Wharton MBA Class Of 2026: 2 Streaks, One Good & One Bad, Come To A Close

Wharton Dean Erika James welcomed an MBA class to campus that for the first time in four years was not predominantly women. Wharton photo
The streak is over. For the first time in four years, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania welcomed a new MBA class that wasn’t 50% or more women.
It was a remarkable run — the first of its kind for any business school, but even more noteworthy because it happened at an M7 school ranked first in the world by The Financial Times. It began in fall 2021 when Wharton smashed the glass ceiling that had flustered so many elite schools for so many years, enrolling 52% women in the Class of 2023, and continued when Wharton achieved gender parity twice more, with women comprising 50% of its MBA classes of 2024 and 2025.
It began to seem like the Philadelphia Ivy would hit the once-elusive goal of parity every year. But all things must pass, and this fall Wharton enrolled 47% women — still among the leaders of all top U.S. business…