Yale SOM Had Its Highest MBA Acceptance Rate Ever In 2023

MBA Class of 2025. Yale photo

By now it’s clear there was a widespread downturn in MBA applications in the 2022-2023 cycle. Yale School of Management has joined its top-10 peer the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and others (see here and here) in reporting a drop in the number of applicants to its flagship full-time MBA. Like Wharton and the others, Yale responded to the decline by opening its doors wider and admitting more students, while filling fewer seats.

Yale SOM’s acceptance rate grew to 33% for the MBA Class of 2025, the highest in school history according to Poets&Quants‘ records — higher even than its 30% admit rate in the 2019-2020 cycle that was inflated by the coronavirus pandemic. Yale’s selectivity rate for last year’s MBA Class of 2024 was 28%; the school’s rate has grown 9 percentage points in two years.

Part of the reason for the jump in acceptance rate was enrolling fewer students, 339 to last year’s 347, Yale’s smallest MBA class in years; but a bigger part was admitting 119 more applicants, a 13.3% increase from 894 to 1013 — the most admits at Yale SOM since the Covid intake of 2020. Yale’s yield — the number of admits who actually enroll — declined by about 6 percentage points, to 33% from 39%.

BY THE NUMBERS: YALE SOM MBA CLASS 2021-2025

Class Stats	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021
Applicants	3076	3237	3877	3453	3194
Admits	1013	894	914	1027	806
Enrolled	339	347	349	350	345
Acceptance rate	33%	28%	24%	30%	25%
FT Student Enrollment	717	738	699	695	702
Average GMAT	723	723	726	720	721
Median GMAT	720	725	730	720	720
GMAT Range	580-780	630-780	640-780	640-780	640-780
GRE Average	329	329	330	328	329
Average GRE-Verbal	164	164	165	164	165
Median GRE-Verbal	164	164	166	164	165
GRE Verbal Range	153-170	152-170	157-170	152-170	158-170
Average GRE-Quant	165	165	165	164	164
Median GRE-Quant	166	166	165	164	165
GRE Quant Range	152-170	154-170	155-170	153-170	155-170
Percentage of students enrolled with GRE scores	37%	39%	36%	35%	24%
Average GPA	3.63	3.65	3.66	3.63	3.64
Median GPA	3.65	3.69	3.69	3.65	3.66
GPA Range	2.94-4.0	2.88-4.0	3.03-4.0	2.91-4.0	3.08-4.0

SOMEONE GOT INTO YALE WITH A 580 GMAT

The higher acceptance rate may give hope to some prospective Yale SOM applicants amid the current cycle, for which Round 1 just concluded; the school’s Round 2 deadline is January 4, 2024. But there are other intriguing enticements in Yale’s newly published class profile. One of a handful of top U.S. B-schools that publishes the full range of Graduate Management Admission Test scores that gained applicants admission, Yale reports that in 2023 someone got into the elite B-school with a 580 score — more than 140 points below the class’s average of 723. A year ago, the lowest GMAT score to earn an applicant admission to Yale was 630.

Yale’s class average GMAT score of 723 is unchanged from last year but down a few points from the school record 726 set two years ago. Yale’s median GMAT, however, dropped to 720 this year from 725 in 2022 and 730 in 2021.

In terms of average score on the Graduate Record Exam, the most popular alternative to the GMAT, little changed this year except that fewer applicants supplied one with their applications: 37% from last year’s record-high of 39%. The cumulative GRE average of 329 was the same, and the average and median Verbal GRE scores both were unchanged at 164. The Quant GRE average was also the same at 165, and the Quant GRE median stayed at 166.

In the other popularly reported measure of academic readiness, Yale reports that its class’s undergraduate GPA average was 3.63, down slightly from 3.65 in 2022 and 3.66 in 2021. The range was narrower, 2.94-4.0 compared to 2.88-4.0, but for a second straight year at least one applicant earned admission with a sub-3.0 GPA.

YALE SOM CLASS STATS 2021-2025

Class Demographics	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021
Women	40%	43%	43%	39%	42%
U.S. Underrepresented Minorities	18%	24%	20%	11%	13%
International*	50%	48%	44%	40%	33%
Number of Countries Represented	46	48	38	46	47
Average Age	28	27	27	27	28
Average Years of Prior Work Experience	5.1	4.7	4.4	4.5	5

*International passport holders

‘DIVERSE & IMPRESSIVE’ PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS IN NEW MBA CLASS

The number of women in the newly enrolled Yale SOM MBA class dropped to 40% from 43%, where it had been for two straight classes, while the number of under-represented U.S. minorities declined to 18% of the class from 24%, which was a school record. U.S. students of color, which includes Asian-American students, account for 48% of the new class.

Enrollment of students carrying international passports grew to half of the class from 48% last year and 44% in 2021. The average age of the class moved up to 28 from 27, and the average years of work experience grew to 5.1 from 4.7.

Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean for MBA admissions at Yale SOM, writes in a new blog that Yale continues to prioritize diversity in its MBA ranks, to great success.

“Students come from a range of academic institutions and backgrounds (199 different schools are represented), from engineering to the arts,” DelMonico writes. “Sixteen percent are first-generation college graduates, while 16% have earned a previous graduate degree. Six percent are pursuing a joint-degree with another Yale school. Twenty-five are members of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, and six are members of the QuestBridge Graduate Match program. They’ve received various academic awards and honors, from summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa designations to Fulbright Fellowships and other prominent scholarships.

“Their professional credentials are equally diverse and impressive, covering all sectors and a range of industries and companies. Eighty-one percent of the class comes from the private sector, while 19% comes from the nonprofit and public sectors. Employers range from AARP to Wells Fargo. In all, more than 250 different employers are represented, including SpaceX, Meta, New Haven Public Schools, Tesla, Domino’s, Alphabet, Mayo Clinic, Gap, Noom, Samsung, and IBM. The most common employers are the U.S. Army, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company, and Capital One. The class includes 23 veterans of the United States military, as well as 29 Silver Scholars.”

YALE SOM MBA CLASSES 2021-2025: UNDERGRAD MAJORS & PRIOR INDUSTRIES

Undergraduate Majors	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021
Business	22%	25%	23%	22%	23%
Economics	18%	18%	22%	20%	19%
Humanities/Social Science	25%	19%	28%	29%	28%
STEM	35%	38%	27%	29%	30%
Prior Industries	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021
Consulting	18%	19%	24%	19%	19%
Consumer Packaged Goods	5%	3%	3%	6%	3%
Energy	2%	4%	5%	3%	5%
Financial Services	24%	20%	17%	23%	20%
Government	11%	9%	7%	8%	8%
Healthcare (including products and services)	6%	7%	5%	4%	5%
Manufacturing	5%	5%	4%	3%	7%
Media/Entertainment	3%	4%	7%	7%	4%
Non-Profit	9%	12%	14%	11%	15%
Other	2%	1%	2%	1%	2%
Real Estate	2%	2%	–	1%	2%
Retail	1%	2%	1%	2%	2%
Technology	12%	12%	10%	10%	7%