MBA Waitlist Acceptance Rate Analysis (with Class of 2019 data)

MBA Waitlist Acceptance Rate Analysis by GMATOne of the most frustrating parts of the MBA application process is waiting to hear back from the schools. First, applicants have to wait to hear if you will be interviewed. Next, an applicant must wait to hear if they have been admitted. Some unlucky souls will have to wait a third time on the waitlist, sometimes for up to 8 months if they are a round 1 applicant. I created this updated MBA waitlist acceptance rate analysis to provide some transparency to those who are on the waitlist.

Unlike the rather stable overall admission rate, the MBA waitlist acceptance rate fluctuates substantially. Some years it is very high for a school and other years it can be zero. The acceptance yield of the school in a given year drives the waitlist acceptance rate. In addition to providing the average acceptance rate from 2012 to 2017, I also included the lowest year and highest year during that period. Some of the smaller schools have a lot less data available, so the acceptance rates below are less reliable.

MBA Waitlist Acceptance Rate and Range

Rank
School
Low
Average
High
1
Harvard University (HBS)
0%
6%
14%
1
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
0%
5%
6%
3
University of Chicago (Booth)
3%
17%
35%
4
Stanford University (GSB)
0%
18%
50%
4
Northwestern University (Kellogg)
0%
5%
10%
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
2%
9%
17%
7
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)
0%
7%
15%
8
Dartmouth College (Tuck)
0%
6%
15%
9
Columbia University (CBS)
5%
13%
24%
9
Yale University (YSOM)
0%
9%
21%
11
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor (Ross)
6%
14%
20%
12
New York University (Stern)
0%
5%
13%
12
Duke University (Fuqua)
2%
5%
11%
14
University of Virginia (Darden)
0%
17%
27%
15
University of California—​Los Angeles (Anderson)
5%
17%
33%
16
Cornell University (Johnson)
0%
10%
19%
17
University of Texas—​Austin (McCombs)
4%
7%
20%
18
University of North Carolina—​Chapel Hill (Kenan-​Flagler)
6%
26%
55%
19
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
0%
9%
22%
20
Emory University (Goizueta)
0%
8%
33%
21
Georgetown University (McDonough)
0%
8%
13%
21
Indiana University (Kelley)
0%
13%
18%
21
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)
11%
26%
50%
24
University of Southern California (Marshall)
0%
20%
50%
25
Arizona State University (Carey)
0%
12%
20%
25
Vanderbilt University (Owen)
0%
19%
50%

I suspected that some schools would have a higher preference for waitlisted applicants with higher GMATs. I found that schools treated applicants very differently based on GMAT. Some schools have a preference for very high GMATs, while others have a preference average GMATs (for top MBAs). Strangely, some schools have no preference for GMAT while others appear to have a preference for lower GMATs. The data is a little thin, so take this with a grain of salt.

Waitlist acceptance rate for schools with preference for very higher GMATs

School
< 700
700 – 730
740+
Harvard University (HBS)
0%
0%
13%
Stanford University (GSB)
0%
0%
13%
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
0%
0%
5%
Columbia University (CBS)
0%
0%
16%

Waitlist acceptance rate for schools that have a preference for higher GMATs

School
< 700
700 – 730
740+
Northwestern University (Kellogg)
6%
2%
11%
Dartmouth College (Tuck)
0%
8%
6%
Duke University (Fuqua)
0%
6%
4%
University of Virginia (Darden)
20%
17%
27%
Georgetown University (McDonough)
0%
14%
20%

Waitlist acceptance rate for schools that have a preference for average GMATs

School
< 700
700 – 730
740+
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)
0%
6%
3%
Yale University (YSOM)
0%
17%
4%
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor (Ross)
10%
18%
11%

Waitlist acceptance rate for schools that have preference for lower GMATs

School
< 700
700 – 730
740+
University of California—​Los Angeles (Anderson)
27%
19%
6%
University of Texas—​Austin (McCombs)
8%
9%
6%
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
9%
9%
3%

Waitlist acceptance rate for schools that have no preference for GMAT

School
< 700
700 – 730
740+
University of Chicago (Booth)
18%
15%
19%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
14%
14%
8%
New York University (Stern)
8%
6%
7%
Cornell University (Johnson)
11%
11%
12%
University of North Carolina—​Chapel Hill (Kenan-​Flagler)
33%
21%
29%

Some schools had data that was too thin to analyze. Those schools are Carey, Emory, Kelley, Olin, Owen, and USC.

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