Average GRE Scores At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Average GRE Scores At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

YALE LEADS ALL TOP-50 B-SCHOOLS WITH 329 AVERAGE GRE SCORE

When you’re talking about the Graduate Record Exam these days, scores are almost an afterthought. And indeed, there are no outliers or eyebrow-raising scores in the 2022 numbers from top MBA programs, unless it’s in the decline at certain otherwise high-performing B-schools. Last year, P&Q reported that Stanford GSB and Yale School of Management tied for highest GRE total score (combined Quant and Verbal), at 330; this year Stanford saw a 3-point decline in its overall score, and Yale is the top school with a score of 329. See page 4 for a complete breakdown of the numbers for the top 50 schools.

In the Quant section of the GRE, Yale maintained its 165 Quant average, tying Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business as the only two schools to report that high score. Eight schools reported an average of 163 or better in 2022 (plus Harvard Business School’s median 163), up from seven schools in 2021 (plus Northwestern Kellogg’s median 165). The lowest Quant score in 2022 was reported by No. 47 William & Mary Mason School of Business: 152. Twenty-four schools reported Quant averages below 160, exactly the same as the previous year.

In the Verbal section of the test, Yale and Stanford were tops this year with 164 averages, followed by Harvard and Berkeley Haas at 163 and four schools at 162. Eight schools were at 162 or better in Verbal, same as last year (plus Kellogg’s median 162). The lowest Verbal score in 2022 was reported by William & Mary (152); 30 schools reported Verbal averages below 160, up from 25 schools last year.

And in the writing portion of the GRE, Virginia Darden led all schools with a score of 5, same as the previous year; Stanford, which was tops in 2021 with a 5.1, was second in 2022 with a 4.8. Eleven schools were at 4.5 or better, down from 15 schools in 2021. The lowest writing score was reported by No. 31 Arizona State Carey School of Business: 3.7.

FROM 2017 TO 2022, MICHIGAN STATE BROAD GAINED 14 POINTS IN GRE TOTAL AVERAGE

Between 2021 and 2022, four top-25 B-schools lost ground in overall GRE score, while eight were even. Last year we reported that only one top-25 school had lost ground year-to-year. From 2017 to 2022 in the top 25, six schools lost ground (up from four between 2016 and 2021), and two were even; seven have not reported enough data to determine a trend.

As shown in the table above, the biggest two-year increase in total GRE score from 2021 to 2022 was at Ohio State Fisher College of Business, which jumped 12 points to 323. It was the only double-digit increase in total score in 2022 among top-50 schools. Last year the top school for year-to-year GRE increase was UC-Davis, but that school dropped out of P&Q's top 50 in 2022.

The distinction for biggest two-year decrease in GRE score, as show in the table below, was shared by three schools that lost 4 points: Minnesota Carlson School of Management (to 315), Penn State Smeal College of Business (to 309), and Utah Eccles School of Business (to 313). Last year's biggest Y-O-Y drop-off was at UC-Irvine Merage School of Business, which dropped 12 points to 310; this year Merage gained back 1 point to 311.

Across the six years from 2017 to 2022, the biggest increase in GRE total score average was at Michigan State Broad, which gained 14 points to 321. No other school really came close, though Ohio State Fisher gained 9 points that span. The biggest six-year decline was at two schools: Rice Jones and Penn State Smeal, which both lost 5 points, to 316 and 309, respectively.

13 SCHOOLS SAW THEIR GRE SCORE AVERAGES DECLINE FROM 2017 TO 2022

Only one B-school in the P&Q top 10 reported an increase in GRE total score average from 2021 to 2022: UC-Berkeley Haas, which grew its score by 1 point to 324. The other top-10 schools are either even (Penn Wharton, Harvard, MIT Sloan School of Management), down (Stanford, Yale), or haven't reported enough data. Across six years from 2017 to 2022, none of the top 10 is ahead, with six schools being NA, one even (Yale), and three down (Stanford, Harvard, Haas). Details on pages 4 and 5.

Across the P&Q top 50, 18 schools reported an increase from 2021 to 2022, with an average gain of 3.6 points, down from 32 schools between 2020 and 2021; eight were in the top 25, down from 18. Twelve schools have reported two-year declines averaging 2.3 points, up from 12 schools declining between 2020 and 2021. Ten schools are even, up from six; nine are NA, up from six.

From 2017 to 2022 in the top 50, 21 schools saw GRE score increases averaging 3.8 points, up from 19 schools and 3.7 points from 2016 to 2021; 10 schools were in the top 25, averaging just over 2 points, down from 11, averaging 2.9. The number of schools with declines in that six-year span was 13, down from 14 between 2016 and 2021, but five schools were in the top 25, up from four. Thirteen schools are NA, down from 14, and only three are even, down from five.

Fourteen schools are up in both the two- and six-year windows, down from 15 in our report last year; seven are down in both windows.

See the next pages for complete tables of 2022 and previous years' Graduate Record Exam scores, including breakdowns by Quant and Verbal and 2- and 6-year trends, as well as percentages of GRE submissions at the top 50 U.S. MBA programs.