ACCEPTANCE RATES FOLLOWING THE PANDEMIC
There have now been five admission cycles since the COVID-19 pandemic caused most schools in our ranking to become less selective. Between the Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 admission cycles, acceptance rates rose at 57 of the schools we ranked. Rates rose at 38 schools the following cycle.
Acceptance rates have since leveled at many of these programs, even dropping below Fall 2019 rates at some.
The table below shows acceptance rates for the last six admission cycles for all programs ranked in 2026.
Acceptance Rates at P&Q Ranked Business Schools |
|||||||
2026 Rank |
School |
Fall 2025 |
Fall 2024 |
Fall 2023 |
Fall 2022 |
Fall 2021 |
Fall 2020 |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 3.6% | 4.5% | 4.5% | 6.3% | 6.0% | 7.6% |
| 2 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | 5.5% | 6.6% | 8.2% | 11.8% | 11.8% | 13.4% |
| 3 | Cornell University (Dyson SC Johnson) | 5.4% | 4.9% | 4.8% | 4.2% | 5.4% | 8.0% |
| 4 | University of Michigan (Ross) | 7.0% | 7.8% | 8.9% | 9.8% | 11.2% | 15.2% |
| 5 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 6.7% | 7.0% | 7.2% | 9.0% | 9.9% | 15.0% |
| 6 | New York University (Stern) | 4.0% | 4.8% | 5.2% | 6.6% | 7.2% | 12.7% |
| 7 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | 11.5% | 11.7% | 12.9% | 12.3% | 11.8% | 20.0% |
| 8 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | 6.2% | 7.0% | 8.5% | 10.0% | 11.4% | 11.5% |
| 9 | University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 9.3% | 11.0% | 12.0% | 13.7% | 15.1% | 19.8% |
| 10 | Emory University (Goizueta) | 10.0% | 11.0% | 12.6% | 16.0% | 14.8% | 17.7% |
| 11 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | 10.3% | 11.0% | 11.0% | 9.0% | 8.4% | 14.3% |
| 12 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 10.9% | 10.0% | 9.4% | 8.6% | 10.4% | 14.3% |
| 13 | Wake Forest University | 14.0% | 15.4% | 20.2% | 24.3% | 23.3% | 29.0% |
| 14 | Villanova University | 20.0% | 19.0% | 18.0% | 16.8% | 18.9% | 25.0% |
| 15 | Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) | 15.7% | 18.8% | 19.4% | 17.7% | 20.1% | 23.3% |
| 15 | University of Illinois (Gies) | 20.9% | 23.1% | 24.2% | 27.0% | 38.9% | 44.1% |
| 17 | University of Richmond (Robins) | 22.0% | 22.7% | 22.5% | 24.7% | 28.1% | 31.2% |
| 18 | Boston University (Questrom) | 12.0% | 8.1% | 8.0% | 13.5% | 15.2% | 17.9% |
| 19 | University of Washington (Foster) | 18.5% | 18.3% | 8.5% | 21.0% | 39.1% | 34.2% |
| 20 | Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim) | 6.0% | 5.1% | 6.1% | 5.7% | 16.3% | 19.5% |
| 21 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 15.7% | 17.7% | 16.0% | 23.7% | 27.3% | 26.6% |
| 22 | University of Miami (Herbert) | 16.4% | 17.5% | 19.5% | 19.2% | 28.7% | 34.1% |
| 23 | University of Minnesota (Carlson) | 27.7% | 30.5% | 29.3% | 29.5% | 29.2% | 29.3% |
| 24 | William & Mary (Mason) | 24.9% | 17.6% | 24.7% | 38.8% | 34.0% | 26.0% |
| 25 | Southern Methodist University (Cox) | 35.7% | 53.0% | 48.0% | 46.0% | 48.7% | 62.5% |
| 26 | University of Pittsburgh | 33.3% | 37.2% | 28.1% | 29.5% | 48.1% | 49.0% |
| 27 | Binghamton University | 25.9% | 27.2% | 24.9% | 27.1% | 32.1% | 32.1% |
| 28 | Texas Christian University (Neeley) | 46.1% | 42.3% | 49.2% | 48.8% | 47.9% | 51.1% |
| 29 | Fordham University (Gabelli) | 54.7% | 56.7% | 49.6% | 48.5% | 54.5% | 51.2% |
| 30 | Tulane University (Freeman) | 15.3% | 13.0% | 15.1% | 12.9% | 13.6% | 18.3% |
| 31 | Trinity University (Neidorff) | 25.0% | 26.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 32 | Purdue University (Daniels) | 23.0% | 20.0% | 19.0% | 17.5% | 74.7% | 71.4% |
| 33 | Elon University (Love) | 63.0% | 66.0% | 67.3% | 74.2% | 77.4% | 72.0% |
| 34 | Lehigh University | 29.5% | 26.9% | 25.0% | 38.0% | 44.6% | 51.5% |
| 35 | Brigham Young University (Marriott) | 52.4% | 52.4% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 36 | University of Georgia (Terry) | 37.0% | 43.0% | 40.0% | 48.0% | 42.0% | 45.1% |
| 37 | Syracuse University (Whitman) | 36.8% | 42.6% | 31.5% | 46.2% | 48.0% | 56.1% |
| 38 | Bucknell University (Freeman) | 25.0% | 21.0% | 26.0% | 21.5% | 22.8% | 30.1% |
| 39 | Miami University (Farmer) | 55.7% | 63.4% | 75.7% | 76.1% | 78.1% | 86.8% |
| 40 | University of Colorado Boulder (Leeds) | 25.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 41 | Fairfield University (Dolan) | 27.9% | 35.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 42 | University of Rochester (Simon) | 42.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 43 | Providence College | 50.0% | 54.4% | 48.4% | 52.5% | 58.3% | 55.6% |
| 44 | Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead) | 35.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 45 | Marquette University | 63.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 46 | University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Isenberg) | 36.9% | 38.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 47 | University of Tennessee (Haslam) | 37.2% | 31.2% | 39.0% | 73.3% | 81.4% | 93.1% |
| 48 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) | 46.8% | 44.2% | 44.0% | 41.5% | 53.4% | 45.0% |
| 49 | University of Dayton | 65.2% | 60.2% | 65.0% | 76.5% | 83.1% | NA |
| 50 | Loyola Marymount University | 48.0% | 47.3% | 42.0% | NA | NA | NA |
| 51 | Butler University (Lacy) | 88.1% | 88.3% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 52 | University of Houston (Bauer) | 41.9% | 38.9% | 34.4% | 34.2% | 34.5% | 23.8% |
| 53 | The Catholic University of America (Busch) | 74.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 54 | Lipscomb University | 58.6% | 57.7% | 56.4% | 55.7% | 76.5% | 86.2% |
| 55 | Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick | 37.6% | 38.7% | 41.5% | 47.6% | 46.2% | 47.6% |
| 56 | Susquehanna University (Weis) | 80.6% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 57 | Texas A&M University (Mays) | 32.5% | 29.8% | 28.0% | 36.2% | 30.5% | NA |
| 58 | Seton Hall University (Stillman) | 67.7% | 71.3% | 76.0% | 72.8% | 73.7% | NA |
| 59 | Bryant University | 73.1% | 74.7% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 60 | North Carolina State University (Poole) | 30.2% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 61 | Florida Southern College (Barnett) | 64.0% | 62.0% | 57.0% | 56.2% | 59.5% | 51.5% |
| 61 | University of Missouri-Columbia (Trulaske) | 76.7% | 77.6% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 63 | University of New Hampshire (Paul) | 69.6% | 67.4% | 68.3% | 70.8% | 74.5% | 71.2% |
| 64 | University of Delaware (Lerner) | 58.7% | 55.9% | 55.4% | 64.2% | 62.3% | 53.6% |
| 65 | University of Evansville (Schroeder) | 79.3% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 66 | University of St. Thomas (Opus) | 84.0% | 82.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 67 | The College of New Jersey | 63.0% | 64.0% | 62.0% | 64.6% | 66.0% | 51.2% |
| 68 | University of South Carolina (Darla Moore) | 45.9% | 49.2% | 54.2% | 57.6% | 59.7% | 67.1% |
| 69 | University of San Diego (Knauss) | 53.6% | 52.4% | 46.7% | 52.6% | 52.7% | 58.7% |
| 70 | St. John’s University (Tobin) | 51.0% | 48.0% | 51.6% | 53.8% | 38.5% | 56.7% |
| 71 | Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) | 74.3% | 71.4% | 72.3% | 70.9% | 78.3% | 75.5% |
| 72 | Towson University | 64.0% | 64.4% | 74.0% | 67.0% | 67.0% | NA |
| 73 | Rutgers Business School – Newark | 53.0% | 63.0% | 70.1% | 80.0% | 86.5% | 75.0% |
| 74 | Marian University | 95.5% | 95.5% | 92.9% | 76.0% | 72.6% | 60.7% |
| 75 | Seattle University (Albers) | 76.0% | 80.3% | 84.6% | 78.2% | 88.1% | 82.1% |
| 76 | Christopher Newport University (Luter) | 82.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 77 | University of Connecticut | 61.5% | 48.8% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 78 | Drexel University (LeBow) | 73.8% | 84.9% | 84.0% | 86.6% | 82.8% | 73.1% |
| 79 | Saint Louis University (Chaifetz) | 72.0% | 74.9% | 78.5% | 82.3% | 90.3% | 81.7% |
| 80 | Hult International Business School | 50.0% | 60.0% | 56.0% | 48.2% | 40.1% | 37.8% |
| 81 | Duquesne University (Palumbo Donahue) | 88.0% | 88.0% | 83.0% | 94.0% | 96.7% | 79.5% |
| 82 | Roger Williams University (Gabelli) | 90.8% | 89.9% | 87.9% | NA | NA | NA |
| 83 | Ohio University | 90.6% | 87.1% | 88.4% | 87.5% | 90.7% | 90.3% |
| 84 | University of Denver (Daniels) | 62.9% | 69.8% | 57.3% | 61.4% | 67.8% | 62.2% |
| 85 | Adelphi University (Willumstad) | 69.0% | 63.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 86 | University of Oregon (Lundquist) | 16.7% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 87 | Hofstra University (Zarb) | 73.0% | 68.0% | 71.0% | 86.3% | 84.4% | 89.6% |
| 88 | Longwood University | 90.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 89 | Texas State University (McCoy) | 72.0% | 66.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 90 | Bowling Green State University (Schmidthorst) | 80.0% | 89.0% | 89.4% | 86.2% | 84.0% | 74.5% |
| 91 | Texas Tech University (Rawls) | 68.2% | 72.8% | 71.9% | 86.4% | NA | NA |
| 92 | University of Mary Washington | 75.0% | 80.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 93 | University of North Carolina-Wilmington (Cameron) | 74.0% | 64.2% | 71.0% | 60.1% | 58.4% | 68.0% |
| 94 | University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) | 79.5% | 66.1% | 66.0% | 72.2% | 70.7% | 52.5% |
| 95 | Ithaca College | 83.0% | 80.0% | 76.0% | 82.8% | 87.3% | 85.5% |
| 96 | American University (Kogod) | 66.9% | 60.7% | 42.0% | 30.3% | 58.2% | 32.3% |
| 97 | Iona University (LaPenta) | 87.0% | 88.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 98 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | 61.0% | 56.0% | 58.0% | 55.6% | 64.9% | 61.0% |
| 99 | Sacred Heart University (Jack Welch) | 63.6% | 65.4% | 67.6% | 60.8% | 62.8% | 61.5% |
| 100 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally) | 61.0% | 58.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 101 | University of Kansas | 91.0% | 100.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 102 | University of the Pacific (Eberhardt) | 69.3% | 54.0% | 96.2% | 94.0% | 73.6% | 67.3% |
| 103 | San Diego State University (Fowler) | 31.3% | 33.6% | 34.0% | 41.2% | NA | NA |
| 104 | San Jose State University (Lucas) | 79.0% | 85.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 105 | Florida International University | 39.0% | 32.0% | 32.0% | 44.6% | 51.0% | 41.1% |
| 106 | Oregon State University | 73.7% | 74.3% | 81.1% | NA | 88.4% | 91.7% |
| 107 | Stony Brook University | 31.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 108 | Northern Illinois University | 70.4% | 67.5% | 67.9% | 68.8% | 67.5% | 60.8% |
| 109 | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Lubar) | 81.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 110 | Kennesaw State University (Coles) | 64.0% | 56.0% | NA | NA | NA | NA |
NEXT PAGE: Highest and lowest graduation rates at 2026 ranked business schools
© 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.
