B-Schools With the Highest Average GMATs for 2018

Ever wondered how all the top MBA programs stack up with each other in terms of average GMATs? Fortunately, Poets & Quants has taken the time to tally up those numbers, releasing a list of average GMAT scores at 50 top business schools.

There are several interesting things that jump out from the GMAT data P&Q has compiled. First, if you’re wondering just what kind of a GMAT score it takes to get into a top school, here are the average 2018 GMATs at P& Q’s five top-ranked business schools:

– University of Pennsylvania Wharton School: 732
– Harvard Business School: 730 (median)
– Stanford Graduate School of Business: 732
– University of Chicago Booth School of Business: 731
– Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management: 732

So what schools have the highest average GMAT scores? For 2018, four schools were dead even for first place with GMAT scores of 732: Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg, and Columbia Business School.

Of those, Columbia is also one of the schools with the biggest recent GMAT increase. The school saw its 2018 GMAT jump from 724 the year before and 716 in 2014.

Interestingly, another top 2018 GMAT scorer, Stanford GSB, is one of the schools with the biggest year-to-year decline.

That’s because the school’s average GMAT dropped by five points from a lofty 737 in 2017. In their coverage of the GMAT data, Poets & Quants suggests that Stanford might have intentionally reined in its average GMAT to avoid scaring away applicants.

Still, the overall trend is a steady increase in GMAT scores from one year to the next. As Poets & Quants points out, only one of the top 25 schools, New York University’s Stern School of Business , saw a drop in GMAT scores from 2014 to 2018. Of the top ten, none did.

Poets & Quants also compiled data on its top-ranked international MBA programs. Here, the situation is a little less extreme: only two schools, INSEAD and London Business School, have average GMATs over 700, at 711 and 707 respectively.

Everything considered, though, these numbers confirm that, especially in the United States, a good GMAT score is a key component of a successful MBA application.

Of course, there’s only so much looking at average GMAT scores can tell you. If you have a typical GMAT for a school, what other ingredients do you need for a well-rounded application? Or, let’s say your GMAT is in the range but a little lower than average – what d’you need to
overcome that?

These are the kinds of questions we have extensive experience answering. We can give you a personalized look at how you stack up at different schools and feedback on how to hone an effective personal brand that takes into account your unique strengths – ask us for a free application assessment!