In 2021, the number of international applicants for business schools increased by 4.1 %. According to the United States Department of Education, the United States has the world's largest MBA ecosystem, with over 125,000 students studying MBA in USA or other Business Courses.
Applying to business colleges can be a challenging process. There are several aspects of the application process to consider, such as GRE and GMAT scores, essays, references, and interviews, as well as the institute's admission rate.
Stanford Graduate School of Business has the lowest acceptance rate i.e 6.1%, which means that for every 100 applicants, only 6 are being accepted by the school, which is due to its highly selective nature. To help you narrow down your options, compiled below are the business schools in United States with the highest and lowest admission rates.
What is an Acceptance Rate?
The acceptance rate is defined for an educational institution as the percentage number of students accepted by the college out of the total number of applicants. The thing that makes it so important is that it can be used as a factor in comparing different colleges.
It is observed that a majority of highly famous institutions possess a comparatively lower acceptance rate as numerous candidates apply but only a few match the eligibility criteria. Moreover, having a high acceptance rate does not necessarily mean that it is a bad college.
Top B-schools in USA
For courses such as MBA, acceptance rates play a crucial role in the selection of college. For instance, an aspiring candidate might apply for a very high-profile college and get rejected due to its very low acceptance rate. Now, his year may get wasted despite being eligible for a majority of other good institutions.
Mentioned below are the ranks of Best Business Schools according to US News:
| Ranks 2022 | University | Business School |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Stanford University | Stanford Graduate School of Business |
| #2 | University of Pennsylvania | Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania |
| #3 | University of Chicago | Booth School of Business |
| #4 | Northwestern University | Kellogg School of Management |
| #5 | Harvard University | Harvard Business School |
| #5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT Sloan School of Management |
| #7 | Columbia University | Columbia Business School |
| #7 | University of California-Berkeley | Haas School of Business |
| #9 | Yale University | Yale School of Management |
| #10 | New York University | NYU Stern |
Most Competitive B-school in USA
Stanford Graduate School of Business is the most competitive B-school in the USA as it has the lowest acceptance rate in the world. Applicants are required to submit a GRE/GMAT score and they must also have a prior experience of at least 4 years.
| Business School | Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | 6.1% |
| Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania | 9% |
| Harvard Business School | 12% |
| MIT Sloan School of Management | 14.6% |
| Columbia Business School | 18.2% |
| Kellogg School of Management | 20% |
| Ross School of Business | 20% |
| NYU Stern | 21% |
| Booth School of Business | 24.2% |
| Yale School of Management | 25.2% |
| Tepper School of Business | 31.2% |
| Kelley School of Business | 37% |
| Kenan - Flagler Business School | 44% |
Harvard Business School also enjoys a good reputation among other business schools. It accepts only 12% of the applicant population, out of which 45% are international candidates, and provides them with quality education, one of the best infrastructures, campus placement, industrial exposure, etc.
MIT Sloan School of Management also does not fall behind from these two B-schools and together enjoy healthy competition. Moreover, these are considered as the first choices for international students aspiring to pursue MBA.
Least competitive B-schools in USA
In the list of top business schools in the USA, some institutions may be regarded as less competitive due to their comparatively high acceptance rate but also good graduation rate. Mentioned below are some of the universities with highest acceptance rates:
| University | Business School | Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|
| University of Kansas | KU School of Business | 91% |
| University of Oklahoma | Michael F. Price College of Business | 87% |
| Belmont University | Massey Graduate School of Business | 84% |
| Saint Louis University | Chaifetz School of Business | 85% |
| University at Buffalo | UB's School of Management | 84.5% |
| University of Colorado | CU Denver Business School | 72% |
| Binghamton University | Binghamton University School of Management | 60% |
| University of South Carolina | Darla Moore School of Business | 69% |
How should you interpret MBA acceptance rates?
Acceptance rates are one of the most important properties of colleges/universities as they indicate the selective nature of that particular institution. Acceptance rates gain an important status at the time of application as these help the candidates to self-assess their application and predict whether they would be accepted into that B-school or not.
The acceptance rate of a college depends on a number of factors such as the reputation it enjoys in the market, quality of education, behavior, and qualification of faculty, environment, graduation rate, number of applications received every year, etc.
Students after, selecting the program for post graduation and the country, should make a list of their preferred universities and compare these colleges on the basis of acceptance rate, campus placement provided or not, standardized test scores required, experience required, etc. and narrow down the list to 2-3, where one of them should be the dream college and the other two should be average in order to guarantee admission.
Applicants then start preparing a presentable profile and try to summarise all of their plus points in brief. Do not over elaborate oneself. Send the application to these colleges/universities and wait for their reply. So, it is advised to students who want to pursue an MBA that they must check and compare the acceptance rate of several colleges for their respective courses.
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