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Blast from the Past:

The 50 Most Selective MBA Programs In the United States

The better you are, the choosier you can be. That’s the impression many leading business schools give off. And why not? MBA programs know that branding matters almost as much as curriculum. When you apply to an elite program, you’re not just looking for a good cultural fit with like-minded peers and solid job prospects. You also want that association, that ‘awe’ that others feel when they hear that you earned a degree from a Sloan or a Wharton.

It’s no secret that the highest ranked schools are also among the most selective. Harvard only accepted 11.2 percent of its applicants in 2012. And Stanford sent letters to only 6.8 percent of applicants. But would you believe that Texas Tech – carved out of the dry rugged plains of West Texas – accepts a lower percentage of MBA candidates than Dartmouth and Cornell, let alone Kellogg and Booth. And let’s not forget about the University of Texas at Dallas. Their acceptance rate is actually lower than Darden, Ross, and Fuqua (not to mention the crown jewel: The University of Texas at Austin).

What’s more, acceptance rates, like love, are a two-way street. Candidates don’t always accept offers. For example, Yale, Stern, Haas, Tuck, and Kellogg were all rejected by 40 percent of more of accepted applicants, a far higher percentage than Georgia Tech or the University of Wisconsin at Madison. So which schools do you have the best chance of being accepted (and, ultimately, leveraging a better financial aid package)? Check out Poets and Quants’ ranking to find out.

Source: Poets and Quants

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