Michigan Ross's New MBA Class Shatters Multiple School Records

Michigan Ross received a school record 4,036 applications to its full-time MBA program in 2023-2024

Top business schools in the United States and Europe have reported a massive turnaround in applications to join this fall’s class of MBAs, erasing years of declines and rejuvenating the reputation of the degree many have derided as past its prime. Count Michigan Ross School of Business among them.

Like several of its peers so far this fall, the Ross School reported a new school record in MBA apps in the 2023-2024 cycle: 4,036, up more than 35% from fewer than 3,000 last year and besting the record set three years ago by the Class of 2023, which was boosted by the coronavirus pandemic.

But more important than the new record in apps is what the reversal of interest has allowed B-schools — including Ross, among the best public B-schools in the country — to do: Seat classes that meet or exceed benchmarks in key metrics. For example: Michigan didn’t just enroll its biggest class in four years — it also shattered the school record for Graduate Management Admission Test average (728 from 719 last year, and 6 points higher than the record set by the Class of 2023), and saw big leaps in two important diversity markers: U.S. minorities, which includes Asian American as well as Black and Hispanic students, jumped from 43% of the class last year to 53%, while underrepresented minorities, which excludes Asian Americans, grew from 19% to 29%.

MICHIGAN ROSS MBA CLASSES BY THE NUMBERS: 2021-2026

Stats	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2026	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2025	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2024	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2023	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2022	Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2021
Applications	4,036	2,976	3,632	4,003	2,567	2,990
Class Size	396	379	380	398	358	422
Acceptance Rate	29%	38%	28.1%	20.2%	37.0%	31.0%
Average GMAT	728	719	720	722	710	719
Average GPA	3.42	3.43	3.50	3.53	3.50	3.50
Women	40%	43%	42%	46%	43%	45%
U.S. Minorities	53%	43%	42%	36%	36%	22%
URM	29%	19%	NA	NA	NA	NA
First-Gen College	22%	17%	14%	11%	NA	NA
LGBTQIA+	9%	10%	9%	NA	NA	NA
International	44%	43%	36%	28%	23%	27%
Countries	40	39	39	42	29	33
Backgrounds	Finance 21%, Consulting 17%, Tech 14%, Engineering/Manufacturing 14%, Health 8%, Other 8%, Military 5%, Media/Hospitality/Sports 5%, Energy/Sustainability 5%, Education/Nonprofit/Government 4%	Consulting 18%, Finance 17%, Tech 16%, Health 12%, Engineering/Manufacturing 10%, Other 8%, Education/Nonprofit/Government 6%, Military 6%, Media/Hospitality/Sports 4%, Energy/Sustainability 3%	Consulting 19%, Health 14%, Finance 14%, Ed/Nonprofit/Govt 11%, Tech 11%, Military 7%	Consulting 23%, Ed/Nonprofit/Govt 13%, Finance 11%	Consulting 22%, Finance 13%, Tech 10%	Consulting 26%, Finance 16%, Tech 11%
Undergrad Major	Business 39%, STEM 38%, Humanities 23%	STEM 44%, Business 34%, Humanities 22%	STEM 40%, Business 38%, Humanities 22%	Business 42%, STEM 32%, Humanities 28%	Business 42%, STEM 35%, Humanities 23%	Business 42%, STEM 30%, Humanities 28%

Source: Michigan Ross

PROGRAM STAYS RACIALLY DIVERSE BUT THE % OF WOMEN DECLINES

Other top B-schools in the U.S. and Europe have reported a big jump in MBA applications in 2023-2024, big enough in most reported cases to erase years of declines. At Harvard Business School, MBA apps were up 21%; Yale School of Management was up 21.5% and Dartmouth Tuck School of Business was up an incredible 36%. Duke Fuqua was up nearly 16% to an all-time app record.

So far, top schools that have reported their MBA class profiles have also managed to (by and large) maintain a level of diversity in their classes that they might have been forgiven for losing in the wake of the summer 2023 Supreme Court decision abolishing race considerations in college admissions. Ross, by growing both key minority populations, stands out as one of the most successful.

But unlike other schools, where foreign interest has declined as domestic interest has climbed, at Ross the international cohort actually rose this year as well, to 44% from 43%, another school record, while the number of countries represented in the class grew by one to 40. The top international metros supplying students to Ross’s MBA program this fall were New Delhi (20), Seoul (15), Bengaluru (14), Taipei (12), and Jakarta (10).

Not all the news was good for the Ross School. Unlike Duke and the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, both of which achieved gender parity for the first time in their storied histories, the percentage of women at Ross was down this year, to 40% from 43%. That’s the lowest it’s been at the Ann Arbor, Michigan school since the fall of 2016.

MORE BIG CHANGES

But it was a banner year at the Ross School in other ways. At 15%, the school nearly doubled its cohort of veterans, while those who are first in their families to graduate college grew to 22% from 17%. Eleven percent of the new class are earning a dual degree, while 9% identify as LGBTQIA+; the latter is down only 1 point from last fall.

Another big change: Consulting is not the top pre-MBA industry for this class for the first time in many years, with finance comprising the largest cohort this fall at 21%, up from 17%. Consulting dropped to 17% from 18%, and tech and engineering/manufacturing both at 14%, the former down from 16% and the latter up from 10%. Those with a healthcare background comprise 8% of the class, down from 12%.

More change could be found in undergraduate major, where those with business degrees topped those with STEM degrees for the first time since the Class of 2023: business 39%, STEM 38%, humanities 23%.

Finally, something the school tells Poets&qunats that wasn’t included in the published data: Students submitting Graduate Record Exam scores increased to 39% of admits, up from 36% last fall and a school record eclipsing the 37% in the MBA Class of 2022.

DON’T MISS THIS TOP MBA PROGRAM DOUBLED ITS APPS — AND ENROLLED 53% WOMEN and IT WAS MUCH HARDER TO GET INTO DARTMOUTH TUCK’S MBA PROGRAM THIS YEAR. HERE’S WHY