MBA Class Of 2025: What It Took To Get Into This No. 1-Ranked B-School

Over the last three years, and especially in the last 10, the most prestigious business schools in the U.S. have gotten (relatively) easier to get into. The release of MBA Class of 2025 profiles by some of the most prestigious of them all this week brought reminders that that trend continues in 2023.

For the second year in a row, someone with a 2.4 undergraduate grade point average earned admission to the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, one of the M7 B-schools and the No. 1 school in the United States according to the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking.

Also for a second year in a row, someone with a 600 score on the Graduate Management Admission Test earned admission to the Booth MBA Class of 2025. And, once again in 2023 as it was in 2022, applications to the class were down year over year while enrollment was up.

BY THE NUMBERS: CHICAGO BOOTH MBA CLASSES 2018-2025

Chicago Booth	MBA Class of 2025	MBA Class of 2024	MBA Class of 2023	MBA Class of 2022	MBA Class of 2021	MBA Class of 2020	MBA Class of 2019	MBA Class of 2018
Applications Received	4,184	4,352	5,037	4,909	4,433	4,289	4,674	4,160
Enrolled	637	634	620	621	593	591	580	585
GMAT Average	728	729	732	724	730	731	730	727
GMAT Range	600-780	600-780	590-790	600-780	610-790	610-790	620-790	NA
GRE Average	325	327	325	326	327	327	NA	NA
GPA Average	3.60	3.60	3.60	3.60	3.60	3.60	3.61	3.58
GPA Range	2.4-4.0	2.4-4.0	2.7-4.0	2.8-4.0	NA	NA	NA	NA
% Submitting GRE	29%	26%	18%	17%	13%	7%	7%	7%
Women	42%	40%	42%	38%	40%	42%	40%	42%
US Minority	49%	48%	44%	43%	28%	31%	27%	29%
International	36%	37%	39%	30%	31%	30%	36%	34%
Countries	54	57	56	56	49	52	59	57
Average Work Experience	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years
Average Age	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28

APPS DOWN AT BOOTH, MIRRORING OTHER M7 SCHOOLS

Chicago Booth was the fourth M7 school to release its 2025 MBA class profile, after the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Harvard Business School, and Northwestern Kellogg School of Management. Like Wharton, Harvard, and Stanford (which, like MIT Sloan School of Management, also released its class profile this week), Booth reports apps down slightly this year, to 4,184 from 4,352 for the Class of 2024, a decline of nearly 4%. It’s the lowest app total for Booth since 2016, when 4,160 applicants sought admission to the Class of 2018 (see table above). In two years, apps to Booth’s full-time MBA have dropped about 17%, mirroring a general decline at the leading U.S. B-schools that is magnified by the boost in 2020-2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, when many top schools drew more attention from students undaunted by the prospect of indefinite virtual classes.

Two of the other M7 schools, Kellogg and MIT Sloan, do not divulge application numbers with their class profiles. Columbia Business School, which does, has yet to publish their Class of 2025 profile.

Despite the decline in apps, Booth, ranked second in the U.S. in Poets&Quants‘ latest ranking, matched its record high in the proportion of women in the MBA at 42%, the same level it reported in 2016, 2018 and 2021. International students dipped slightly to 36%, and countries represented in the class declined to 54; but as the school reports, 49% of its new class were born outside the U.S., including 3% from Africa, 17% from Asia, 11% from Central/South America and Mexico, and 3% from Europe.

M7 SCHOOLS’ MBA CLASS OF 2025: BY THE NUMBERS

MBA Class of 2025	Stanford	Harvard	Wharton	Kellogg	Booth	Sloan
Applications Received	6,190	8,149	6,194	NA	4,184	NA
Enrolled	431	938	874	529	637	409
GMAT Average	738	740*	728	731	728	729*
GMAT Range	630-790	500-790	NA	620-780	600-780	700-760**
GRE Average	328	326*	324	326*	325	NA
% Submitting GRE	39%	34%	NA	NA	29%	NA
GPA Average	3.77	3.73	3.60	3.70	3.60	3.61*
GPA Range	NA	NA	NA	2.8-4.0	2.4-4.0	NA
Women	46%	45%	50%	48%	42%	46%
US Minority	50%	45%	37%	42%	49%	NA
URM	26%	25%	16%	19%	22%	28%
International	36%	39%	31%	39%	36%	40%
Countries	55	NA	70	NA	54	60
Average Work Experience	5 years	4.9 years	5 years	5.1 years	5 years	5 years
Average Age	NA	27	NA	NA	28	NA
LGBTQ+	NA	NA	11%	9%	12%	NA
First-Generation Students	11%	11%	11%	13%	12%	NA
Military	5%	6%	NA	3%	11%	NA

*Median

**Middle 80%

NEW SCHOOL RECORDS FOR VETERANS, FIRST-GEN & LGBTQ+ STUDENTS

Booth’s diversity was amplified this year in other ways, particularly in the enrollment of U.S. minorities, who grew to 49% of the class (per federal reporting guidelines) from 48%, and from 44% two years ago. The school’s under-represented minorities grew to 22% of the class from 19% last year and 12% in fall 2021. The class is composed of 11% veterans (up from 8%) and 12% of those who identify as LGBTQ+ (up from 7%), as well as 12% who are the first in their families to graduate from college — all three categories representing new school records.

Booth’s new MBA class comes from 277 undergrad institutions, up from 264 last year. Last year, 25% apiece came to Booth with a business or economics degree, and 24% with an engineering degree; liberal arts majors comprised 13%, while physical sciences majors were 9% of the class. Seventeen percent of the class already had graduate degrees. This year, 26% have business degrees, 20% have economics degrees, and 25% engineering degrees; 14% are liberal arts majors and 8% are physical sciences majors. Nineteen percent already have advanced degrees.

For pre-MBA industries, last year consulting dominated at 25% of the class, and finance was second at 19% (plus 5% for PE/VC). Techies comprised 13% of the Class of 2024, “other” was 12%, while nonprofit/government folks were 11%. Healthcare was 6%, followed by energy (4%), accounting (2%), consumer products (2%), and manufacturing (1%). This fall, consulting (18%) is second to financial services (19%), followed by tech (15%), nonprofit/government (14%), PE/VC (7%), healthcare (7%), consumer products (3%), energy (2%), manufacturing (2%), and accounting (1%).

“We’re delighted to see campus back in full swing and to welcome the newest class of Boothies to our community,” Donna Swinford, Booth School associate dean for student recruitment and admissions, tells Poets&Quants. “We were impressed with the quality of backgrounds in our Class of 2025 and are excited to be part of their MBA journey going forward. As with many other industries, our MBA program is subject to cycles and market conditions, however Chicago Booth continued to see great quality and interest within the 2022-23 applicant pool. In fact, we just enrolled the largest class of full-time MBA and joint-degree students this fall, including a record number of first-generation students, LGBTQ+ students, veterans, and women. And we’re already seeing indicators of strong interest among this year’s Round One applicants.

“On the employment front, recruiters continue to seek out Booth talent, as evidenced by record median salaries for Booth’s Class of 2022, more than 50 percent of companies hiring four or more graduates, and strong early returns for the Class of 2023.”

DON’T MISS MBA CLASS OF 2024: FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR CHICAGO BOOTH DESPITE APP DECLINE and FOR BUSINESS SCHOOLS, 6 ‘PATHWAYS TO INNOVATION’

AND SEE POETS&QUANTS’ COVERAGE OF OTHER LEADING B-SCHOOLS’ MBA CLASSES OF 2025: 

HARVARD

WHARTON

KELLOGG

DARTMOUTH TUCK

YALE SOM

VIRGINIA DARDEN

DUKE FUQUA

CORNELL JOHNSON

UCLA ANDERSON

USC MARSHALL