Monthly Archives: January 2018

MBA Acceptance Rate by Undergraduate Major

Many applicants may wonder if their undergraduate major impacts their chance of getting into business school. Admissions data suggests that your college major can significantly impact your probability of getting into business school. The general trend seems to be that majors that are more dominated by women have a higher acceptance rate while industries that dominated by men had lower acceptance rates. This could be because my data does not have gender as a variable, so I could not account for it. Many people believe that women’s acceptance rate is higher than it is for men with similar credentials, but I have not found any data that proves it. Another explanation is that the female dominated majors are generally underrepresented in business school application pools, so when schools aim to diversify the class, the acceptance rates are higher for those majors.

Given that there so many different college majors, there is not enough data to analyze major by school, so instead I analyzed the major acceptance rate by school tier. I grouped the top 10, 11 – 16 and 17 – 25.

Ranking Tier
Acceptance Rate
GMAT
GPA
Top 10
20%
728
3.53
11 – 16
35%
716
3.42
17 – 25
45%
705
3.42

As you can see, the tier has a strong effect on the acceptance rate. GMAT and GPA also correlate strongly with ranking. Below you can see what majors have a higher acceptance rate than we would expect and which have lower acceptance rates, given the GMAT and GPA.

Top 10 MBA Acceptance Rate by Major

In the top 10, education majors have the highest acceptance rate for top 10 MBA programs despite having substantially lower GMAT of 711 compared to the average of 728. Law majors have lower GMAT and GPA, but nearly 50% higher acceptance rate than average. Liberal arts and humanities majors have a noticeably higher acceptance rate despite lower GMAT and similar GPA. Other Majors with high acceptance rates also have higher than average GMAT, which could explain the acceptance rate.

In the top 10, operations majors have substantially higher GMAT and GPA, but only a 16% acceptance rate compared to the average of 20% acceptance rate. Engineering students have similar to average scores, but only 15% acceptance rates. Computer science, marketing and health/medical majors have very low acceptance rates, that may be at least partially explained by low scores.

Major
Acceptance Rate
GMAT
GPA
Education
33%
711
3.71
Law
29%
723
3.37
Liberal Arts and Humanities
24%
724
3.53
Social Services
24%
735
3.61
Political Science
24%
734
3.55
Economics
23%
729
3.51
Communication
20%
727
3.58
Accounting
20%
728
3.62
Finance
19%
726
3.59
Business
18%
723
3.56
Science and Math
17%
733
3.48
Arts
16%
729
3.52
Operations
16%
737
3.56
Engineering
15%
728
3.49
Computer Science
12%
722
3.52
Marketing
9%
718
3.36
Health or Medical
7%
708
3.58

Ranked 11 – 16 MBA Acceptance Rate by Major

In the middle tier of rank 11 to 16, communication majors have an absurdly high acceptance rate with similar GMAT and noticeably higher GPA. Liberal arts majors had very high acceptance rates despite the lower than average GMAT. Political science majors had a high acceptance rate of 40% even though their GMAT and GPA are well below average.

Operations majors have a lower acceptance rate, but it is explained by a fairly low GMAT. Arts majors have a low acceptance rate despite having higher GMAT and GPA than average. Engineering majors have the highest average GMAT for middle tier schools, but one of the lowest acceptance rates. Health/medical majors have a low acceptance rate, but it is explained by very low GMAT of 688. Marketing, computer science and law majors had some of the lowest acceptance rates, but they also had lower than average stats.

Major
Acceptance Rate
GMAT
GPA
Communication
61%
717
3.61
Liberal Arts and Humanities
45%
711
3.45
Economics
45%
717
3.36
Finance
43%
716
3.49
Science and Math
42%
718
3.35
Political Science
40%
706
3.37
Accounting
38%
716
3.49
Business
35%
706
3.46
Operations
31%
701
3.4
Arts
27%
720
3.46
Engineering
26%
721
3.4
Health or Medical
25%
688
3.52
Marketing
23%
712
3.34
Computer Science
23%
713
3.43
Law
17%
709
3.07

Ranked 17 – 25 MBA Acceptance Rate by Major

For rank 17 to 26 schools, communication majors had an extremely high acceptance rate even though they had an average GMAT and an only slightly higher GPA. Economics, political science, liberal arts, marketing, business, law and operations majors all had very high acceptance rates yet lower than average stats.

Health/medical and education majors’ acceptance rates are lower than average, but explained by very low GMAT score. Engineering and arts majors have above average stats, but lower acceptance rates.

Major
Acceptance Rate
GMAT
GPA
Communication
78%
706
3.51
Economics
67%
698
3.32
Political Science
65%
691
3.36
Liberal Arts and Humanities
57%
697
3.43
Marketing
56%
699
3.35
Business
56%
693
3.46
Law
54%
697
3.31
Operations
54%
688
3.3
Accounting
52%
703
3.43
Finance
52%
704
3.46
Other
48%
698
3.41
Science and Math
45%
702
3.33
Health or Medical
40%
663
3.49
Engineering
35%
713
3.42
Arts
35%
722
3.45
Computer Science
31%
704
3.49
Education
13%
663
3.59

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.

MBA Interview Probability for top schools by GMAT and GPA

With round 2 application deadlines rapidly approaching, many applicants may wonder what their chance of getting an MBA interview with their favorite schools is. I analyzed the MBA interview probability for the top 25 schools over the past 5 years by GMAT and GPA. Unsurprisingly, for most schools the MBA interview chance increased for high GMAT and high GPA candidates.

Some interesting insights I found:

  • At Booth, GPA has little to no impact on likelihood of getting and interview unless your GMAT is under 700
  • At Columbia, GMAT and GPA are very important for your interview chances
  • At Cornell, GMAT is far more important than GPA for getting an interview
  • At Duke, neither GPA nor GMAT seem to have much of an impact on interview odds
  • At Emory, strangely, if you have a GMAT of 700 or higher then low GPA applicants actually have a higher chance of getting an interview
  • At Georgetown, chance of getting an interview for 740+ applicants is no more than for those in the 700 to 730 range
  • At Stanford and Harvard, chance of interviewing is depressingly low, both GMAT and GPA are very important
  • At Ross, GPA doesn’t seem to matter if an applicant has a GMAT of 740 or higher
  • At NYU, having a very high GMAT dramatically increases your chance of getting an interview
  • At Wharton, having a high GMAT only appears to matter if the applicants GPA is over 3.40
  • At Yale, both GMAT and GPA have a huge impact on chance of getting an interview

University of Chicago (Booth) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
33%
52%
68%
3.40 – 3.59
28%
53%
67%
3.60+
58%
59%
73%

Arizona State University (Carey) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
56%
53%
75%
3.40 – 3.59
58%
33%
100%
3.60+
52%
62%
75%

Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
67%
61%
74%
3.40 – 3.59
48%
62%
80%
3.60+
53%
49%
77%

Columbia University MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
19%
25%
43%
3.40 – 3.59
17%
34%
54%
3.60+
28%
43%
55%

Cornell University (Johnson) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
46%
62%
69%
3.40 – 3.59
48%
61%
68%
3.60+
54%
58%
72%

Duke University (Fuqua) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
58%
64%
65%
3.40 – 3.59
57%
58%
62%
3.60+
76%
63%
66%

Emory University (Goizueta) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
47%
55%
78%
3.40 – 3.59
44%
52%
57%
3.60+
52%
43%
62%

Georgetown University (McDonough) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
65%
74%
72%
3.40 – 3.59
65%
88%
85%
3.60+
71%
85%
89%

Stanford University (GSB) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
3%
3%
12%
3.40 – 3.59
6%
12%
18%
3.60+
13%
14%
22%

University of California—​Berkeley (Haas) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
12%
27%
22%
3.40 – 3.59
28%
27%
44%
3.60+
27%
39%
50%

Harvard University (HBS) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
5%
10%
13%
3.40 – 3.59
12%
15%
18%
3.60+
12%
24%
27%

Indiana University (Kelley) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
44%
57%
75%
3.40 – 3.59
39%
70%
70%
3.60+
34%
76%
84%

Northwestern University (Kellogg) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
67%
82%
80%
3.40 – 3.59
56%
77%
86%
3.60+
60%
76%
83%

University of Texas—​Austin (McCombs) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
44%
68%
76%
3.40 – 3.59
51%
74%
81%
3.60+
60%
75%
82%

Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
58%
76%
88%
3.40 – 3.59
62%
77%
91%
3.60+
74%
86%
80%

Vanderbilt University (Owen) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
74%
80%
56%
3.40 – 3.59
66%
74%
83%
3.60+
94%
83%
92%

University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor (Ross) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
50%
57%
72%
3.40 – 3.59
54%
65%
70%
3.60+
50%
68%
70%

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
14%
26%
24%
3.40 – 3.59
0%
24%
33%
3.60+
26%
39%
39%

New York University (Stern) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
24%
28%
44%
3.40 – 3.59
35%
41%
58%
3.60+
13%
37%
56%

Dartmouth College (Tuck) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
58%
66%
71%
3.40 – 3.59
38%
64%
82%
3.60+
65%
73%
74%

University of California—​Los Angeles (Anderson) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
26%
40%
57%
3.40 – 3.59
23%
60%
70%
3.60+
24%
60%
69%

University of North Carolina—​Chapel Hill (Kenan-​Flagler) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
72%
68%
89%
3.40 – 3.59
59%
71%
83%
3.60+
63%
73%
90%

University of Southern California (Marshall) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
38%
74%
67%
3.40 – 3.59
52%
74%
75%
3.60+
28%
71%
85%

University of Virginia (Darden) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
40%
41%
58%
3.40 – 3.59
36%
39%
73%
3.60+
50%
54%
60%

University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
29%
35%
33%
3.40 – 3.59
26%
27%
46%
3.60+
29%
36%
55%

Yale University (YSOM) MBA Interview Probability

< 700
700 – 730
740+
< 3.40
15%
31%
42%
3.40 – 3.59
24%
41%
63%
3.60+
34%
53%
67%