The Wharton School has topped P&Q’s composite ranking of Executive MBA programs for the second time in two years.
It’s a repeat for University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School.
After topping Poets&Quants’ composite Executive MBA ranking of U.S. programs for the first time last cycle, it topped the list again for the 2025-2026 ranking.
The No. 1 finish is a fitting end to an impressive streak in three major EMBA rankings for 2025. Wharton was the second-highest U.S. program (16th in the world) in Financial Times’ Global EMBA ranking and third highest U.S. program (seventh in the world) on the QS World University Rankings. It also finished first in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of U.S. EMBAs for the third straight year.
It is the second time Wharton has topped P&Q’s composite EMBA ranking since we started the exercise six years ago.
Following Wharton was Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, which finished at No. 2 – also for the second straight year. Kellogg previously topped P&Q’s list in 2022.
And, University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business finished No. 3, last securing the top spot in 2023.
In fact, the top three finishers are identical to last year’s top three.
P&Q’s Top 10 Executive MBAs 2025-2026
2025 P&Q Rank |
School |
Weighted average |
2024 P&Q rank |
YOY Change |
2025 FT Rank (U.S.) |
2025 U.S. News Rank |
2025 QS Rank (U.S.) |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 99.2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Northwestern University (Kellogg) | 98.2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | University of Chicago (Booth) | 96.6 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | MIT (Sloan) | 96.4 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 5 | UCLA (Anderson) | 93.6 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| 6 | University of Michigan (Ross) | 93.2 | 5 | -1 | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| 7 | Yale School of Management | 93 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 2 |
| 8 | New York University (Stern) | 92 | 4 | -4 | 10 | 8 | 9 |
| 9 | Duke University (Fuqua) | 91 | 15 | 6 | 14 | 5 | 12 |
| 10 | Cornell University (Johnson) | 88.4 | 9 | -1 | 8 | 17 | 13 |
| 10 | University of Texas-Austin (McCombs) | 88.4 | 8 | -2 | 11 | 12 | 17 |
WHARTON’S RISE THROUGH THE RANKING
Wharton ranked tenth in our debut composite ranking in 2020 when it didn’t participate in the Economist ranking, which we used in our composite at the time. It ranked 14th in 2021 and tied for 12th in 2022 for the same reason. Then, the Economist killed its MBA and EMBA rankings due to withering criticism, and we replaced it with Fortune’s ranking for our composite.
Now that Wharton has scores for all three rankings used in our composite, it ranked second in 2023 and first the last two years. (We replaced Fortune’s EMBA ranking with QS for this cycle, which we explain in our methodology.)
“Wharton’s inaugural Global cohort, launched in May 2023, was a unique fit for my life and career. It’s the only Ivy League Executive MBA that provided the flexibility to attend the program while working full-time in Europe. The program’s hybrid design and international format made it possible for me to balance professional, personal, and academic commitments without compromising on quality,” says 2025 EMBA graduate Lisa Dalik, Global Lead for HR M&A at Sportradar in Zurich, Switzerland.
“I was deeply inspired by the full range of worldviews my cohort represented across the cultural and political spectrum. It has been a learning environment that truly reflects the world we work in.”
WHARTON’S GLOBAL EMBA LAUNCHED IN 2023
In May 2023, Wharton became the first M7 to enter the online MBA space when it enrolled its first Global EMBA cohort. Over the 22-month program, students complete three-fourths of the program in online synchronous sessions with Wharton professors. The other 25% of the program is delivered over five residential weeks. The format allows executives from Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe to enroll in one of the preeminent EMBA programs in the world.
Wharton also offers fully in-person EMBAs in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Students meet in-person every other weekend on the school’s Philadelphia campus or on its West Coast campus near Silicon Valley.
Cost for all three EMBA options is the same, $238,620.
Across all its EMBA cohorts, Wharton’s Class of 2027 included 274 students from 46 countries, and have an average of 13 years of work experience. Twenty seven percent of them are women.
Angela Winfield, Wharton EMBA Class of 2025, chose Wharton for its combination of academic excellence, global perspective, and leadership development.
“I wanted to be pushed intellectually (especially regarding quant skill development), surrounded by exceptional peers, and equipped with frameworks to drive systemic change. The EMBA format made it possible to pursue this without stepping away from my leadership role,” says Winfield, Vice President and Chief Impact Officer at the Law School Admission Council.
“Not to mention, the Wharton alumni community is unmatched in its breadth and depth!”
The Cube at 345 Montgomery Street, part of San Francisco’s 555 California complex, will become the new West Coast home of the Wharton School, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. The five-story modernist building, distinguished by its atrium, gives Wharton its first standalone campus in the city. Photo by Tornado Realty Trust
NEW DIGS FOR WHARTON’S SAN FRAN EMBAs
Wharton recently secured a new standalone West Coast home for its EMBA in San Francisco’s Financial District. The school signed a long-term lease for roughly 80,000 square feet at 345 Montgomery Street, more than doubling its footprint. The expansion aligns with Wharton’s broader push into AI education, including plans to extend its AI for Business curriculum to executive MBA students in 2026.
The move also reflects a broader trend of universities establishing downtown urban campuses as cities seek to revive office districts and schools seek closer ties to industry.
Though just the second time topping our composite ranking, there’s no doubt Wharton’s EMBA program is among the best. U.S. News has ranked it first the last three years, and second in 2022, 2021, and 2020. Financial Times has consistently ranked it among the top six U.S. based stand along programs in its annual ranking.
Wharton’s EMBA has the same admissions requirements as the full-time MBA, requiring GMAT, GRE, or EA. It also requires at least 8 years of work experience, two essays, and two letters of recommendation
Next Page: Chicago Booth EMBA gets a new name, and an astronomical gift
© 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.
