The MBA App Slump Cost The Top U.S. B-Schools $3,444,990 Last Year

Harvard Business School made about $2 million in the 2022-2023 MBA application cycle from candidates paying the school’s $250 fee to apply to the program.

It could have made a lot more.

Harvard wasn’t alone — in making the big bucks from MBA candidates applying to their full-time programs, and in losing out on money because of the global two-year slump in MBA apps. According to calculations made using U.S. News data, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania made $1,703,075 last year but could have made over $2 million; Stanford Graduate School of Business made $1,702,250, but likewise could have eclipsed $2 million; Columbia Business School made $1,357,500, which could have been over 1.6 million; and MIT Sloan School of Management, hardest-hit of all, made $1,329,250, but could have made 1,778,000. In fact all the M7 schools were in seven-digits in terms of income from app fees, the only schools to claim that among Poets&Quants’ top 100 U.S. B-schools — and all got whacked big-time by the decline in apps from 2021 levels.

Across the top 10 in P&Q’s 2024 MBA ranking, B-schools made nearly $10 million combined from full-time MBA application fees, ranging from $200 to $275 per applicant, paid by 39,584 applicants in the 2022-2023 cycle. Of those applicants, 4,411 — about 11% — eventually enrolled.

MIT SLOAN LOST THE EQUIVALENT OF 2 TENURED PROFS’ SALARIES

The top business schools make a lot from MBA application fees. But they could be making a lot more — and would be, if app rates had stayed at 2021 levels.

After two straight years of app declines, the cost to B-schools in fees alone has been mounting — see table below. There are strong indicators, however, that the slump began to turn around in the just-completed 2023-2024 cycle. Sources tell P&Q that apps were up by more than 50% at NYU Stern School of Business and 20% at Virginia Darden School of Business this past year, and that Yale School of Management was also up by double digits.

This suggests a widespread turnaround — welcome news for the schools, because a P&Q analysis of data released by U.S. News as part of its 2024 MBA ranking shows that across the top schools, including 17 of the top 20 as ranked by P&Q, the estimated total loss from app fees alone in the 2022-2023 cycle was $3,444,990. (Here’s where we add the caveat that app fees are often waived on a case-by-case basis, which is why all these numbers are estimates.)

The worst-hit schools were the M7 — partly because the M7 had the most the lose:

• Harvard went from 9,773 apps in 2021 to 8,149 in 2023, for a loss of $406,000
• Stanford went from 7,367 apps in 2021 to 6,190 in 2023, for a loss of $323,675
• Wharton had 7,338 apps in 2021, and 6,193 in 2023, for a loss of $314,875
• Columbia 6,535 apps in 2021, and 5,430 in 2023, for a loss of $276,250

But by far the biggest loser was MIT Sloan, which had 7,112 apps in 2021 and just 5,317 two cycles later; at $250 per app, in 2023 Sloan would have made $1,778,000 if it had maintained the previous app volume. That’s a loss of $448,750 — or the equivalent of about two tenured profs’ salaries, according to Glassdoor.

APP FEE INCOME LOSSES IN 2022-2023 AT 20 LEADING U.S. B-SCHOOLS

2024 P&Q Rank	School	Application Fees 2022-2023	Applicants 2022-2023	Estimated Income From Fees	Applicants 2020-2021	Estimated Lost Fee Income
1	Stanford GSB	$275	6,190	$1,702,250	7,367	-$323,675
2	Harvard Business School	$250	8,149	$2,037,250	9,773	-$406,000
3	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$250	2,009	$502,250	2,463	-$113,500
4	Columbia Business School	$250	5,430	$1,357,500	6,535	-$276,250
5	Yale SOM	$250	3,076	$769,000	3,877	-$200,250
6	Duke (Fuqua)	$225	3,292	$740,700	3,762	-$105,750
7	Cornell (Johnson)	$200	2,553	$510,600	2,105	+$89,600
8	Virginia (Darden)	$250	2,834	$708,500	3,057	-$55,750
9	Michigan (Ross)	$200	2,976	$595,200	4,003	-$205,400
10	New York (Stern)	$250	3,075	$768,750	3,958	-$220,750
11	Chicago (Booth)	$250	4,184	$1,046,000	5,037	-$213,250
12	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$250	4,316	$1,079,000	4,632	-$79,000
13	UCLA (Anderson)	$200	2,182	$436,400	3,085	-$180,600
14	MIT (Sloan)	$250	5,317	$1,329,250	7,112	-$448,750
15	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	$200	2,904	$580,800	3,841	-$187,400
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$200	1,786	$357,200	1,962	-$35,200
17	Washington (Foster)	$85	830	$70,550	839	-$765
18	Rice (Jones)	$200	1,178	$235,600	867	+$62,200
19	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	$200	1,889	$377,800	2,102	-$42,600
20	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	$150	2,064	$309,600	1,494	+$85,500
21	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$200	1,410	$282,000	1,159	+$50,200
22	Southern California (Marshall)	$0	3,166	$0	2,418	$0
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$175	1,104	$193,200	1,000	+$18,200
24	Georgetown (McDonough)	$175	1,428	$249,900	1,625	-$34,475
27	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	$95	777	$73,815	559	+$20,710
31	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	$275	6,193	$1,703,075	7,338	-$314,875
37	Indiana (Kelley)	$75	1,163	$87,225	1,173	-$750

Source: U.S. News and B-schools

---

NOT ALL B-SCHOOLS LOST GROUND IN APPS & APP FEES

Outside the M7, losses ranged widely — from less than $1,000 at Rice Jones Graduate School of Business to more than $220K at NYU Stern. The latter had 3,958 apps in 2021; if Stern had maintained that,  in 2022-2023, it would have made $989,500, or $220,750 more than it did. That’s roughly the salary of an associate professor.

Among the other top U.S. B-schools with significant losses:

• Michigan Ross School of Business had 4,003 apps in 2021 and 2,976 in 2023 for a loss of $205,400
• Yale SOM had 3,877 apps in 2021 and 3,076 in 2023 for a loss of $200,250
• UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business had 3,841 apps in 2021 and 2,904 in 2023 for a loss of $187,400
• Dartmouth Tuck School of Business had 2,463 apps in 2021 and just over 2,000 in 2023 for a loss of $113,500

Not all schools saw app declines, of course, and therefore not all schools lost money in app fees. Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management gained 448 apps from 2021 to 2023, and gained $89,600 — perhaps enough to pay for an adjunct prof. Altogether in the top 25, six schools actually gained ground in MBA apps, led by Cornell and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School‘s $85,500; the average gain for the six schools was $54,402.

And then there are the schools that don’t charge any fee at all to apply to their full-time MBA programs. The highest-ranked is USC Marshall School of Business; it is joined in offering MBA applicants no-risk applications by Washington University at St. Louis Olin Business School, Southern Methodist Cox School of Business, Baylor Hankamer School of Business, Detroit Mercy College of Business Administration, and Willamette Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

ACROSS 100 RANKED U.S. B-SCHOOLS, MORE THAN $20M IN MBA FEES COLLECTED

The highest MBA application fee charged across the P&Q top 100 is $275 at two schools: Stanford and Wharton. Harvard Business School, however, at more than 8,000 applications and $250 per applicant, made the most from MBA apps in the 2022-2023 cycle: $2,037,250.

Altogether, seven schools were in seven digits from MBA app fees in 2022-2023 — the M7, naturally. Twenty-eight schools across the top 100 were in six digits.

The most common fee charged by a B-school in the P&Q 100 in 2022-2023 is … $100, charged by 14 schools. The highest-ranked school to charge $100 is Georgia Terry College of Business; but the lowest amount charged by a top-ranked school (outside of USC Marshall’s $0) is $85 at No. 17 Washington Foster School of Business.

Some more data wrinkles:

• Top 10 average fee: $240
• Top 10 average income from fees: $969,175
• Top 10 total income from fees: $9,691,750
• Top 25 average fee: $199
• Top 25 average income from fees: $649,713
• Top 25 total income from fees: $16,242,830
• Top 25 lowest: (USC Marshall $0) Florida Warrington $30, Washington Foster $85
• Top 25 lowest income from fees: Florida, $3,780

Looking at the top 50, the average fee shrinks to $147, with the average income dropping to $385,622 — though that is a very top-heavy number. The total from fees collected by the 50 top U.S. B-schools was $19,281,075.

It’s quite a different picture in the bottom half of the top 100. The average fee there was $78, and the 46 schools for which there is available data made an average income of $18,694, and a total income of $859,943. The top total in the lower 50 was at Pace Lubin School of Business in New York City: $128,730. Pace and Hult International Business School ($101,460) were the only two B-schools in the lower 50 to reach six digits in fee income.

It’s not very instructive because of the aforementioned top-heaviness of the data, but the average fee across the entire 100-school P&Q ranking was $113, and the average fee income was $209,802. And the grand total of MBA fees collected at all the schools: $20,141,018.

See the next page for 2022-2023 application volume, fees, income, admits, and enrollment at the Poets&Quants top 100 business schools.