Wharton had topped our executive MBA composite ranking for the first time since we began the exercise in 2020.
There’s a first time for everything. University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School has topped Poets&Quants’ composite Executive MBA ranking of U.S. programs for the first time since we started the exercise five years ago.
Wharton secured the top spot after a stellar year in the three major EMBA rankings on the market: It finished first in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 ranking of U.S. EMBA programs and third in Fortune | Education Best Executive MBA Programs. It also tied for the second-highest U.S. program in Financial Times’ Global EMBA 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.
James Garcia, Wharton School
Wharton ranked second in 2023 and now first in 2024 since it now has scores for all three rankings we use in our composite.
“The (Wharton) program is renowned for its highly collaborative learning environment, where students forge lasting relationships through shared academic and extracurricular activities. When considering my application, the genuine and ongoing support among Wharton alumni stood out as unparalleled. Discussions with alumni revealed a highly active and supportive community, continuing throughout their professional lives,” says 2024 EMBA graduate James Garcia, deputy vice president at PhRMA – Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America – in Houston, Texas.
“This strong emphasis on long-term personal and professional relationships was a major draw and reinforced my decision that Wharton’s Executive MBA program was the perfect fit for me.”
P&Q’s Top 10 Executive MBAs 2024
Wharton was followed by Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, which rose two spots to No. 2. Kellogg topped our list in 2022 after finishing 13th in 2021 — a year in which several top schools fell sharply after choosing not to participate in one or more of the premier rankings.
No. 3 University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business fell two spots from the top spot in 2023, having shot up nearly 30 spots from our 2022 ranking when Booth did not participate in two of the three rankings we used in our composite.
Booth launched the world’s first Executive MBA program in 1943 with 52 students. It now enrolls about 240 students a year in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong – the only U.S. business school with permanent, stand-alone campuses in cities on three continents. Booth EMBAs spend time studying on all three campuses.
P&Q’s Top 10 Executive MBAs for 2024 |
||||||
2024 P&Q rank |
School Name |
2023 P&Q Rank |
YOY Change |
2024 US News Rank |
2024 FT US rank |
2024 Fortune Rank |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 3 | University of Chicago (Booth) | 1 | -2 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | New York (Stern) | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | University of Michigan (Ross) | 7 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 4 |
| 6 | UCLA (Anderson) | 5 | -1 | 10 | 6 | 7 |
| 7 | Yale SOM | 9 | 2 | 16 | 2 | 22 |
| 8 | Texas-Austin (McCombs) | 10 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 21 |
| 9 | Cornell (Johnson) | 18 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 25 |
| 10 | Fordham (Gabelli) | 12 | 2 | 18 | 16 | 47 |
Rounding out the top five, New York University’s Stern School of Business rose one spot to No. 4, and University of Michigan Ross School of Business rose two spots to No. 5.
Ross’ leadership-focused EMBA is a lockstep, cohort based program lasting 22 months. It offers both a Michigan and California cohort, with students meeting in-person once per month.
“I just can’t say enough about my cohort. Of course, they are all intelligent and accomplished people: executives, doctors, lawyers, active and former military. But they are also incredible human beings—kind, supportive, sophisticated, and so much more,” says Arthur Bochner, Ross EMBA ‘25.
“There is not even a hint of competition, and the level of cheerleading for each other—personally and professionally—is special. I don’t know that I’ll ever be part of such a community ever again.”
P&Q’s COMPOSITE OF 3 EMBA RANKINGS
Three of the five M7s with EMBA programs made it to the top of this year’s composite ranking, as you would expect from the so-called Magnificent 7. Columbia Business School dropped for the second straight year after topping P&Q’s list in 2021 and coming in second in 2022. It dropped to 13th on last year’s list and to 14th this year when it stopped participating in the Financial Times’ ranking.
Our methodology rewards schools that participate in all three of the rankings we use in our composite.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management also dropped this year. It fell from No. 3 to No. 11 because it wasn’t ranked by Fortune this year.
P&Q uses a composite approach to rankings to smooth out fluctuating results from other rankings’ methodologies. We attach different weights to the rankings to reflect their differing levels of respect in the market – U.S. News and FT, both rankings that have been around a long time and are relatively trusted, are each given a 40% weight. Fortune, which debuted its EMBA ranking two years ago, was given a 20% weight because it is a relatively new product with a less robust methodology.
For each of the three rankings, the top school was awarded an index score of 100 points, the second place was awarded 99 points, third 98 points and so on. We then calculated a weighted average for each school based on their index scores for each ranking. For example, Wharton earned 100 points (weighted 40%) for its No. 1 U.S. News ranking, 99 points (40%) for its No. 2 FT finish, and 98 points (20%) for its No. 3 finish in Fortune. Its weighted average was 99.2. (To score schools from Financial Times’ Global EMBA ranking, we consider only stand-alone programs based in the United States. The highest-ranked U.S. school is assigned a “1” for the FT portion of our composite ranking, while the second highest is assigned a “2” and so on.)
Wharton’s Global EMBA students meet for synchronous classes through its WAVE classroom – Wharton Academic Virtual Environment. Professors can single out online students and direct lively classroom discussions through the platform. Courtesy photo
WHARTON’S RISE TO THE TOP
Though this is the first time Wharton has topped our composite ranking, there’s no doubt its EMBA program is among the best. U.S. News has ranked it first the last two 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 offers three Executive MBA options: Its Philadelphia cohort meets in-person every other weekend on Wharton’s campus at the University of Pennsylvania. Students can take courses with the San Francisco or Global cohorts during the second year if they choose, while engaging with full-time MBA students on campus.
Wharton’s San Francisco cohort also meets every other weekend on its West Coast campus a short drive from Silicon Valley. Students also have the option to take Philadelphia and Global courses in the second year.
Wharton’s Global EMBA, launched in summer 2022, is the first such program by an M7 delivered 75% through virtual classes. The remaining 25% comes during five required residential weeks at the school’s Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses as well as international locations. It is Wharton’s first-ever live online degree program as well as its first global cohort for its EMBA program, opening up the degree to executives from Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe. It enrolled its first cohort of 50 students in May 2023.
Cost for all three programs is the same, $230,100.
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
Claudia Olsson, Wharton EMBA ’24
Across all its EMBA cohorts, Wharton’s Class of 2026 included 276 students from 38 countries, and an average 13 years of work experience. Thirty three percent of them are women.
Claudia Olsson, Wharton EMBA Class of 2024, chose Wharton for, first and foremost, the exceptional quality of its people – faculty and students.
“Wharton’s commitment to cutting-edge research, especially in areas like artificial intelligence, where faculty are not just teaching but actively implementing and experimenting, deeply resonated with my own professional focus and aspirations,” says Olsson, Founder and CEO of Stellar Capacity, a professional education company providing digital skills and leadership development programs.
“Additionally, having mentors and role models who have had transformative experiences at Wharton greatly influenced my decision. Their stories and successes underscored the tangible impact that the Wharton program could have on my career, making it the clear choice for my executive education.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated. P&Q inadvertently omitted the Fortune ranking for Texas-Austin (McCombs), giving it an a lower ranking than it deserved in an earlier version. Therefore, the ranks for No. 8 through 12 have changed in this updated ranking. We apologize for the error.
NEXT PAGE: Three different rankings, three very different methodologies
