What GPA Do I Need To Get Into A Top Business School?

Figuring out whether your GPA score is within the range of your target B-Schools can be a daunting task. This handy guide to average GPA scores at the top business schools in US, across the last five years (2010-2014), makes the job super easy. 

What is not easy though is getting a GPA score that makes the cut. Increasing competition among applicants to elite MBA institutes and ‘grade inflation’ at the undergraduate level may make it difficult for those with average scores to get a seat in top Business schools in the US.

What is GPA? Grade point average (GPA) is an important factor when applying to universities. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is a summary statistic that represents a student’s average performance in their studies over a stated period of time, such as one semester. Being numerical, GPAs are often calculated to two decimals. U.S.GPA calculated on a 4.0 scale. 

Six of the top ten schools in the U.S reported slightly higher average grade point averages for the MBA classes that entered last fall. The biggest increase was reported at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The incoming Kellogg class had an average GPA of 3.60, up from 3.54 a year earlier.

Only one school reported a decline ad surprisingly it was Harvard Business School. The average GPA at the business school slipped to 3.67 from 3.70 the previous year. The remaining three top ten schools reported stable GPAs for their new MBA students.

Over the past five years, only eight schools in the top 25 reported lower GPAs, while the rest show increases or stable grade point averages. The same holds true for the next tier of the 25 schools that make up the top schools in the US.

While Arizona State University’s Carey School of Business recorded an increase in the average GPA of its entering MBA class by 1.5 points to 3.46 last year from 2010, Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill posted a 1.2 point rise to 3.42 over the same period.

While high GPAs are important, the course you pursued at the undergraduate level is also an important part of the equation and considered by business schools – GPA’s are looked at in the context of the course of study you chose.

5 Minute GMAT Score Predictor

Among those posting average GPAs that rose to a full point during this period were Wharton, NYU’s Stern School, Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School.

Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business tops the list with the highest average GMAT score of any US School with a 3.74 GPA, followed closely by Harvard with a 3.67.

Thus, for many aspirants with average scores, it may be an uphill task to secure admission at several of the top schools like UC-Berkeley, Kellogg, Wharton, and MIT.

While all the schools do admit students with below average GPAs, the mean is often an important dividing line. At MIT Sloan last year, a 3.23 GPA represented the 10th percentile while a 3.87 was at the 90th. The average GPA at MIT last year was 3.58.

In Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business the 10th percentile was 3.16 and the 90th was 3.85, with an average of 3.54.

While high GPAs are important, the course you pursued at the undergraduate level is also an important part of the equation and considered by business schools – GPA’s are looked at in the context of the course of study you chose. 

Another reason GPA scores can be low is if someone was working while pursuing studies. If you fall in this bucket, you may want to mention this in your essays. However make sure any reason you present for a lower than average GPA score is genuine or it could be shortest route to the rejected list.

Top B-Schools With Biggest Five-Year Increases In GPAs

Average GPAs At The Top MBA Programs In The U.S.

Image courtesy arizona.edu