MIT’s Sloan School of Management climbed to first place in the Financial Times 2026 global MBA ranking for the first time, displacing long‑running elite incumbents and exposing new methodological friction. The FT credited Sloan with a 119% post‑MBA salary increase and a $245,991 alumni salary figure, while several top programs were excluded for low alumni survey response rates. Stanford Graduate School of Business and Columbia Business School did not appear in the published list after failing to meet the FT’s response‑rate threshold; Stanford declined to participate this year. The omissions triggered debate about survey methodology, alumni contact methods and whether email‑based polling now undercounts modern alumni cohorts who favor other messaging platforms. The result also signals a geographic shift: a majority of the FT’s top 10 now sit outside the U.S., a departure from a decade ago. For business schools, the episode matters for recruitment, employer relations, and the reputational calculus that drives alumni engagement and fundraising.