A Cornell Tech student using a 3D printer in the MakerLAB. the one-year Johnson Cornell Tech MBA is a collaboration between Cornell Tech and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at the SC Johnson College of Business.
In seven years of ranking full-time MBA programs on entrepreneurship, we’ve discovered at least one absolute: There’s no perfect way to measure how one school stacks up against another.
But, we keep trying.
Each cycle, we aim to get a little closer to a measure of how schools actually prepare students to launch, fund, and grow new ventures. Great entrepreneurship education isn’t just about access to incubators or Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. It’s about impact.
So, for 2026, Poets&Quants evaluated our ranking survey questions and metrics to create a more streamlined methodology that, we think, drills down on what matters most: Are students starting companies? Are they engaging with mentors or joining startups after graduation? Are schools providing the ecosystem and support to turn ideas into ventures?
That’s what our 2026 ranking aims to measure.
FROM 16 METRICS TO 10
The biggest change is that we reduced the number of metrics from 16 to 10. We also changed the weights for several of the metrics we kept.
The table below shows the 10 metrics used for the 2026 ranking, as well as a comparison between how we weighted each in the last two years.
Methodology Comparison, 2025 to 2026 |
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Metric |
2026 Weight |
2025 Weight |
| Percent of MBAs (5-year average) launching businesses within three months of graduation | 25.0% | 15.0% |
| Percent of MBA elective courses with 100% of the curriculum devoted to entrepreneurship | 15.0% | 15.0% |
| Percent of MBAs active in a student-run entrepreneurship club | 15.0% | 10.0% |
| Ratio of startup and/or entrepreneurship funding available to MBAs | 10.0% | 2.5% |
| Ratio of entrepreneurship-focused mentors available to MBAs | 10.0% | 2.5% |
| Percent of MBAs involved in a startup or startup project during the academic year | 10.0% | 2.5% |
| Percent of MBA faculty teaching an entrepreneurship course during the academic year | 5.0% | 5.0% |
| Percent of MBAs (5-year average) joining startup within three months of graduation | 5.0% | 2.5% |
| Percent of MBAs taking an elective in entrepreneurship | 2.5% | 2.5% |
| Ratio of entrepreneurship-focused mentor hours to MBAs | 2.5% | 2.5% |
WHAT WE DISCARDED
We think our 2026 methodology places a greater emphasis on tangible outcomes like business launches, startup jobs, and student engagement while removing several metrics from 2025 that were tied to infrastructure or faculty startup involvement.
We tried to minimize overlap between measures while cutting metrics tied to physical resources like incubator space. Eliminated metrics include:
- Ratio of square feet of incubator or accelerator space available to MBAs (weighted 10% in 2025’s ranking)
- Ratio of entrepreneurs-in-residence to MBA grads (10%). (Combined with the ratio of mentors to MBAs in the current ranking.)
- Ratio of startup award money available to MBA grads (10%). (Combined with the ratio of entrepreneurship funding to MBAs in the current ranking.)
- Average percentage of MBA students accepting a position in venture capital or private equity (5%)
- Percentage of core MBA courses fully focused on entrepreneurship or innovation (2.5%)
- Percentage of MBA faculty involved with a startup or startup project (2.5%)
By simplifying our framework and sharpening the focus, we hope our new methodology better reflects the entrepreneurial experience of MBA students today.
2026 ENTREPRENEURSHIP MBA METRICS
Our MBA entrepreneurship ranking is opt-in – schools have to fill out our institutional survey and provide their data to be ranking. That is why you won’t find the large, prestige programs in the M7 who have lots of entrepreneurship resources and a lot of students on the list. Each was invited, but they declined to fill our data survey.
This year, 32 schools submitted data for our ranking, including a record nine international schools. 2026’s result also includes three international MBA programs not previously ranked: Woxsen University in Hyderabad, India; China Europe International Business School (CEIBS); and Western University’s Ivey Business School in Ontario, Canada.
Below is a list of the 10 weighted metrics we used to rank the World’s Best MBA Programs for Entrepreneurship for 2026. Each metric is expressed as a ratio or percentage to reflect resources and opportunities available per student.
25% weight
- Average percentage of MBA students (5-year average) launching businesses during their program or within three months of graduation between 2020 and 2024
15% weight
- Percentage of MBA elective courses with 100% of the curriculum devoted to entrepreneurship
- Percentage of MBA students active in a student-run entrepreneurship club during the academic year
10% weight
- Ratio of startup and/or entrepreneurship funding available to MBAs
- Ratio of entrepreneurship-focused mentors available to MBAs
- Percentage of MBA students involved in a startup or startup project in some capacity during the academic year
5% weight
- Percentage of MBA faculty teaching an entrepreneurship course during the academic year
- Average percentage of MBAs (5-year average) accepting a job at a startup within three months of graduating between 2020 and 2024
2.5% weight
- Percentage of MBAs taking an elective in entrepreneurship
- Ratio of entrepreneurship-focused mentor hours to MBAs
Schools interested in joining next year’s ranking or learning more about the survey can contact kristy@poetsandquants.com.
DON’T MISS THE OTHER STORIES IN OUR ENTREPRENEURSHIP RANKING PACKAGE
- All Of The Data Behind P&Q’s 2025 Top MBA Programs For Entrepreneurship
- The 2026 World’s Best MBA Programs For Entrepreneurship
The post The Methodology Behind P&Q’s 2026 MBA Entrepreneurship Ranking appeared first on Poets&Quants.