist University (Cox) |
TX |
47 |
39 |
41 |
|
40 |
Brigham Young University–Provo (Marriott) |
UT |
36 |
39 |
41 |
|
40 |
University of Utah (Eccles) |
UT |
38 |
39 |
41 |
|
40 |
Virginia Tech |
VA |
47 |
39 |
41 |
|
53 |
University of Alabama (Culverhouse) |
AL |
47 |
39 |
49 |
|
53 |
University of California, San Diego (Rady) |
CA |
47 |
51 |
49 |
|
53 |
University of Miami (Herbert) |
CA |
47 |
64 |
64 |
|
53 |
University of Connecticut |
CT |
47 |
51 |
49 |
|
53 |
Florida State University |
FL |
62 |
64 |
64 |
|
53 |
Georgia State University (Robinson) |
GA |
47 |
51 |
49 |
|
53 |
University of Nebraska — Lincoln |
NE |
62 |
51 |
49 |
|
53 |
University of Oklahoma (Price) |
OK |
70 |
64 |
74 |
|
53 |
University of Oregon (Lundquist) |
OR |
47 |
51 |
41 |
|
53 |
Villanova University |
PA |
62 |
64 |
49 |
|
53 |
The University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) |
TX |
47 |
51 |
41 |
|
53 |
William & Mary (Mason) |
VA |
62 |
51 |
49 |
|
65 |
Auburn University (Harbert) |
AL |
62 |
51 |
49 |
|
65 |
Pepperdine University (Graziadio) |
CA |
62 |
73 |
64 |
|
65 |
Santa Clara University |
CA |
70 |
64 |
49 |
|
65 |
United States Air Force Academy |
CO |
84 |
73 |
74 |
|
65 |
University of Kansas |
KS |
62 |
64 |
64 |
|
65 |
University of Kentucky (Gatton) |
KY |
70 |
64 |
64 |
|
65 |
Northeastern University (D-Amore-McKim) |
MA |
47 |
51 |
64 |
|
65 |
University of Massachusetts–Amherst (Isenberg) |
MA |
47 |
51 |
49 |
|
65 |
North Carolina State University (Poole) |
NC |
70 |
73 |
84 |
|
65 |
Rutgers University–New Brunswick |
NJ |
70 |
64 |
64 |
|
65 |
Baylor University (Hankamer) |
TX |
62 |
64 |
74 |
|
65 |
University of Houston |
TX |
70 |
86 |
84 |
|
77 |
University of California, Riverside |
CA |
70 |
86 |
106 |
|
77 |
San Diego State University (Fowler) |
CA |
84 |
73 |
74 |
|
77 |
Loyola Marymount University |
CA |
84 |
86 |
106 |
|
77 |
University of San Diego |
CA |
– |
– |
– |
|
77 |
Colorado State University |
CO |
84 |
86 |
106 |
|
77 |
Howard University |
DC |
70 |
86 |
84 |
|
77 |
University of Delaware |
DE |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
77 |
Iowa State University of Science & Technology |
IA |
– |
– |
– |
|
77 |
Bentley University |
MA |
70 |
73 |
74 |
|
77 |
CUNY–Baruch College |
NY |
70 |
73 |
84 |
|
77 |
Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) |
NY |
70 |
73 |
74 |
|
77 |
Fordham University (Gabelli) |
NY |
84 |
73 |
74 |
|
77 |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally) |
NY |
84 |
86 |
74 |
|
77 |
Miami University–Oxford (Farmer) |
OH |
70 |
73 |
84 |
|
77 |
Oklahoma State University (Spears) |
OK |
84 |
73 |
84 |
|
77 |
Clemson University |
SC |
70 |
51 |
64 |
|
77 |
Washington State University |
WA |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
University of Denver |
CO |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
American University (Kogod) |
DC |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
Loyola University Chicago (Quinlan) |
IL |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
University of Illinois–Chicago |
IL |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
University of Louisville |
KY |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Brandeis University |
MA |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
University of Missouri |
MO |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
Creighton University |
NE |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Rutgers University – Newark |
NJ |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Binghamton University – SUNY |
NY |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
University at Buffalo – SUNY |
NY |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
University of Cincinnati |
OH |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Oregon State University |
OR |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Lehigh University |
PA |
84 |
73 |
84 |
|
94 |
Drexel University |
PA |
84 |
86 |
106 |
|
94 |
Texas Christian University (Neeley) |
TX |
70 |
73 |
64 |
|
94 |
Texas Tech University |
TX |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
George Mason University |
VA |
84 |
86 |
84 |
|
94 |
University of Richmond |
VA |
– |
– |
– |
|
94 |
Marquette University |
WI |
– |
– |
– |
|
114 |
Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge (Ourso) |
LA |
84 |
86 |
84 |
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