P&Q’s Must Reads: High & Low GMAT Scores At The World’s Leading MBA Programs

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1:   High & Low GMAT Scores At The World’s Leading MBA Programs

Of 30 leading U.S. B-schools analyzed by Poets&Quants, nearly half, 14 schools, saw year-to-year GMAT average gains from 2023 to 2024, and four more were even year to year. 

That may change next year, as scores from the new GMAT Focus test start to hit B-school admission data. While Focus scores tend to trend lower than its predecessor, scores from the newer test are not yet fully making their way into the averages of most top U.S. schools.

In this report, we provide GMAT ranges and averages of all the top MBA programs from our most recent ranking. You can find it now, on our homepage.

No. 2: The Top 100 Online Business Master’s Programs, Ranked

U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 ranking of the top online MBA programs in the U.S. last week. As part of its annual data collection for the ranking, the magazine also surveys schools to create a list of leading online business master’s programs that are not MBAs. Topping that list this year are two schools tied at No. 1 — one a familiar name, the other a big surprise.

Find out which schools and programs topped the list in this story, which you can find in our news tab.

No. 3: Consulting Pay: What MBAs Earned In 2024

In its latest report on consulting pay, Management Consulted predicts a more optimistic future for the profession than the fire-and-brimstone results it predicted for 2024.

Demand for consulting services continues to grow, headcounts are higher than they were one year ago, and starting consultant compensation is 20% higher than five years ago.

You can find the breakdown of the report, and our analysis of what it all means, from our homepage.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: The Top MBA Admission Consultants Of 2025. This is our ninth annual ranking in this category, and you can find it on our homepage. 

Next: 5 Tips For Addressing A Gap In Your MBA Resume. In this story, up now on our homepage, you’ll learn why silence is not a winning strategy in MBA admissions. 

Finally:  2025 MBA Interview Questions: A School-By-School List. This story provides a list of questions from all the top schools, from Chicago Booth ot Yale SOM. Find it in our admissions hub.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.