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May 0408:30 AM PDT
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A low GMAT score does not automatically end your MBA admission chances. Every year, top business schools admit candidates whose GMAT scores fall below the class average — not because the score doesn’t matter, but because the rest of the application....
May 0507:00 PM EDT
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In this live 60-minute masterclass, How to Get Ahead of MBA Recruiting Now, we’ll walk through the four biggest mistakes incoming MBAs make and how to avoid them so you’re not scrambling to catch up once recruiting begins.
May 0710:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj is covering this live on YouTube, May 7: how admissions committees actually evaluate goals statements, who is in the room, and why the goals statement most applicants submit wouldn't survive that conversation.- May 08
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Join the special YouTube live-stream for selecting the winners of GMAT Club MBA Scholarships sponsored by Juno live. Watch who gets these coveted MBA scholarships offered by GMAT Club and Juno.
09 Sep 2021, 04:25
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Wharton MBA GMAT Scores: What Score Do I Need?
The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania has one of the most well-known MBA programs in the world — and one of the most highly ranked. The M7 school was ranked #2 among full-time MBA programs on U.S. News’ 2022 list of the Best Business Schools (Stanford took the #1 slot). In fact, Wharton has consistently landed in the top 5 of MBA rankings in recent years. So, it’s no surprise that MBA admissions at Wharton is a very competitive process. Having an impressive GMAT score can be an important factor in making your application stand out among the pack.In this article, we’ll take a look at the average GMAT scores of MBA students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, as well as other key aspects of the Wharton MBA class profile, and discuss some criteria for determining what GMAT score you need to apply to Wharton.
Having an impressive GMAT score can be an important factor in making your application stand out among the pack.
First, let’s take a look at the Wharton MBA acceptance rate.
The Wharton MBA Acceptance Rate
The Wharton MBA acceptance rate has hovered around 20% over the past few years, although Wharton did not publish its acceptance rate for the incoming class in 2020. We do, however, know the Wharton MBA acceptance rate for the incoming classes of the 3 years prior. Let’s take a look.You’ll notice a bit of jump — 2.5% — in the acceptance rate for the MBA class of 2021, which entered the program in 2019. Wharton reported a dip in application volume for the class of 2021, a trend that did not hold for the class of 2022, which was Wharton’s largest ever (we’ll talk more about the class of 2022 shortly). In fact, 1,200 more people applied for a seat in Wharton’s class of 2022 than applied the prior year, an increase of 21%.
Even accounting for the lower-than-usual application volume for the MBA class of 2021, 21% is a pretty significant jump. So, with more future MBA students throwing their hats in the ring at Wharton, I wouldn’t count on the acceptance rate staying at the high-water mark it reached for the class of 2021. The safest guess is that the acceptance rate will settle back down in the 19-21% range we saw in previous years. And if applications to Wharton continue to soar in the coming years, I wouldn’t be surprised if the acceptance rate dips even lower.
So, the competition has been heating up at Wharton! Let’s take a look at who your competitors could be.
The Wharton MBA Class Profile: Class of 2022
As I mentioned already, Wharton’s incoming class in 2020 was its largest ever: out of 7,158 applicants, 916 enrolled in Wharton’s MBA program as members of the class of 2022. Students of color made up 5% more of the class than in the previous year, 41% vs. 36%, but the proportion of women dropped 5%, from 46% to 41%.The biggest shift in the demographic makeup of Wharton’s incoming class was in international students — possibly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of those students decreased from 34% and 30% incoming in 2018 and 2019, respectively, to just 19% incoming in 2020.
Despite those demographic changes, finance remained the top sector from which incoming students hailed, with 24% of the class of 2022 coming from consulting backgrounds and 12% coming from private equity/venture capital. The industry with the least representation in the class of 2022 was media/entertainment, at just 1%, followed closely by the energy sector, at 2%. Wharton’s class of 2022 had an average of 5 years of work experience, though years in the professional world ranged from 0 to 14.
The class of 2022 also had an average GPA of 3.6, with undergraduate majors fairly evenly split among three categories: Humanities (38%), Business (34%), and STEM (28%). Interestingly, the number of MBA students entering with undergraduate degrees in Business jumped significantly from that of the previous 4 years, when that number held steady at 26-27%.
It’s also interesting to note that the average GPA and work experience at Wharton was in keeping with the averages at other M7 schools. For instance, the Harvard MBA class of 2022 had an average GPA of 3.7 and an average of 4.7 years in the professional world, numbers very similar to Wharton’s. So, if you’re interested in applying to M7 schools in general, it’s important to keep those stats in mind.
In general, it’ll be important to keep the Wharton MBA class profile in mind when you’re thinking about how to set your GMAT score goal for Wharton, but I’ll talk about that more shortly. For now, let’s take a look at what the Wharton GMAT score range and average GMAT score have been in recent years.
Wharton GMAT Scores: A 5-Year View
Although earning a 700+ score on the GMAT certainly isn’t required, as we take a look at the Wharton average GMAT scores over the past 5 years, you’ll notice that the average GMAT score has remained well above 700. Of course, an average is just that, so it’s important to also consider the Wharton GMAT score ranges of accepted MBA students. So, let’s take a look at the 5-year data for the GMAT average and score range. (Note that Wharton did not disclose a score range for the class of 2022.)To read the complete article, view my full article on Target Test Prep’s blog.
