M7 Schools: The 2018 Data Is In & They Remain Magnificent

Stanford Graduate School of Business leads the M7 pack in a number of areas: lowest acceptance rate (5.1), highest average GMAT scores (737) and GPAs (3.73), and highest median base salary for grads: $140,000

What You Can Expect To Pay At An M7 School

An MBA degree from an M7 school is pretty much a sure thing. No one is going to question your decision to go to any of these schools, and very few of the graduates from these institutions regret their choice to attend. But none of this comes cheap.

The highest estimated cost of the MBA degree among these elite schools is at Stanford, where the price tag, including living expenses, is now $225,594. Of course, that’s the price before any scholarship grants — and it turns out that even though all of the M7 schools now cost more than $200,000 to attend, all offer financial help at fairly high levels, with both Harvard and Stanford MBA students receiving an average of more than $35,000 annually (according to the most recent data available), and Wharton and Booth students close behind at $32,000 and $30,000, respectively.

That’s an important part of the financial puzzle to keep in mind when you apply to these schools. Don’t let the sky-high tuition scare you off. In effect, every school has a two-tier pricing structure for the MBA: the full sticker price and the discounted price. Stanford and Harvard claim to only give out money based on need, but all the other schools are using the cash to lure the best qualified applicants to their programs.