Yale SOM Had Its Highest MBA Acceptance Rate Ever In 2023 by: Marc Ethier on September 18, 2023 | 22,467 Views September 18, 2023 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit 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% DON’T MISS MBA CLASS OF 2024: YALE SOM GETS A LOT MORE DIVERSE and YALE SOM RANKS AHEAD OF KELLOGG, COLUMBIA, BOOTH & MIT IN FORTUNE’S MBA RANKING