Apps Fall At Kellogg And Booth

Applications to the full-time MBA programs at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business declined for the incoming classes this fall.

Kellogg suffered the larger downturn, falling 5.6% to 4,974 from 5,270 the previous year, while applications to Booth slid by just 3.0% to 4,169 from 4,299 a year earlier. The declines are in line with other top schools that also reported fewer applications as more people hold onto their jobs in an uncertain economy with a troubled job market.

Applications at Stanford dropped 8.9%, for example, while the Johnson School at Cornell saw an 8.0% fall. Harvard Business School was down 4%, while Wharton was down 5.7%. The only top-tier school to buck this trend has been Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. As previously reported, applications to Tuck’s Class of 2013 rose 7.5% to 2,744. The increase allowed Tuck to bring its acceptance rate to 18%, down from 20% a year earlier

DESPITE THE DECLINE, BOOTH INCREASED ITS AVERAGE GMAT BY FOUR POINTS TO 719

Nonetheless, Booth said the slight decline had no impact on its 22% acceptance rate nor the quality of the school’s admits. That’s largely because Booth was able to improve its yield—the percentage of accepted applicants who decided to enroll at Booth—while the size of its entering class was essentially unchanged at 575, just one student less than the 576 last year.

The school said its average GMAT score for its newly enrolled class rose yet again. “We made about 5% fewer offers of admission to yield a class with a higher mean GMAT by four points,” said Stacey Kole, deputy dean for Booth’s full-time MBA program. The average GMAT hit a record 719, up from 715 a year earlier. Booth said the average grade point average for the incoming class was 3.52, the same as last year.

It was a different story at Kellogg where the average GMAT score for the class slipped by a single point to 714 this year from 715 last year. Kellogg was able to increase the percentage of both women and international students in the class, however. Women represent 33% of the Class of 2013, up from 32% a year earlier, while international students make up 34% of the class, up from 31%. The average age for the class remains unchanged at 28.

At Booth, some 35% of the Class of 2013 are women, while 33% are international, exactly the same percentages as last year. Underrepresented minorities make up 10% of the class, Booth reported. The average age for the class was unchanged at 28.

The largest percentage of the Class of 2013 came to Booth with undergraduate degrees in business and economics. Some 29.4% of the incoming students have business degrees, while 23.6% have economics degrees. Engineering majors account for 22.9% of the class, while students with undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts and sciences make up 14.6% of the class. About 7.8% have undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.

DON’T MISS: SCHOOLS REPORT FALL IN MBA APPS YET AGAIN or STANFORD APPS DOWN 8.9%; FEWER WOMEN ADMITTED