R1 Admission Trends: Impact of GMAT/AGE/Nationality on Acceptance!!

Hello GMATClub!! Good luck to all who are applying in R2.

As round 1 is now over, we decided to study stats of applicants to analyze admission trends and impact of factors such as GMAT score, GPA, region, etc. on acceptance of R1 applicants at top schools.

This analysis is based on our user data, which is self reported. Hence it's advised to use findings of this analysis with discretion. They are meant to give only a general idea of admission scenario in R1. Don't presume that these findings will hold true all the time.

We have shortlisted top 30 business schools from US (as per US News 2017 rankings) and 2 prestigious European schools - LBS and INSEAD - for this analysis. We classified these schools in to 3 categories. In first category we included seven most prestigious business schools, popularly called as M7. In second category we included other super elite Bschools and third category consists of rest elite schools of the world.

We welcome any comments, opinions, suggestions or anything else that you might have to say about the findings of this analysis.


M7 Schools: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Columbia.
Super Elite Schools: Haas, Tuck, Yale, Darden, Fuqua, Ross, UCLA, LBS, INSEAD, Stern, Johnson.
Elite Schools: Kenan-Flagler, McCombs, Tepper, Goizueta, Olin, McDonough, Kelley, Owen, Jones, Mendoza, Fisher, Carlson, Madison, Foster.

Admission Trends at M7 Schools

These seven are most competitive schools. Every year thousands of applicants apply to these schools but only few get admitted. Last year Harvard had received 7899 applications of which only 485 were admitted; Numbers speak for themselves! These are the most coveted MBA programs on the earth. Since their admission stats are very different than all other top schools, we decided to keep them in a different category.

• Getting admitted in to a M7 Bschool is tough and the chart below clearly shows the intensity of competition. At best you can have 20% chance of acceptance if your GMAT score is lower than 780
  
• Among the 1012 applicants that we considered for this chart, 91% had GMAT score of 700 or above.
  
• No one on forum with less than 700 GMAT has reported interview invite from these schools.

Sample Size: 1012 Applicants







Sample Size: 454 Applicants





Sample Size: 736 Applicants

Admission Trends at Super Elite Schools

Schools included in this category are Haas, Tuck, Yale, Darden, Fuqua, Ross, UCLA, LBS, INSEAD, Stern, and Johnson.




Sample Size: 944 Applicants







We can see an unusual trend here. Applicants with 31+ age have highest acceptance rate than other applicants.

Sample Size: 454 Applicants





Sample Size: 822 Applicants

Admission Trends at Elite Schools

Schools included in this category are Kenan-Flagler, McCombs, Tepper, Goizueta, Olin, McDonough, Kelley, Owen, Jones, Mendoza, Fisher, Carlson, Madison, Foster.




Sample Size: 537 Applicants







Sample Size: 237 Applicants





Sample Size: 510 Applicants








Here we have calculated acceptance rates of individual schools and avg GMAT scores.

Stanford is perhaps most competitive Bschool on earth. It has scary acceptance rate of 6%.

Average GMAT score of Wharton admits is highest followed by NYU Stern.




As I said earlier, we welcome your views, counter-views, suggestions, etc on the analysis. We do not claim that the findings of above survey are 100% correct. We are aware of the limitations of survey sample and self reported data. The objective of this survey is to analyse general admission trend. If anyone disagrees with above findings, we respect their opinions. The idea behind this topic is to generate a thoughtful discussion which will shed light in various components of MBA application process. Thank you!

These average GMAT scores look awfully high across the board....

I would suspect it's because the average GMAT test/takers who's active in the GMATclub community would likely have a higher score than the average non-member. Any merit to this theory?

I am guessing the people who got admitted were more likely to report their application status. And it is probable that the people who got admitted also tend to have higher GMAT scores.

By the way, excellent analyses, Narenn! Sounds like the GMAT score cutoff/dropoff is 780.

I dont agree with this analysis. Very few sometimes no Africans get admitted to these schools. Columbia, Harvard, Stanford all came to Kenya to try get Africans in Africa to apply to these schools. One admissions director even admitted there is no African in the graduating class!!!

Also, the range of GMAT scores is too high. Minorities sometimes get lower scores and get into these schools. I personally know of a Kenyan joining HBS in September who got a 650 and another joining INSEAD with 713. The average is just that an average. There are lower and higher scorers there as well.

Also, the ranking of schools. INSEAD is the best business school in the world. Even higher than Stanford and Wharton for 2016. How did you put it in the Super ELite schools lower than HBS, Wharton, Stanford, MIT SLoan, Kellogg and Columbia???

Pretty interesting analyses, thank you Narenn!

According to your data a 740 gives you on average a 15%-pt higher admission chance to super elite schools compared to a 710. I think those 30 points are definitely worth the effort!

Looking foward for your R2 and R3 updates

Excellent analysis and trend observation!

Maybe in round one only those who were well prepared and overall, stronger, would consider applying?

Interesting to see Columbia having such a high acceptance rate though, thought it'd be in the mid teens or so.

Fantastic! Just the thing I was looking for. Appreciate your efforts to create this beauty. The GC pool seems to be a decent representation of reality.

I doubt there is anything to agree or disagree with. What Narenn presented is a great analysis (thanks to this!) of data points available at Gmatclub forum. Of course it does not represent the whole spectrum of people, but a subset (those you have their account at gmatclub and updated their achievements).


A bold statement. How do you know? I guess you refer to the ranking of the Financial Times. But then The Economist placed INSEAD at the 13th place. Again it all depends how you construct a ranking and what areas you emphasis while building it, but concluding that this or that schools is the best of best just because it scored 1st place in one ranking is an overstatement in my opinion. [Disclaimer: I love INSEAD and I truly believe it is a top biz school!]



Google is your friend. "M7: The Super Elite Business Schools By The Numbers. It's the informal super elite group of seven private business schools generally considered to have the world's best MBA programs. If you're in business, you know their names: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, and MIT Sloan." So why Narenn should include INSEAD to M7 if it is not a part of M7 group?

Very helpful. Thank u Narenn!

Sent from my Mi 4i using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

I agree with the analysis

Images in this Post are not visible, Please help.

Wondering how that is happening with you. I opened the thread in multiple browsers and all the images look perfectly fine. Can you clear the browser cache and try it again?

Anyone else facing the issue of image loading?

I have tried opening the post in multiple PCs and Browsers but images are not visible.
I can see the images for all the other posts.

Same issue! I also tried different browsers and also the app. The images are not visible only for this post.

I can see the chart (last), just not the analysis.

Thanks guys. I've updated all chart links. I hope the issue is resolved and everyone can see the charts now. Let me know if the issue still persists.

Thank you So much for your Efforts!!

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