HBS Shows Increasing Love Of STEM Admits

GMAT SCORES FOR CLASS OF 2015 ADMITS RANGE FROM 550 TO 780

Leopold also announced that the school’s median GMAT score remained exactly the same as it has for the past two years: 730. Harvard said Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores for its admitted students ranged from a low of 550—20 points lower than the previous year—and 780—ten points less than a year earlier. The average age of an incoming MBA remained stable at 27 years old.

Harvard said its acceptance rate for MBA candidates fell slightly to 12% this year from 13% a year ago, largely on the basis of a larger pool of applicants. The improvement was due to a 3.9% increase in applications that occurred after HBS made major changes to its MBA application process. Some 9,315 applicants sought admission to the school during the 2012-2013 admissions cycle, up from 8,963 (see Harvard MBA Applications Up 3.9%).

There were no major discernable trends in work backgrounds for the class. Harvard did admit slightly more candidates from the financial and high tech sectors and slightly fewer admits from government, education and non-profits. But by and large, the numbers were extremely close.

MORE ADMITS FROM FINANCE & HIGH TECH; LESS FROM NON-PROFITS

The single biggest group of students in the Class of 2015 will come from consulting who will account for 19% of the class, down a single percentage point from a year earlier. The second largest chunk of the class will hail from venture capital and private equity, which will make up 16% of admits, exactly the same as last year. They are followed by financial services, 14% of the class, up two percentage points from last year.

Other pre-MBA experience is high tech/communications (11%, up from 9%), consumer products (7%, up from 6%), government, education and non-profit (7%, down from 9%), industrial/heavy manufacturing (7%, exactly the same as last year), healthcare/biotech (6%, down from 7%), the military (5%, same as last year), energy/extractive minerals (4%, same as last year), and other services (4%, down from 5%).

Harvard said that 69% of the class—some 655 students—are citizens of North America, with 65%, or 616 students, from the U.S. That’s down from 72% and 66%, respectively, last year. Asian citizens—147 in total–represent 16% of the class, up four full percentage points from last year. “With (Dean Nitin) Nohria from Asia, it’s no surprise that the slight downward trend from past three years has been halted,” added admissions consultant Isiadinso. “Besides, where will the school get many of their STEM students from?”

About 9% of the class will hail from Europe, down from 10% a year earlier, while 4% will come from Central and South America, up from 3% last year. Citizens from Oceania and Africa will each represent 1% of the new class.

Overall, Harvard said that 60 countries would be represented in the Class of 2015, slightly less than the 69 nations in the Class of 2014. The admitted students gained their undergraduate degrees from 126 different domestic universities and colleges (down from 133 last year) and 137 international universities. International admits rose to 35% of the class, up from 32% last year, while “U.S. ethnic minorities” will represent 25% of the entering class, slightly more than the 24% for the Class of 2014.

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL CLASS OF 2015

Characteristic	Class of 2015	Class of 2014	Class of 2013	Class of 2012
Size of Class	941	925	905	876
Applications	9,315	8,963	9,331	10,368
Acceptance Rate	12%	13%	12%	10%
Yield	90%	89%	89%	89%
Women	41%	40%	39%	36%
U.S. Ethnic Minorities	25%	24%	23%	23%
International	35%	32%	34%	34%
Average Age	27	27	27	26
Countries Represented	60	69	68	73
Undergraduate institutions represented	263	270	243	243
Median GMAT	730	730	730	724
GMAT Range	550 — 780	570 — 790	490 — 790	510 — 790
Citizenship: North American	69%	72%	70%	70%
U.S.	65%	68%	66%	66%
Asia/South Pacific	16%	12%	13%	13%
Europe	9%	10%	10%	12%
Central/South America	4%	3%	4%	3%
Africa	1%	1%	2%	1%
Oceania	1%	2%	1%	1%
Undergraduate Majors:
Business	43%	43%*	20%	23%
Engineering/Natural Sciences/Technical	39%	34%	36%	33%
Humanities/Social Sciences	18%	22%	43%	43%
Pre-MBA Work Experience:
Consulting	19%	20%	21%	22%
Consumer Products	6%	6%	6%	7%
Financial Services	14%	12%	12%	14%
Venture Capital/Private Equity	16%	16%	13%	18%
Healthcare/biotech	6%	7%	6%	6%
High Tech/Communications	11%	9%	9%	6%
Manufacturing	7%	7%	14%	9%
Military	5%	5%	5%	5%
Non-Profit	7%	9%	8%	7%
Other Services	4%	5%	5%	5%