In Women’s MBA Enrollment, One Small U.S. B-School Leads Them All

The annual Forté Foundation report on women’s enrollment at the top U.S. and global business schools always carries good and not-so-good news, and 2024 was no different.

Overall MBA enrollment of women climbed 6% from 2023, topping 6,000 at Forté’s 61 member schools for the first time. Yet the percentage of women enrolled in full-time MBA programs was static at 42% — the first time the nonprofit has reported no year-to-year growth since 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Year-to-year undulations have occurred, and some annual Forté reports are happier occasions than others. But progress overall has been steady and measurable since Forté was founded in 2002: That year, only 28% of MBA students were women. By 2013, the number had grown to 34%; after another five years it was up to 38%. This year, while the overall percentage remained flat, a record eight B-schools achieved gender parity, or 50% women’s MBA enrollment, up from five schools in 2023. As recently as 2020 there was only one.

HITTING PARITY FOR A 5TH STRAIGHT YEAR: JOHNS HOPKINS CAREY

For one program that is often overlooked in a crowded market on the East Coast of the U.S., Forté’s study of the state of gender parity reinforces yet again that they’re doing it right, in a way their bigger and more well-known peers might do well to emulate. Since 2020, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School has been the only Forté school to achieve parity every year — and this year the Carey School soared to the top of the list with 59.6% women in its full-time MBA.

The Carey School offers numerous initiatives and support systems for women, including Forté Fellowships, a Women in Business student group, and a Women’s Alumni Network.

“Our full-time MBA program’s consistent gender parity is a testament to our commitment to empowering women in business,” says Supriya Munshaw, associate dean for academic programs at the Carey School. “We are proud to offer an inclusive curriculum and various co-curricular opportunities that equip future leaders to make a real impact across industries. We also live by our values and commitment, as you will see gender parity in our school leadership.”

The results speak for themselves: From 2022 through 2024, on average, women who graduate from Carey’s full-time MBA accepted employment more often, earlier, and with higher compensation than their male counterparts, according to a Carey School news release. Not bad for a program unranked by either U.S. News or Poets&Quants.

“Our society and our economy will only be stronger when everyone is valued,” says Carey Dean Alex Triantis. “At Carey, we are committed to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and are proud to be a business school where women choose to learn and develop as leaders.”

‘A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS’

An MBA degree is a ticket to greater earning potential and career advancement: Forté finds that 41% of the 37 women CEOs of the S&P 500 have an MBA or
equivalent advanced degree in business.

Among the positive metrics shared in the nonprofit’s new report:

• Close to one-third of Forté’s member schools — a record 19 schools — reported women’s enrollment at 45% or higher this year, with an additional four schools close behind at 44%. This compares with 15 schools in 2023, eight in the fall of 2020, and zero schools in the fall of 2014.
• The total number of women enrolled in top full-time MBA programs climbed to an historic 6,166 at Forté’s member business schools, which is partially explained by Forté adding nine new members from 2020 to 2024. Average women’s enrollment for the 52 schools that were members in 2020 was 39% in 2020 and 42% in 2024, while the nine new schools have average women’s enrollment of 45% this year. However, the overall increase in enrollment is due primarily to an increase in the percentage of women enrolled: From 2020 to 2024, the number of women enrolled at the 52 schools that were members in 2020 climbed 13%, outpacing overall enrollment growth of 3% for women and men.
• Over half, or 36 member schools, report women’s enrollment of at least 40%, an all-time high. This is up from 34 in 2023, 22 in 2020 and only five schools in 2014.

“A rising tide lifts all boats and the same is true for women’s MBA enrollment this year,” says Forté CEO Elissa Sangster. “Historically, in an economy with slower hiring, more people head back to school to earn an MBA. Women are typically more risk averse than men about pursuing an MBA — in part because they earn less and have more undergrad student loan debt as a result. So, we are heartened to find they are still applying to, and enrolling in, business school despite some headwinds on the diversity, equity and inclusion front along with a slowdown in hiring for white-collar jobs.

“We will continue to pull out all the stops to ensure we reach gender parity in MBA enrollment. Countless research shows that diversity has a positive impact on the bottom line and investors recognize this, too. Having more women pursue an MBA helps to ensure they have the education needed to become senior leaders at companies and on boards.”

TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS WOMEN’S MBA ENROLLMENT 2018-2024

2024 P&Q Rank	School	2024 % Women	2023%	2022%	2021%	2020%	2019%	2018%
28	Washington (Olin)	53%	43%	45%	NA	NA	NA	NA
6	Duke (Fuqua)	51%	45%	48%	48%	46%	43%	42%
12	Northwestern (Kellogg)	50%	48%	48%	49%	40%	43%	46%
14	MIT (Sloan)	49%	46%	46%	44%	38%	41%	42%
31	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	47%	50%	50%	52%	41%	47%	43%
10	New York (Stern)	47%	43%	45%	41%	43%	37%	35%
2	Harvard Business School	45%	45%	46%	46%	44%	43%	41%
1	Stanford GSB	44%	46%	44%	44%	47%	47%	41%
4	Columbia Business School	44%	44%	44%	41%	40%	38%	39%
3	Dartmouth (Tuck)	44%	44%	45%	46%	49%	42%	45%
13	UCLA (Anderson)	43%	37%	35%	42%	40%	34%	35%
11	Chicago (Booth)	42%	42%	40%	42%	38%	40%	42%
15	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	42%	41%	46%	39%	39%	37%	43%
7	Cornell (Johnson)	41%	43%	39%	39%	31%	35%	33%
27	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	41%	37%	24%	39%	33%	NA	NA
9	Michigan (Ross)	40%	43%	42%	46%	43%	45%	43%
5	Yale SOM	39%	40%	43%	43%	39%	42%	43%
18	Rice (Jones)	39%	37%	39%	33%	35%	38%	31%
8	Virginia (Darden)	38%	37%	37%	40%	40%	40%	38%
19	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	33%	35%	35%	38%	40%	40%	38%
17	Washington (Foster)	32%	47%	42%	40%	37%	33%	42%
23	Emory (Goizueta)	32%	34%	33%	27%	30%	31%	30%
20	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	31%	33%	38%	34%	31%	29%	28%
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	31%	36%	31%	21%	25%	33%	28%
24	Georgetown (McDonough)	30%	31%	34%	32%	32%	29%	29%
21	Vanderbilt (Owen)	29%	33%	29%	37%	32%	31%	30%
37	Indiana (Kelley)	28%*	38%	26%	31%	35%	33%	35%
22	Southern California (Marshall)	NA	35%	46%	36%	40%	42%	52%

*Includes full-time and Flex MBA students

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MIXED RESULTS AT THE TOP U.S. SCHOOLS

In terms of bottom-line numbers at the top U.S. business schools as ranked by Poets&Quants, 2024 was not a banner year: Just 10 of 28 leading schools reported increases in women’s MBA enrollment, compared to 11 schools that grew their enrollments between 2022 and 2023. Four were flat (six were flat in 2023) and 14 were down, compared to 11 last year.

Noteworthy was the achievement of gender parity for the first time at some top schools. Duke Fuqua School of Business seated 51% women this fall, while the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis enrolled 53%. And Northwestern Kellogg School of Management became just the second M7 school to reach parity by seating 50% women for the first time. (The first, Wharton, saw its parity-reaching streak snapped at three years this fall; see table above for details.)

Some top schools, however, saw significant drop-offs — none bigger than Washington Foster School of Business’s, where the women’s cohort fell from 47% last fall (a school record) to just 32% in 2024. Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business dropped 5 points to 31%. Indiana Kelley School of Business reported a 10-point difference, but the caveat is that its 28% this fall represents both the full-time and Flex MBA classes. And USC Marshall School of Business, the first top U.S. program to reach parity back in 2018, has yet to post a Class of 2026 profile after plummeting to just 35% women in last fall’s intake.

DON’T MISS DUKE FUQUA RECEIVED MORE MBA APPS THAN EVER FOR FALL 2024 — AND THE RESULT WAS HISTORIC and THIS TOP MBA PROGRAM DOUBLED ITS APPS — AND ENROLLED 53% WOMEN