What Are the Average GMAT Scores at Top Schools?

What Are the Average GMAT Scores at Top Schools?

Researching the average GMAT scores submitted in applications for top international business schools can be quite useful in benchmarking and estimating your chances of admission to a particular program. However, they should also be taken with a pinch of salt.

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Overall, European business school applicants are known for their top performance on aptitude tests such as the GMAT. According to the latest GMAT Geographic Trend Report published by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the mean GMAT total score in 2017 in Europe is 620 (up 7 points from 2016). The average scores for GRE – the other commonly accepted aptitude test, for the period 2016-2017 per country of citizenship can also be examined via the latest ETS report.

Average GMAT scores at European schools

Despite the excellent scores submitted by European applicants on average, it seems schools on the old continent consistently report lower average GMAT scores compared to their US counterparts. Why is this?

This is largely due to the overall significance attributed to test scores by US institutions. Since some ranking publications use GMAT scores as one of the dimensions to evaluate business schools, institutions also become more eager to report high scores and have a better chance of climbing the rankings as a result. In that sense, it is important to note that the average GMAT score is not always representative of the quality of the school and program. As many MBA program representatives will tell you, admissions directors look at the application holistically and in many cases, test scores are not the most essential criteria for admission.

You can get an overall impression of the average GMAT scores at top European schools from the table below.

School Average 2018 GMAT 2018 GMAT Range Average 2017 GMAT Y-O-Y Change
INSEAD 711 600–780* 712 -1
London Business School 707 600–790 708 -1
Cambridge (Judge) 693 570–780 695 -2
HEC Paris 691 600–770 691
IESE Business School 686 550–780* 690 -4
Oxford (Saïd) 681 510–800 692 -11
IMD 680 610–770 676 +4
IE Business School 680 610–770 680
Mannheim 678 510–770 677 +1
SDA Bocconi 665 540–750 665
ESADE 665 550–750 665
Warwick Business School 654 510–750 661 -7
Manchester Business School 650 600–760 655 -5
Imperial 642* 550–720* 648* -6
ESMT Berlin 640 550–740 637 +3
Cranfield 640 600–710 640
Erasmus 640* 550–730* 650 -10
City (Cass) 638* 510–720* 647 -9
St. Gallen 634 560–720* 674 -40
Lancaster 600* 530–710* 620* -20

An asterisk indicates an estimate based on previously disclosed data and other sources.

 

Average GMAT scores at US schools

The general trend for schools in North America is a consistent increase in the average GMAT scores reported by top local programs. Competition in the US, where programs are generally much more costly compared to Europe, is fierce as applicants who have a 700+ score can also count on higher chances of getting a scholarship for their MBA studies.

Another interesting trend in admission scores is also related to the rise of the GRE which is now a viable alternative for test takers and potential B-school applicants. More and more international schools are now accepting GRE scores which could explain the reduced number of low GMAT scores in the applicant pool.

You can get an overall impression of the average GMAT scores at top US schools from the table below.

School 2017 GMAT 2016 GMAT 2015 GMAT 2014 GMAT 2013 GMAT 5-Year Trend
Penn (Wharton) 730 730 732 728 725 +5
Harvard Business School 729 729 725 726 727 +2
Stanford GSB 737 737 733 732 732 +5
Chicago (Booth) 730 726 726 724 723 +7
Northwestern (Kellogg) 732 728 724 713 713 +19
MIT (Sloan) 722 724 716 713 713 +9
Dartmouth (Tuck) 722 717 717 716 718 +4
Columbia 724 720 715 716 716 +8
UC-Berkeley (Haas) 725 717 715 717 714 +11
Yale SOM 727 725 721 719 714 +13
Michigan (Ross) 716 708 708 702 704 +12
Duke (Fuqua) 702 695 696 690 694 +8
Virginia (Darden) 713 712 706 706 706 +7
Cornell (Johnson) 700 700 697 692 691 +9
UCLA (Anderson) 716 715 713 715 706 +10
NYU (Stern) 714 710 720 721 721 -7
CMU (Tepper) 691 686 690 687 691
Texas-Austin (McCombs) 703 699 694 690 690 +13
UNC (Kenan-Flagler) 701 700 701 697 683 +18
Emory (Goizueta) 682 683 678 678 681 +1

Source: Poets&Quants – Europe; Poets&Quants – the US

 

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