Average GMAT Scores For The Top 50 Business Schools

When GMAT scores go up, it’s often because the school is probably handing out increased amounts of scholarship aid to get the best students or, if it already has elite status, admissions could be putting higher emphasis on GMAT scores over other facets of MBA applications. When GMAT scores go down, it’s often because a school is falling behind its rivals, lacks leadership focus, and is in decline.

It’s probably no surprise that last year Wake Forest University announced that it is exiting the full-time MBA market. Our last analysis of five-year GMAT scores showed that its business school suffered a 26-point drop in average GMATs from 2009 to 2013. In this latest analysis, Wake Forest ironically managed a 20-point year-over-year increase to 652 last year from 632. But over the latest five year period, GMATs are down one point.

PURDUE’S KRANNERT SCHOOL HAS SEEN THE BIGGEST DECLINE IN GMAT SCORES IN TOP 50

The single biggest signs of trouble–based on GMAT score declines in the past five years–again show up at Purdue University’s Krannert School, which has suffered a 37-point plunge in average scores, the highest of any Top 50 business school. UC-Irvine’s Merage School of Business has had a 16-point drop, while Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business has reported a 15-point decline.

So when you peruse the numbers, don’t look at the average scores as a hurdle for you to overcome. Turn the tables and look at the trend lines that show which schools are re-investing in their futures and which ones are merely milking the cow. You don’t want to sign up for an MBA degree at a school that isn’t investing in itself or its future.

Top 50 Schools With Biggest Five-Year Decreases In GMAT Scores

Source: Poets&Quants analysis from available GMAT data