11 MBA Programs With the Highest GMAT Scores
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Preparing for the GMAT can be a tiring process, but scoring high is critical to gaining admittance to a top-ranked MBA program.
At the 11 schools with the highest GMAT scores, incoming full-time students in fall 2015 had an average score of 715 or higher on the admissions exam, which has a maximum score of 800.
[See photos of the top 20 MBA programs.]
Stanford University had the highest average GMAT score -- 733 -- among the 129 business schools that submitted this data. While the average GMAT score at Stanford rose by one point from its 2014 class, the school dropped a spot in the U.S. News Best Business Schools rankings, tying for No. 2.
Harvard University, which took over the No. 1 spot in the rankings this year, had an average GMAT score of 725 -- one point lower than its fall 2014 average. Harvard Business School also had more full-time students enroll in fall 2015 than any other school that submitted this data, boasting a class of 937.
[Learn how to decide if and when to retake the GMAT.]
Among all the MBA programs that provided data on GMAT scores, the average was 630, much lower than the 722 average among the top 11.
Below are the 11 business schools with the highest average GMAT scores for incoming full-time students in fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
Business school (name) (state) | Incoming full-time enrollment (fall 2015) | Average GMAT score | U.S. News b-school rank |
|---|---|---|---|
407 | 733 | 2 (tie) | |
856 | 732 | 4 | |
585 | 726 | 2 (tie) | |
937 | 725 | 1 | |
N/A | 724 | 5 (tie) | |
326 | 721 | 8 (tie) | |
340 | 720 | 20 | |
286 | 717 | 8 (tie) | |
400 | 716 | 5 (tie) | |
762 | 715 | 10 | |
246 | 715 | 7 |
Don't see your school in the top 11? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find GMAT data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 470 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of graduate business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges , Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs . The GMAT data above are correct as of March 16, 2016.
Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.
