GMAT scores at top US B-schools: 5 year trend

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The average GMAT score for the outgoing class provides candidates a good idea of the score to target to gain admission to their dream school. A still better better guide would be the average GMAT scores for the past five years at the B-school, since events such as fewer jobs, higher cost of finance or even a rising economy, where jobs are aplenty, can affect the quality of candidates applying to B-school. With this in mind, we bring you the average GMAT scores for the past five years at top US B-schools.     

Before we go ahead, a quick word of advice. A rise or fall in average GMAT scores is not necessarily a good or a bad thing. You have to remember, that GMAT is only one criterion in admissions to B-schools. So a fall or rise in this aspect can not be seen in isolation.

Not always is a rise in average GMAT scores an indicator of rising student quality: some schools can selectively admit high scorers with otherwise lackluster profiles in order to boost the average GMAT number and thereby appear as a ‘tough’ and prestigious B-school to get into.

Infact, rising GMAT at a B-school could well indicate falling student quality: it could well be the case that the admission process at the B-schools is admitting high scorers lacking other skills that make a good manager.

Similarly, a fall in GMAT scores doesn’t necessarily reflect falling student quality: a school with historically high GMAT scores could well be attempting to have a more diverse class or MBAs with a well-rounded set of skills.

Therefore, see this list as more of a guidance on the score you need target rather than as commentary on the quality of the B-school.

Key trends

  • 19 of the top 25 US schools have reported higher GMAT scores over the past five years. Just five programs report a decline in average scores
  • Schools with major increase in average GMAT include: Harvard Business School where average GMAT is up eight points to 727, Stanford – up six points to 732 (highest for any US business school) and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business – up nine points to 723 for the class starting in 2013

Average GMAT scores at top US Business schools

In bold – schools offering a one year MBA

B-school2013 GMAT2012 GMAT2011 GMAT2010 GMAT2009 GMAT5-Year rise/fall
   1. Harvard Business School727724724724719+8
   2. Stanford GSB732729730728726+6
   3. Chicago (Booth)723720719715714+9
   4. UPenn (Wharton)725718718718718+7
   5. Northwestern (Kellogg)713708712714706+7
   6. MIT (Sloan)713710710718711+2
   7. Columbia716715716712713+3
   8. Dartmouth (Tuck)718717718716712+6
   9. Duke (Fuqua)694690689697687+7
 10. UC-Berkeley (Haas)714715715718718-4
 11. Cornell (Johnson)691694691687700-9
 12. Michigan (Ross)704703703704701+3
 13. Virginia (Darden)706703701699701+5
 14. UCLA (Anderson)706704704710711-5
 15. New York (Stern)721720719715717+4
 16. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)691693686694687+4
 17. Yale714717719722715-1
 18. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)683692689686677+6
 19. Texas-Austin (McCombs)690692692684681+9
 20. Indiana (Kelley)664664670664664——
 21. Emory (Goizueta)681677681680676+5
 22. Georgetown (McDonnough)688683686684685+3
 23. Washington (Olin)696698696695686+10
 24. Washington (Foster)670670675681681-11
 25. Vanderbilt (Owen)688682695673653+35
B-school2013 GMAT2012 GMAT2011 GMAT2010 GMAT2009 GMAT5-Year rise/fall
26. Ohio State (Fisher)666668674676677-11
27. Rice (Jones)676673673672668+8
28. USC (Marshall)686690687690690-4
29. Maryland (Smith)654656661670658-4
30. Wisconsin676675680675663+13
31. Georgia Tech (Scheller)678678674678684-6
32. Notre Dame (Mendoza)690687692685683+7
33. Penn State (Smeal)645643650650652-7
34. Texas A&M (Mays)648649647646652-4
35. Iowa (Tippie)671665666657662+9
36. Minnesota (Carlson)686692686694683+3
37. Rochester (Simon)680680675677682-2
38. Michigan State (Broad)655641638636640+15
39. SMU (Cox)650639NANA656-6
40. Boston University682680684681680+2
41. Purdue (Krannert)607643635654643-36
42. Arizona State (Carey)673676674672673——
43. Brigham Young (Marriott)665672670675672-7
44. Illinois-Urbana-Champagn661650650641634+27
45. Boston College666666656662663+3
46. Wake Forest (Babcock)632648651653658-26
47. UC-Irvine (Merage)654657663673675-21
48. Florida (Hough)681695678694685-4
49. Georgia (Terry)645637NANANANA
50. George Washington644632NANANANA

Source: data from B-schools

Cover image credit: thepartneringgroup.com

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