Acceptance Rates & Yield At The Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs

After back-to-back cycles of falling demand, applications to U.S. MBA programs are finally trending upward — but the recovery has been anything but uniform.

Poets&Quants’ analysis of U.S. News data for the 2023-2024 cycle finds that 70 of the top-ranked 100 B-schools reported application growth, with especially strong rebounds at Washington Olin, Utah Eccles, Baruch Zicklin, and Buffalo SUNY, all of which more than doubled their application volume year-over-year. Nevertheless, 40 of 100 B-schools — including two dozen that reported application growth — shrank the size of their MBA classes that enrolled last fall.

Among the schools that got more apps than the previous cycle yet still opted to shrink their incoming cohorts were such elite institutions as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and Kellogg. The reasons vary — from strategic selectivity to resource constraints — but the result was a continued tightening of access to MBA programs.

See the next pages for tables showing the acceptance rates, yield, applications, admits & class sizes at the top 100 U.S. business schools.

MBA ADMISSION TRENDS AT THE TOP 10 U.S. B-SCHOOLS, 2016-2024

Data For P&Q Top 10	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2-Year Trend	9-Year Trend
Acceptance Rate (Average)	23.6%	27.8%	22.2%	18.4%	22.3%	19.7%	17.2%	16.0%	14.5%	-4.2	+9.1
Applications	51,011	39,584	48,968	57,975	57,187	50,439	53,907	57,311	54,694	+11,427	-3,683
Admits	10,577	9,337	9,964	9,484	11,324	8,664	8,397	8,309	7,934	+1,240	+2,643
Enrolled	5,058	4,411	5,388	5,459	5,500	5,361	5,446	5,349	5,100	+647	-42
Yield (Average)	49.8%	48.5%	53.9%	57.6%	48.6%	61.9%	64.9%	64.4%	64.3%	+1.3	-14.5

Source: P&Q analysis of U.S. News & World Report data

SCHOOLS INCLUDED IN 2023 CALCULATIONS: STANFORD, HARVARD, DARTMOUTH TUCK, COLUMBIA, YALE, DUKE FUQUA, CORNELL JOHNSON, VIRGINIA DARDEN, MICHIGAN ROSS, NYU STERN; IN 2024: NORTHWESTERN KELLOGG, STANFORD, CHICAGO BOOTH, HARVARD, VIRGINIA DARDEN, DARTMOUTH TUCK, COLUMBIA, YALE SOM, CORNELL JOHNSON, DUKE FUQUA

TOP 10 B-SCHOOLS: A SHARP REBOUND — BUT LONG-TERM TRENDS ARE MIXED

Poets&Quants’ ten highest-ranked MBA programs in the U.S. — including perennial giants Kellogg, Stanford, Booth, and Harvard — saw a resurgence in applications in 2024, gaining back more than 11,000 applicants after two consecutive years of steep declines. (See table above.) Collectively, the top 10 received 51,011 applications, up from 39,584 in 2023, an incredible rebound though still short of the 57,975 peak recorded in 2021.

Despite the rebound, long-term trends for the leading U.S. B-schools reflect major volatility. Over the past nine years, application volume is actually down nearly 4,000 for the group, while average yield — the percentage of admitted students who enroll — has dropped 14.5 points, from 64.3% in 2016 to just 49.8% in 2024.

Selectivity, however, has rebounded. The average acceptance rate across the top 10 fell to 23.6%, down more than 4 percentage points from last year, reversing a temporary loosening seen in 2023. And as class sizes have remained relatively steady at the top 10 — with total enrollment climbing slightly this last cycle, by 647 students, and down only a handful of seats since 2016 — the top programs appear to be regaining control of their applicant pools even as they adapt to a more competitive and cautious marketplace.

ADMITS AT THE TOP 50 U.S. MBA PROGRAMS 2022-2024

P&Q 2025 Rank	School	Admits 2024	Admits 2023	Admits 2022
1	Northwestern (Kellogg)	1,492	1,439	1,316
2	Stanford GSB	498	521	528
3	Chicago (Booth)	1,470	1,364	1,308
4	Harvard Business School	1,100	1,076	1,187
5	Virginia (Darden)	1,129	1,116	1,021
6	Dartmouth (Tuck)	851	806	763
7	Columbia Business School	1,490	1,215	1,109
8	Yale SOM	1,021	1,013	894
9	Cornell (Johnson)	782	764	798
10	Duke (Fuqua)	744	729	727
11	New York (Stern)	1,141	966	962
12	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	1,498	1,533	1,442
13	MIT (Sloan)	865	947	792
14	UCLA (Anderson)	946	881	929
15	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	505	509	654
16	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	739	716	637
17	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	769	667	625
18	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	820	776	709
19	Washington (Foster)	362	345	281
19	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	148	151	159
21	Washington (Olin)	294	225	179
22	Southern California (Marshall)	740	724	658
23	Emory (Goizueta)	509	432	391
24	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	288	304	229
25	Georgetown (McDonough)	990	883	782
26	Rice (Jones)	488	459	420
27	Georgia (Terry)	173	130	125
28	Rochester (Simon)	299	241	220
29	Michigan (Ross)	1,165	1,131	1,020
30	Vanderbilt (Owen)	581	566	489
31	Brigham Young (Marriott)	104	122	121
32	Arizona State (Carey)	88	89	93
33	UC-Irvine (Merage)	97	82	77
34	Indiana (Kelley)	321	318	323
35	Wisconsin	157	133	140
36	Boston University (Questrom)	449	412	371
37	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	95	109	110
37	Michigan State (Broad)	158	133	138
39	William & Mary (Mason)	319	257	189
40	George Washington	172	143	149
41	Texas A&M (Mays)	94	119	98
42	Rutgers Business School	125	114	81
43	Florida (Warrington)	52	38	43
44	Fordham (Gabelli)	259	157	NA
45	Southern Methodist (Cox)	224	160	139
46	Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	164	148	NA
47	Minnesota (Carlson)	206	176	187
48	Babson (Olin)	529	544	NA
49	Maryland (Smith)	185	176	142
50	Ohio State (Fisher)	113	128	143

Source: U.S. News & World Report

SELECTIVITY RISES AS PROGRAMS GET PICKIER

Across the top 100 B-schools, 59 reduced their acceptance rates in the 2023-2024 cycle, becoming more selective than the year prior — including the entire top 10. Among the most dramatic drops: Washington Olin halved its acceptance rate, while Michigan Ross, Texas A&M Mays, and Buffalo SUNY also posted double-digit percentage-point declines.

In total, 21 of the top 25 schools reported lower acceptance rates — a sign that competition for limited seats at top schools has intensified even amid the recovery.

At the bottom end of the selectivity spectrum, schools like Willamette Atkinson and Detroit Mercy accepted over 97% of applicants, underscoring the vast range in competitiveness across the rankings.

CLASS SIZES AT THE TOP 50 U.S. MBA PROGRAMS 2022-2024

P&Q 2025 Rank	School	Enrolled 2024	Enrolled 2023	Enrolled 2022
1	Northwestern (Kellogg)	524	529	503
2	Stanford GSB	424	431	424
3	Chicago (Booth)	713	657	634
4	Harvard Business School	930	938	1,015
5	Virginia (Darden)	355	352	348
6	Dartmouth (Tuck)	296	297	287
7	Columbia Business School	760	683	629
8	Yale SOM	347	339	347
9	Cornell (Johnson)	282	283	303
10	Duke (Fuqua)	427	385	399
11	New York (Stern)	352	327	324
12	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	866	874	894
13	MIT (Sloan)	433	409	408
14	UCLA (Anderson)	305	296	322
15	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	156	171	192
16	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	255	241	220
17	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	295	244	247
18	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	249	253	242
19	Washington (Foster)	118	111	96
19	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	71	70	76
21	Washington (Olin)	103	83	89
22	Southern California (Marshall)	211	199	190
23	Emory (Goizueta)	128	125	113
24	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	89	104	96
25	Georgetown (McDonough)	263	258	249
26	Rice (Jones)	158	157	160
27	Georgia (Terry)	101	65	69
28	Rochester (Simon)	89	82	85
29	Michigan (Ross)	396	376	378
30	Vanderbilt (Owen)	175	160	147
31	Brigham Young (Marriott)	85	99	99
32	Arizona State (Carey)	56	56	62
33	UC-Irvine (Merage)	46	36	41
34	Indiana (Kelley)	103	96	125
35	Wisconsin	88	69	71
36	Boston University (Questrom)	121	113	154
37	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	45	46	45
37	Michigan State (Broad)	71	63	60
39	William & Mary (Mason)	71	90	108
40	George Washington	40	49	56
41	Texas A&M (Mays)	36	57	33
42	Rutgers Business School	31	34	32
43	Florida (Warrington)	32	18	24
44	Fordham (Gabelli)	108	59	NA
45	Southern Methodist (Cox)	84	74	62
46	Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	55	68	NA
47	Minnesota (Carlson)	72	87	67
48	Babson (Olin)	143	171	NA
49	Maryland (Smith)	67	55	34
50	Ohio State (Fisher)	47	49	56

Source: U.S. News & World Report

CLASS SIZE: A STRATEGIC PULLBACK?

While 50 schools either maintained or increased their cohort sizes, a substantial portion of schools took the opposite approach. Among the 21 top-50 programs that cut class size, the largest reductions came at Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Notre Dame Mendoza, William & Mary Mason, and UMass Isenberg (see above).

These schools were joined by others — including Ohio State Fisher, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Texas A&M Mays — in shrinking their programs, sometimes significantly. In all, more than one-third of schools across the top 100 shrank their MBA classes.

Notably, of the two dozen B-schools that reduced class size despite growing their apps, 13 were in the top 50. The highest-ranked school to do so: P&Q’s No. 1 school of the year, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management — along with three other M7 schools, Stanford, Harvard and Wharton.

ACCEPTANCE RATE & YIELD AT THE TOP 50 U.S. MBA PROGRAMS 2022-2024

P&Q 2025 Rank	School	Acceptance Rate 2024	Yield 2024	Acceptance Rate 2023	Yield 2023	Acceptance Rate 2022	Yield 2022
1	Northwestern (Kellogg)	28.6%	35.1%	33.3%	36.8%	31.4%	55.2%
2	Stanford GSB	6.8%	85.1%	8.4%	82.7%	8.6%	80.3%
3	Chicago (Booth)	28.7%	48.5%	32.6%	48.2%	30.1%	41.9%
4	Harvard Business School	11.2%	84.5%	13.2%	87.2%	14.4%	80.3%
5	Virginia (Darden)	33.9%	31.4%	39.4%	31.5%	34.2%	38.7%
6	Dartmouth (Tuck)	31.2%	34.8%	40.1%	36.8%	33.4%	30.1%
7	Columbia Business School	20.9%	51.0%	22.4%	56.2%	19.7%	38.8%
8	Yale SOM	27.3%	34.0%	32.9%	33.5%	27.6%	34.2%
9	Cornell (Johnson)	28.1%	36.1%	29.9%	37.0%	31.2%	38.1%
10	Duke (Fuqua)	19.5%	57.4%	22.1%	52.8%	20.5%	38.0%
11	New York (Stern)	25.1%	30.9%	31.4%	33.9%	27.1%	39.5%
12	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	20.5%	57.8%	24.8%	57.0%	22.8%	33.7%
13	MIT (Sloan)	14.1%	50.1%	17.8%	43.2%	14.8%	85.5%
14	UCLA (Anderson)	30.7%	32.2%	40.4%	33.6%	37.6%	57.1%
15	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	26.6%	30.9%	28.5%	33.6%	28.8%	28.9%
16	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	37.9%	34.5%	37.9%	33.7%	34.1%	53.2%
17	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	25.3%	38.4%	23.0%	36.6%	19.6%	56.7%
18	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	36.9%	30.4%	37.6%	32.6%	35.9%	41.5%
19	Washington (Foster)	38.5%	32.6%	41.6%	32.2%	28.1%	49.7%
19	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	18.2%	48.0%	19.4%	46.4%	32.3%	38.6%
21	Washington (Olin)	18.3%	35.0%	27.9%	36.9%	25.5%	29.4%
22	Southern California (Marshall)	23.1%	28.5%	22.9%	27.5%	24.8%	34.7%
23	Emory (Goizueta)	36.8%	25.1%	39.1%	28.9%	37.1%	43.5%
24	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	33.8%	30.9%	33.2%	34.2%	32.7%	37.1%
25	Georgetown (McDonough)	60.3%	26.6%	61.8%	29.2%	50.9%	39.2%
26	Rice (Jones)	34.3%	32.4%	39.0%	34.2%	42.8%	35.8%
27	Georgia (Terry)	38.5%	58.4%	35.5%	50.0%	33.7%	81.8%
28	Rochester (Simon)	14.9%	29.8%	14.2%	34.0%	14.7%	48.5%
29	Michigan (Ross)	28.9%	34.0%	38.0%	33.2%	28.1%	47.8%
30	Vanderbilt (Owen)	38.4%	30.1%	40.1%	28.3%	39.9%	55.8%
31	Brigham Young (Marriott)	58.4%	81.7%	56.2%	81.1%	47.3%	23.9%
32	Arizona State (Carey)	18.8%	63.6%	16.2%	62.9%	18.0%	37.6%
33	UC-Irvine (Merage)	26.7%	47.4%	24.0%	43.9%	20.6%	54.9%
34	Indiana (Kelley)	29.0%	32.1%	27.3%	30.2%	23.5%	51.5%
35	Wisconsin	48.8%	56.1%	49.6%	51.9%	39.3%	33.7%
36	Boston University (Questrom)	33.3%	26.9%	36.0%	27.4%	27.5%	34.1%
37	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	33.2%	47.4%	33.2%	42.2%	34.0%	66.7%
37	Michigan State (Broad)	15.4%	44.9%	17.4%	47.4%	23.0%	62.0%
39	William & Mary (Mason)	56.0%	22.2%	59.2%	35.0%	55.3%	53.6%
40	George Washington	21.6%	23.3%	25.8%	34.3%	28.4%	28.9%
41	Texas A&M (Mays)	35.5%	38.3%	47.2%	47.9%	42.2%	44.6%
42	Rutgers Business School	46.3%	24.8%	41.9%	29.8%	26.1%	34.5%
43	Florida (Warrington)	28.1%	61.5%	30.2%	47.4%	36.1%	40.9%
44	Fordham (Gabelli)	58.6%	41.7%
45	Southern Methodist (Cox)	29.3%	37.5%	24.1%	46.3%	30.8%	31.8%
46	Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	37.4%	33.5%
47	Minnesota (Carlson)	45.8%	43.9%	46.9%	49.4%	37.8%	37.6%
48	Babson (Olin)	66.0%	27.0%
49	Maryland (Smith)	33.0%	36.2%	34.0%	31.3%	35.5%	50.7%
50	Ohio State (Fisher)	8.6%	41.6%	12.2%	38.3%	15.1%	34.1%

Source: U.S. News & World Report

YIELD: A COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Yield — the percentage of admitted students who choose to enroll — rose at 38 of 100 programs, including strong jumps at Florida Warrington (+14.1 points), Case Western Weatherhead (+15.2), and UC San Diego Rady (+22.7). In a notable shift, MIT Sloan’s yield jumped nearly 7 points, while Stanford maintained the highest yield among M7 schools at 85.1%.

Yet despite gains at some schools, yield rates remain low across much of the MBA landscape. Fourteen schools had yields under 30%, including Stevens Institute of Technology (12.9%) and Syracuse Whitman (21.4%). In fact, nearly half of all ranked programs — 48 of 100 — had yields below 40%, and 63 were under 50%, signaling the always-difficult nature of convincing admitted students to enroll.

Further underscoring the intense competition many programs face from peer institutions and alternative graduate options: More than three-quarters of schools (76) failed to convert even 60% of their admits in 2024.

APPLICATION VOLUME AT THE TOP 50 U.S. MBA PROGRAMS 2022-2024

P&Q 2025 Rank	School	Apps 2024	Apps 2023	Apps 2022
1	Northwestern (Kellogg)	5,216	4,316	4,187
2	Stanford GSB	7,295	6,190	6,152
3	Chicago (Booth)	5,126	4,184	4,352
4	Harvard Business School	9,856	8,149	8,264
5	Virginia (Darden)	3,327	2,834	2,984
6	Dartmouth (Tuck)	2,727	2,009	2,282
7	Columbia Business School	7,134	5,430	5,643
8	Yale SOM	3,738	3,076	3,237
9	Cornell (Johnson)	2,784	2,553	2,555
10	Duke (Fuqua)	3,808	3,292	3,539
11	New York (Stern)	4,550	3,075	3,553
12	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	7,322	6,193	6,319
13	MIT (Sloan)	6,125	5,317	5,349
14	UCLA (Anderson)	3,079	2,182	2,473
15	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	1,897	1,786	2,267
16	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	1,952	1,889	1,866
17	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	3,044	2,904	3,183
18	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	2,224	2,064	1,975
19	Washington (Foster)	941	830	1,000
19	Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)	813	777	492
21	Washington (Olin)	1,603	806	701
22	Southern California (Marshall)	3,198	3,166	2,652
23	Emory (Goizueta)	1,383	1,104	1,055
24	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	851	917	700
25	Georgetown (McDonough)	1,642	1,428	1,537
26	Rice (Jones)	1,421	1,178	982
27	Georgia (Terry)	449	366	371
28	Rochester (Simon)	2,009	1,692	1,497
29	Michigan (Ross)	4,036	2,976	3,631
30	Vanderbilt (Owen)	1,513	1,410	1,226
31	Brigham Young (Marriott)	178	217	256
32	Arizona State (Carey)	468	551	517
33	UC-Irvine (Merage)	364	342	374
34	Indiana (Kelley)	1,108	1,163	1,372
35	Wisconsin	322	268	356
36	Boston University (Questrom)	1,347	1,146	1,347
37	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	286	328	324
37	Michigan State (Broad)	1,028	766	599
39	William & Mary (Mason)	570	434	327
40	George Washington	796	555	524
41	Texas A&M (Mays)	265	252	232
42	Rutgers Business School	270	272	310
43	Florida (Warrington)	185	126	119
44	Fordham (Gabelli)	442	269	NA
45	Southern Methodist (Cox)	764	665	452
46	Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	439	458	NA
47	Minnesota (Carlson)	450	375	495
48	Babson (Olin)	802	846	NA
49	Maryland (Smith)	560	518	400
50	Ohio State (Fisher)	1,313	1,053	949

Source: U.S. News & World Report

Most Applications in the 2023-2024 Cycle:

Harvard Business School 9,856
Stanford, Wharton, Columbia 7K+ each

Fewest Applications:

Hawaii Shidler 26
Detroit Mercy 38
Kansas 63
Iowa State Ivy 71
South Florida Muma 71
8 schools under 100

Most Admits:

Wharton 1,498
Northwestern Kellogg 1,492
Columbia 1,490
Chicago Booth 1,470

Fewest Admits:

Hawaii Shidler 21
Arizona Eller 25
South Florida Muma 35
Detroit Mercy 37
35 schools under 100

Biggest Class Size:

Harvard 930
Wharton 866
Columbia 760
Chicago Booth 713

Smallest Class Size:

UMass-Amherst Isenberg 16
Hawaii Shidler 16
Arizona Eller 17
Chapman Argyros 17
Stevens Institute of Technology 19
62 schools under 100

Highest Yield:

Alabama Manderson 90.5%
Stanford 85.1%
Harvard 84.5%
Brigham Young Marriott 81.7%
South Florida Muma 80.0%

Lowest Yield:

Stevens Institute of Technology 12.9%
Syracuse Whitman 21.4%
William & Mary Mason 22.2%
George Washington 23.3%
Rutgers Business School 24.8%
Emory Goizueta 25.1%

Lowest Acceptance Rate:

Stanford 6.8%
Ohio State 8.6%
Harvard 11.2%
MIT Sloan 14.1%
UMass-Amherst Isenberg 14.7%
Rochester Simon 14.9%

Highest Acceptance Rate:

Willamette Atkinson 98.8%
Detroit Mercy 97.4%

See the next pages for acceptance rate, yield, application volume, admits, and enrollment data for the P&Q top 100 U.S. business schools.

AND DON’T MISS LAST YEAR’S STORY ON ACCEPTANCE RATES & YIELD AT THE TOP 100 B-SCHOOLS