Admission Trends at Top Bschools Over Last 5 Years!!

Question

Hi Everyone,

As 2015 application season is now almost over and applicants applying in 2016 have already begun the search for resources, advice for their applications, we have decided to utilize our accumulated forum data of applicants to analyze how various factors of application impact on candidate's acceptance chances.

We are going to analyze admission trends of atleast top 20 popular schools on GMATclub. For the analysis we are using last 5 years user data, i.e. from 2012 to 2016, to determine acceptance chances by GMAT score, admission rounds, industry, etc at different schools.

Since the data used for this analysis is self-reported, it's advised to use findings of this analysis with discretion. They are meant to give only a general idea of admission scenario at Bschools. Don't presume that these findings will hold true all the time. We hope these findings will provide applicants a new way to look at their applications and focus on the key areas.

Let us know your comments, opinions, suggestions or anything else that you might have to say about the findings of this analysis.

Admission Analysis:

Columbia ,  Fuqua ,  ISB ,  LBS ,  Consortium ,  Tuck ,  NUS Singapore ,  INSEAD ,  Stanford GSB ,  Wharton ,  Harvard ,  Oxford ,  Haas EWMBA ,  Chicago-Booth ,  MIT Sloan

Narenn · Answer

Columbia - Admission Trends Over 5 Years!!

Columbia Vs GMATClub: Applicant Pool YoY Comparison  
     2012 Intake    2013 Intake    2014 Intake    2015 Intake    2016 Intake       School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club    # of Applicants  6669  355  N/A  433  5765  577  5829  528  N/A  545    Acceptance Rate  0.16  0.23  N/A  0.21  0.18  0.2  0.18  0.18  N/A  0.17    Average GMAT  716  729  N/A  728  716  723  715  729  N/A  727    Average GPA  3.5  3.52  N/A  3.47  3.5  3.51  3.5  3.49  N/A  3.53    Avg Work Experience (Months)  56  61  N/A  60  57  56  60  58  N/A  58    Average Age  28  28  N/A  28  28  27  28  27  N/A  27

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Once the threshold of 720 is crossed probability of getting accepted increases to 1/3. Also you can be fairly sure of getting interview invite at that point.

Sample Size: 1238 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J5H1wp77V0U/V48iFWmGkzI/AAAAAAAABa8/HNZIXG7zv_8esX5mViSxufIlCBn6_J0pQCCo/s775/CBS_Acceptance_by_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 2414 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eZG_tgLWCf0/V48iGDtIESI/AAAAAAAABa8/yatC8EF10TIGhPDS8Z3iYT2CjktI0GZmACCo/s541/CBS_Acceptance_by_Round.png

Acceptance Rates of Different Age Groups

Greatest portion of CBS's applicant pool is coming from 25-27 age group and applicants in this group also have high admission rate.

Sample Size: 840 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pYZncXPqjAk/V48iFBOAPqI/AAAAAAAABa8/nvP1xONGpHwJe5B8d3Y2AzkdqDaQ4IdbwCCo/s688/CBS_Acceptance_by_Age.png

Acceptance rates by Countries

Sample Size: 821 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kj4ugL1MyoU/V48iFLmZ9DI/AAAAAAAABa8/Taq8zVthRXklT_WayFxcKe4F-hy2cmaoQCCo/s696/CBS_Acceptance_by_Country.png

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 1003 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-enryepFeTcg/V48iGGOM23I/AAAAAAAABa8/voT4Lzxp4Mo_XHk4K47MFiKwcj7Zx1fiACCo/s721/CBS_Acceptance_by_Industry.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yFvnxM7v51c/V48iGQHG_5I/AAAAAAAABa8/8A3snYlg50k9DnkJ5B3LcxtE8cwaMi2vQCCo/s653/CBS_Applicants_by_Industry.png

Incoming Class of CBS

Here we have done industry-wise classification of students admitted between 2012 and 2016 to see representation of various industries in an average CBS MBA class.

Sample Size: 1003 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RVmVmxzmjHk/V48iHIEYajI/AAAAAAAABa8/4LAOXneYN-QmwlWEastIubyyuQ16SoqfwCCo/s619/CBS_Class_by_Industry.png

Narenn · Answer

Fuqua - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

We can see downward trend in YOY rate of acceptance; however, I would not infer too much from the steep decline of 8 percentage points from 2012 to 2014 as our BSchool system, which introduced in 2011, was new at that time and many applicants were not familiar with it. This is evident from the increase in number of applicants from 290 in 2012 to 544 in 2014.
 
  Decrease in 6 percentage points from 2015 to 2016 is however a matter of concern. Fuqua's actual admission rate has also fallen from 25% to 23% during the same period.

Sample Size: 2179 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Iaquv8vQTf4/V6JPJiXgYMI/AAAAAAAABeQ/-oPcgovMbgIflt3KpSnmjuRHyKw6hQV0ACCo/s649/Fuqua_YOY_Acceptance_%2526_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

I am quite surprised with this result. It shows that GMAT won't help much in increasing your acceptance chances beyond 700. We did not see such trend in our studies of other schools -  ISB ,  LBS ,  Columbia , and  Consortium . 
 
  This indicates that a high GMAT score is not necessarily an advantage and other factors of your application i.e. Essays, work experience, recommendations, post MBA goals, resume, etc, are equally important.

Sample Size: 1184 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LVxjPLpjFFw/V6JPIjHt1GI/AAAAAAAABeQ/g--4Uxe65hgKUv4_vORIKWx-uFW77L9FwCCo/s747/Fuqua_Acceptance_by_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 2175 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C4PBEfnSwbY/V6JPJA9yzkI/AAAAAAAABeQ/vw1et81sJvsRTdW9KVWeVgKEkPF2LAOvACCo/s607/Fuqua_Acceptance_by_Round.png

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 831 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cJ66rMrzO9Q/V6JPIaEJirI/AAAAAAAABeQ/MZkePTsQtt0XpjtZ5unulkExSrMYePZyACCo/s660/Fuqua_Acceptance_by_Age.png

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 1015 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DWaFFU-iMLg/V6JPIvgnNtI/AAAAAAAABeQ/8FFL8NTlWmwSTRAXNuI3ExGxkAG2a5zKQCCo/s774/Fuqua_Acceptance_by_Industry.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nCQDSb5wR0c/V6JPJblHHOI/AAAAAAAABeU/9t4kBgCuB10pMT6L6Shgc1tgVWF3GLFggCCo/s685/Fuqua_Applicants_by_Industry.png

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 840 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SYM8jdPTHc8/V6JPJJ8lfoI/AAAAAAAABeQ/gx-cM6oRUfcljI-0pEsIE32rRm_suedAwCCo/s761/Fuqua_Acceptance_by_Region.png

Narenn · Answer

ISB Admission Trends Over 5 Years!!

GMATClub's ISB Applicant Pool - YoY Comparison

It seems the last year was most successful for GMAT Club members as acceptance rate of forum members who applied to ISB has reached all time high. I read somewhere on the blog that actual acceptance rate of ISB is usually stays around 22%, so it's glad to see that our acceptance rate is on par with overall acceptance rate of ISB

GMATClub's ISB Applicant Pool - YoY Comparison
	2014 Intake	2015 Intake	2016 Intake
Acceptance Rate	13%	17%	22%
Average GMAT	707	703	703
Average GPA	3.36	3.44	3.38
Avg Work Experience (in Months)	54	58	59
Average Age	24	25	24

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

As expected, chances of acceptance increase as you score higher on the GMAT.
As you score 740 or above, competition gets lesser, which increases your chances of acceptance significantly. Ones you cross 760 (i.e. 99th persentile) you can be almost sure of getting interview invitation and have more than 50% chance of getting an admit.
710 Bump: This is a very interesting finding. As we can see volume of applicants is highest at this stage, yet these applicants have higher admission chances than applicants with GMAT scores 700, 720, and 730. This is not we have seen for the first time. In February when we were analysing data of round 1 applicants of all top schools for this post, we found similar bump at 710 score level. (See here https://screencast.com/t/ej8QUudL9ZHY) A possible answer for this situation could be that top B-Schools start looking at applicants a lot more seriously once they reach 92 percentile. It may be possible that a lot of applicants who have good profiles (excellent profiles), try to get up to 710 on GMAT and then focus more on other other parts of the application.

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

If we ignore media and transportation sectors, because we do not have sufficient data to make any firm inference, we can say that applicants from Consulting, Energy, and Retail sectors have greater chances of acceptance.
Job is obviously difficult for folks from IT sector due to sheer volume of applicants.

Hope this chart will give a partial answer to the great debate - Round 1 vs Round 2

ISB is good for you if you get 4-7 years of work experience. Unlike other Indian Bschools, ISB is less willing to accept freshers or applicants with negligible work experience.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p23H1n09WdU/VyTZcbCCv9I/AAAAAAAABVs/GpSeomww1jUqxY78tRS0lMo8_EUq9pGzwCCo/s528/ISB_Acceptance_by_Round.png ISB is good for you if you get 4-7 years of work experience. Unlike other Indian Bschools, ISB is less willing to accept freshers or applicants with negligible work experience. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f5vrjmd7b1E/VyTZb2dIBOI/AAAAAAAABVk/cdNciH5TCscNwqtTKLHL_doYk5ZxaarlwCCo/s527/ISB_Acceptance_by_AGE.png

Narenn · Answer

LBS - Admission Trends Over 5 Years!!

LBS Vs GMATClub: Applicant Pool YoY Comparison       2012 Intake    2013 Intake    2014 Intake    2015 Intake    2016 Intake       School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club  School  GMAT Club    # of Applicants  N/A  150  N/A  207  N/A  358  N/A  270  N/A  274    Acceptance Rate  N/A  0.23  N/A  0.22  N/A  0.16  N/A  0.17  N/A  0.21    Average GMAT  N/A  717  N/A  713  700  712  701  718  N/A  716    Average GPA  N/A  3.5  N/A  3.42  N/A  3.43  N/A  3.6  N/A  3.54    Avg Work Experience (in Months)  N/A  66  N/A  69  66  63  60  57  N/A  62  
  Average Age  N/A  28  N/A  29  29  28  29  28  N/A  27

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Acceptance chances increase with higher GMAT scores. 
  As you score 730 or more on the GMAT, your probability of getting accepted increases to 1/3. Also you can be fairly sure of getting interview invite.

Sample Size: 558 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H3xDjveXTUQ/V40vLrRJLcI/AAAAAAAABZ0/j8tvVB-aZ6AMyeFgwNfRz6TEgFMq9m27gCCo/s737/LBS_Acceptance_by_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

It’s surprising that chance of acceptance in R1 is almost same as that in R3
 
  R2 and R3 have highest probability of acceptance than other rounds.
 
  R1 is greatest round in terms of number of applicants.

Sample Size: 1251 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ntta09VMZPo/V40vMGSP0GI/AAAAAAAABZ8/zXX63cjZYAEABixZQVVar9Za7jpJTJ5IwCCo/s572/LBS_Acceptance_by_Round.png

Acceptance Rates of Different Age Groups

Greatest portion of LBS's applicant pool is coming from 28-30 age group and this group also has highest chance of admission. This is not very surprising because average age of LBS's incoming class has always stayed around 28 - 29.

Sample Size: 412 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NEiEcRn5Qmo/V40vLReU_nI/AAAAAAAABZs/MJkcF2a_Ixs4urECMLeBosMdK_a42aP8ACCo/s720/LBS_Acceptance_by_Age.png

Acceptance rates by Countries

For this analysis, we have considered only those countries that have relatively higher number of LBS applicants on forum. We have not chosen the countries with less than 8 applicants with the exception of Russia.
 
  We have also shown the difference between average GMAT of overall applicant pool of a specific country and average GMAT of admitted students of that country.

Sample Size: 391 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NSwJLxROp_s/V40vLsukj3I/AAAAAAAABaM/1VHSZaOpPmMu93yhIiuymJvbLLlGZEeDwCCo/s716/LBS_Acceptance_by_Country.png

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 514 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ywG2DajAXtk/V40vMKUHJdI/AAAAAAAABaM/TUC_z9p6qB81opTpMdP4GQPts8ZK20_bQCCo/s754/LBS_Acceptance_by_Industry.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n7OTlW-H58U/V40vMT2J--I/AAAAAAAABaM/W_YB8YMAjjIeU9Z7Q0AwqSzThwGEeBInACCo/s716/LBS_Applicants_by_Industry.png

Incoming Class of LBS

Here we have done industry-wise classification of students admitted between 2012 and 2016 to see representation of various industries in an average LBS MBA class.

Sample Size: 514 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I5QD1VONwv4/V40vM4NudzI/AAAAAAAABaM/hgabb6SmM946SArdcFfG7spWU2jo-TBUwCCo/s640/LBS_Class_by_Industry.png

Narenn · Answer

Consortium - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Acceptance rate is relatively stable over last 5 years with the exception of 2014 in which it dropped to 26%.

Sample Size: 1083 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zxG6UTYlcoM/V5jvai_15PI/AAAAAAAABcg/DIYEQPLy8ucFbQbzyX3Kk_j3J2-iRT3-QCCo/s723/Consortium_YOY_Acceptance_%2526_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

We studied only 7 schools, with most applicants, for this analysis as we didn't have sufficient data in other schools. 
 
  I can't seem to find the reason for why acceptance rate is dropping for applicants scoring 750 or above on the GMAT. Does anyone have explanation for this?

Sample Size: 326 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WSEZ0SrogqI/V5jvZkDejiI/AAAAAAAABcg/qSvvqoLXzyMk8vxjfYZVlNZuNVnpJtRRQCCo/s717/Consortium_Acceptance_by_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Acceptance chances are considerably higher in R2.

Sample Size: 1064 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nRiWK4k6w1w/V5jvaQSE_LI/AAAAAAAABcg/2C8hGGXovV4iivuuI1V1VUNWL_BcC4Y8wCCo/s555/Consortium_Acceptance_by_Round.png

Acceptance Rates of Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 329 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yLI7FOqKz8c/V5jvZltuT3I/AAAAAAAABcg/JV5uD0Mgjmc0C4UL0tMNGcQCam48b98hwCCo/s647/Consortium_Acceptance_by_Age.png

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 610 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_u5uesCtlp8/V5jvZk7gtVI/AAAAAAAABcg/BjpUn-PxOEQJawqugFfF04BULVq0ea7cACCo/s855/Consortium_Acceptance_by_Industry.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qgeqYczwKrQ/V5jvaU8ACgI/AAAAAAAABcg/iUYC28gZBV0qGTwbyzMIL4hQ1nPAOKiFgCCo/s688/Consortium_Applicants_by_Industry.png

Consortium vs Overall Application Pool

Sample Size: 726 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xCWsg_TWFOc/V5tgQj7dY8I/AAAAAAAABcs/49Yyr5XhO_UieezF44aIzRk2w66Gli0swCCo/s631/Consortium_vs_All.png

Admissionado · Answer

Yoman! Kudos on all this! Great stuff here. You rock! As always

Narenn · Answer

Thanks Jon!

Time to post analysis of Tuck applicants.

Narenn · Answer

Tuck - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 1849 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2b6VhKp

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Although it is quite common to see increase in acceptance chances as you score higher on GMAT, what struck me while analyzing Tuck's data is the huge gap between rate of interview invitation and rate of admission; Both have difference of average 40 percentage points. We have not seen difference of this magnitude in any other schools. (See:  Columbia ,  LBS ,  Fuqua , and  Consortium ) 
 
  This finding leads us to conclude that although Tuck applicants have higher chance of interview invitation than applicants at other top schools, real competition starts from interview and you have to perform really well on interview to increase your acceptance chances.

Sample Size: 993 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2aMiQqZ

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 1821 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2aBMvF0

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 689 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2b6ZQoj

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 861 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bh3TP1

https://bit.ly/2b4ICoE

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 694 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bh4obW

logan58 · Answer

Narenn , this is a fantastic piece of analysis you've put together - I can imagine the amount of effort that must have gone into collating/scrubbing the data and presenting the results in a visually efficient manner. Your commentary on what the data tells you, as well as adding layers of detail with each new school you work on (e.g. Tuck, you've added an Overall Acceptance Rate straight line that clearly visually demarcates which industries are more preferred) are an added bonus!

I am curious if the sample space of users here captures their reapplication efforts (schools reapplied to, and results), and whether this can be used to empirically back the more widely-circulated opinions of some schools being more reapplicant friendly versus others - especially trending over the years, if a given school has moved in one direction or the other? The reapplicant acceptance rate can be compared to overall acceptance rate, for example. The only time (and I certainly stand corrected here) I've seen numbers being attached to these opinons is in a P&Q article dated Sep 2015.

Narenn · Answer

Thank you very much for a brief note on analysis. Regarding your comment on Re-applicants, unfortunately, at present there is no any feature in our MBA timeline through which an applicant can report whether s/he is a re-applicant. As a result we can't figure out numbers of re-applicants in a given data sample; however, we are considering adding this feature in our MBA timeline, thanks to your suggestion, and I hope from next year onwards we will be in position to analyse performance of re-applicants. The other interesting suggestion that I received recently was about comparing profiles of admits who got merit based scholarships with those of others. This too is under consideration. So users' suggestions are extremely valuable for us; They help us figure out what matters most to applicants and adjust our analysis methods accordingly. So please keep such fantastic suggestions coming in.

Narenn · Answer

NUS Singapore - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 666 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bDDjOF

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

NUS is one of the most prestigious and competitive schools in South east Asia and the intensity of competition can be seen in the following chart. Even after attaining 710 on GMAT you have 8% chance of acceptance.
 
  We can see some rapid increase from 720 onwards, but even at highest point acceptance chance remains at 21%.

Sample Size: 274 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bfR1EK

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 157 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bAYZxB

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 282 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bFa4MW

https://bit.ly/2c5Aqcx

GPA: Accepted Vs Overall Applicant Pool

Sample Size: 666 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bF9X3I

As I said earlier, we welcome your views, counter-views, suggestions, etc on the analysis. Thank you!

Narenn · Answer

INSEAD - Admission Trends Over 5 Years!!

INSEAD vs GMATClub Applicant Pool: YoY Comparison       2012 Intake    2013 Intake    2014 Intake    2015 Intake    2016 Intake        School    GMAT Club    School    GMAT Club    School    GMAT Club    School    GMAT Club    School    GMAT Club     Acceptance Rate  N/A  37%  N/A  27%  N/A  26%  N/A  25%  N/A  18%    Average GMAT  N/A  724  N/A  710  701  710  700  708  700  709    Average GPA  N/A  3.45  N/A  3.49  N/A  3.46  N/A  3.5  N/A  3.46    Avg Work Experience  60 - 72  67  60 - 72  71  72  68  66  66  72  64    Average Age  29  29  29  29  29  28  29  28  29  28

January and September Intakes: Applicants and Acceptance Rates

Both the acceptance rate and number of applicants are higher for Sept intake.
 
  R2 and R3 have highest probability of acceptance than other rounds.
 
  R1 is greatest round in terms of number of applicants.

Sample Size: 1907 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YiZwBkNrTsc/VzIxh6fVzwI/AAAAAAAABXs/WMq_6rVAOWwrk37GeV0mXGsfg9vvOps0ACCo/s618/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_Intake.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y-zCIfv-vt8/VzIxh_P61nI/AAAAAAAABXw/Aq1fcxbNXZUFU2QY7yDDufV2kkuIA0mggCCo/s615/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_Intake1.png

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

As expected, acceptance chances increase with higher GMAT scores; however, this holds true only upto 730 level, after which we can see some decrease in the acceptance chances of applicants with GMAT scores 740 and 750. We observed similar trend during the  analysis of ISB applicants  as well.

Sample Size: 838 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XP1zDnjrMU4/VzIwEvvfLYI/AAAAAAAABXc/mKsuTylLrdYH_kO0Es6F9nMGKczXI64YQCCo/s668/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_GMAT.png

Acceptance Rates of Different Age Groups GMAT Score

Greatest portion of INSEAD's applicant pool is coming from 28-30 age group and this group also has highest chance of admission. This is not very surprising because average age of INSEAD's incoming class has always stayed around 28 - 29.

Sample Size: 358 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r0sfL1q6_4Y/VzIuHycmnYI/AAAAAAAABXI/Nc1Jq10cUI0L-kHDFM69EPgVPYRtb7u0ACCo/s583/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_Age.png

Acceptance rates by Countries

For this analysis, we have considered only those countries that have relatively higher number of INSEAD applicants on forum. We have not chosen the countries with less than 15 applicants.
 
  We have also shown the difference between average GMAT of overall applicant pool of a specific country and average GMAT of admitted students of that country.

Sample Size: 610 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L479cCp-XNE/VzIuHzcH_TI/AAAAAAAABXI/FTnrh5qz5qkJcbq4ybiRGbxlW4wTa9UbwCCo/s606/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_Countries.png

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industri-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 784 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HRS2EKH3yUs/VzIuIcIXvlI/AAAAAAAABXI/4c8bdViK4EozgjBnNnyq_r-Jrt2qctBdQCCo/s722/INSEAD_Acceptance_by_Industry.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kdz4dylfvzs/VzIuIlvXZUI/AAAAAAAABXI/0--G1IuTdMIh8qByZ-gorrE7_EBuNWzhgCCo/s605/INSEAD_Applicants_by_Industry.png

Incoming Class of INSEAD

Here we have done industry-wise classification of students admitted between 2012 and 2016 to see representation of various industries in an average INSEAD MBA class.

Sample Size: 784 Applicants  
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T4uliobBCWg/VzIuJLV0PvI/AAAAAAAABXI/C_5fPE5zRrEYhSsC2RpYbVUD8ClVdeycACCo/s548/INSEAD_Incoming_Class_by_Industry.png

As I said earlier, we welcome your views, counter-views, suggestions, etc on the analysis. Thank you!

Narenn · Answer

Stanford - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 2754 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bHQoI8

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Stanford GSB is arguably the best business school in the world. The intensity of competition at its flagship two year, full time, MBA program can be clearly seen in the following chart. 
 
  Admission rate of Stanford is lowest compared to  that of other top schools that we analysed so far;  Even with 760 GMAT, your chance of acceptance is only 9%.
 
  Among the 1383 applicants that we considered for this chart, around 90% had GMAT score of 700 or above and 75% had GMAT score of 720 or above. This finding tells us that those with lower than 700 GMAT need to have strong profile and convincing story for applying to Stanford. 
 
  Narrow gap between lines showing interview invites and acceptance indicate that Stanford is very careful in selecting candidates for interview' This leads us to infer that one can have better chance of acceptance after interview. This may seem obvious but we have seen certain schools who are very generous in inviting candidates for interview, but selective in making final decisions. (See  Tuck ,  Columbia ,  Fuqua )
 
  When we dug deeper into the data, we found that 41% of interviewed candidates got acceptance from Stanford.

Sample Size: 1383 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bHVKD3

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 2753 Applicants

This is another interesting observation. Acceptance rate is roughly the same in all admission rounds.  
 https://bit.ly/2bHH1Hc

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 1009 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bpEqko

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 1199 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bhCKgK

https://bit.ly/2bjU6sb

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 942 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bPhGtH

We welcome your views, counter-views, suggestions, etc on the analysis. Thank you!

Narenn · Answer

Wharton - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 3192 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2br3hEc

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Among the 1677 applicants that we considered for this chart, around 90% had GMAT score of 700 or above and 72% had GMAT score of 720 or above. This finding tells us that those with lower than 700 GMAT need to have strong profile and convincing story for applying to Wharton. 
 
  42% of interviewed candidates got acceptance from Wharton.

Sample Size: 1677 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bQfJNQ

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 3192 Applicants (1794 Applicants in R1, 1332 Applicants in R2, and 66 Applicants in R3)

https://bit.ly/2bE1nUi

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 1170 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bCMa1k

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 1388 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bYZQY6

https://bit.ly/2bRBYCs

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 1111 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bQfZfE

As I said earlier, we welcome your views, counter-views, suggestions, etc on the analysis. Thank you!

tae808 · Answer

Thanks for this!!

Do you happen to know why the acceptance rate for Early Action at Tuck is so low??!?
I'm surprised...

anandb · Answer

This is such amazing data and analysis!

I'd give you a 100 kudos if I could  Narenn

dentobizz · Answer

Narenn this is OUTSTANDING! :thanks

Narenn · Answer

Harvard Business School - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 3408 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2c6E6Zx

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

Harvard is one of the most coveted MBA programs in the world and following chart clearly shows how fierce the competition at HBS is. Even with 760 GMAT score, your chance of acceptance is only 14%.
 
  Among the 1698 applicants that we considered for this chart, around 90% had GMAT score of 700 or above and 75% had GMAT score of 720 or above. This finding tells us that those with lower than 700 GMAT need to have strong profile and convincing story for applying to Harvard. 
 
  Narrow gap between lines showing interview invites and acceptance indicate that Harvard is selective in sending interview invites, and one can have better chance of acceptance after interview. This trend is different from what we observed in  Tuck ,  Columbia , and  Fuqua .
 
  Acceptance rate of Harvard applicants after interview is close to 57%.

Sample Size: 1698 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2cBxmVQ

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 3407 Applicants

https://bit.ly/2cedDKd

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 1243 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bOlWgd

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 1464 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2ctl0ee

https://bit.ly/2bZHSAC

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 1139 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2c9txqp

Narenn · Answer

Oxford - Admission Trends!

YOY Acceptance Rate and Avg GMAT of Applicants

Sample Size: 581 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bObQuA

Acceptance Rate by GMAT Score

As anticipated, admission rate of Oxford is much higher than  that of LBS , UK's top business school. If you score 720 or above on the GMAT, your acceptance chances reach up to 60%. 
 
  Narrow gap between lines showing interview invites and acceptance indicate that Oxford is selective in sending interview invites, and one can have better chance of acceptance after interview. This may seem obvious but we have seen certain schools who are very generous in inviting candidates for interview, but selective in making final decisions. (See  Tuck ,  Columbia ,  Fuqua )
 
  Acceptance rate of Oxford applicants after interview is close to 76%.

Sample Size: 242 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bNORNn

Acceptance Rate by Admission Round

Sample Size: 428 Applicants

https://bit.ly/2bO7lC8

Acceptance Rates of Applicants in Different Age Groups

Sample Size: 171 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2c1vDG1

Acceptance rates of applicants from various industries

The first chart - line chart - shows acceptance rates of applicants from various industries and the pie chart next to it shows industry-wise allocation of applicants.

Sample Size: 226 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2bNRI91

https://bit.ly/2bxQC3R

Acceptance Rates of Applicants from Various Regions

Sample Size: 203 Applicants  
 https://bit.ly/2c4FPw1

Admission Trends at Top Bschools Over Last 5 Years!!

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

Columbia Vs GMATClub: Applicant Pool YoY Comparison
	2012 Intake		2013 Intake		2014 Intake		2015 Intake		2016 Intake
	School	GMAT Club	School	GMAT Club	School	GMAT Club	School	GMAT Club	School	GMAT Club
# of Applicants	6669	355	N/A	433	5765	577	5829	528	N/A	545
Acceptance Rate	0.16	0.23	N/A	0.21	0.18	0.2	0.18	0.18	N/A	0.17
Average GMAT	716	729	N/A	728	716	723	715	729	N/A	727
Average GPA	3.5	3.52	N/A	3.47	3.5	3.51	3.5	3.49	N/A	3.53
Avg Work Experience (Months)	56	61	N/A	60	57	56	60	58	N/A	58
Average Age	28	28	N/A	28	28	27	28	27	N/A	27