Head of the class

Rice University MBA programs rank among top 5 in U.S. by Princeton Review

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Rice's MBA program in finance has been ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive years.

Photo courtesy of Rice University

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business MBA programs have been ranked among the top five in the country in The Princeton Review’s 2025 Best Business Schools rankings.

The university's MBA program in finance earned a No. 3 ranking, climbing up two spots from its 2024 ranking. Finance MBA programs at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business and New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business were the only ones to outrank Rice, claiming No. 2 and No. 1 spots, respectively.

Rice's online MBA program was ranked No. 5, compared to No. 4 last year. Indiana University's Bloomington Kelley School of Business' online program claimed the top spot.

“These rankings reflect the commitment of our faculty and staff, the drive and talent of our students and the strong support of our alumni and partners,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, said in a news release. “They are exceptional honors but also reminders — not just of our top-tier programs and world-class faculty and students but of our broader impact on the future of business education.”

Rice also ranked at No. 6 for “greatest resources for minority students."

The Princeton Review’s 2025 business school rankings are based on data from surveys of administrators at 244 business schools, as well as surveys of 22,800 students enrolled in the schools’ MBA programs during the previous three academic years.

"The schools that made our lists for 2025 share four characteristics that inform our criteria for designating them as 'best': excellent academics, robust experiential learning components, outstanding career services, and positive feedback about them from enrolled students we surveyed," Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief, said in a press release. "No b-school is best overall or best for all students, but to all students considering earning an MBA, we highly recommend these b-schools and salute them for their impressive programs."

Rice's finance program has ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive years, and its online MBA has ranked in the top five for four years.

Rice and the University of Houston also claimed top marks on the Princeton Review's entrepreneurship rankings. Rice ranks as No. 1 on the Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Grad list, and the University of Houston ranked No. 1 on Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Ugrad. Read more here.

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This story originally was published by our sister site, InnovationMap.

rice university business school rankings

kick off your career

3 Houston neighbors hustle onto top 100 list of U.S. career hotspots

City of Pearland - Government/Facebook

All eyes are on Pearland.

Houston has already proven to be a major hub for business, and now three of its neighbors – Pearland, League City, and Sugar Land – are rising up among the best small U.S. cities for big career opportunities.

A new nationwide survey from CoworkingCafe ranked the three Houston-area cities among its top-100 career hotspots with populations under 250,000 residents.

According to the study, these standout U.S. suburbs "combine economic acceleration with day-to-day livability, offering residents both upward mobility and stable community fundamentals."

The top three small cities leading the nation for their high salaries and strong job markets are Alpharetta, Georgia (No. 1); South Jordan, Utah (No. 2); and Mountain View, California (No. 3).

Pearland ranked the highest in the Houston region, climbing up into No. 59, and League City and Sugar Land respectively ranked No. 73 and No. 76 nationally.

"Across the U.S., a new wave of cities with a more concentrated urban footprint is quietly turning into career powerhouses, even though we tend to associate that success with the big, bustling cities," the report's author wrote. "Some of the best opportunities are popping up in tight-knit communities where innovation, affordability and a great quality of life all come together."

If Houstonians are seeking affordability over all other factors, these three suburbs are the right places to be. Pearland and League City have both seen high population growth because of their affordability, and they were both lauded as the best places to live in 2025 by U.S. News and World Report. Pearland is an especially desirable place to live for high earners, and these career-focused residents aren't shy about being big spenders.

Sugar Land has also received plenty of praise as the third-best place to live in the U.S. in a separate Liveability.com study. It doesn't hurt that Sugar Land households bring in a median income of $184,570 per year.

"The findings reveal two clear paths to success: fast-growing suburban hubs buzzing with innovation and more established tech-driven economies that already have a global reach," the report said. "Together, they show that even smaller places can give you big advantages professionally, sometimes even more than the big metros."

Here's how other Texas suburbs fared among CoworkingCafe's top 100 best career hotspots in 2026:

No. 11 – Frisco
No. 15 – Flower Mound
No. 17 – Pflugerville
No. 20 – McKinney
No. 22 – Cedar Park
No. 31 – Round Rock
No. 37 – Mansfield
No. 43 – Allen
No. 58 – Richardson
No. 80 – Lewisville
No. 89 – Temple
No. 90 – Georgetown
No. 97 – Amarillo

suburbs innovation houston pearland sugar land league city