MIT Sloan MBA Class Of 2027: International Ranks Grow, But U.S. Diversity Stays Flat

MIT Sloan School of Management enrolled its second-largest MBA class in nearly a decade while growing its share of international students. That’s no small feat in today’s increasingly challenging environment for overseas recruitment.

Sloan welcomed 450 MBAs for the Class of 2027, up 3.9% from last year’s 433 but down 7% from its eight-year high of 484 for the Class of 2022. Meanwhile, applications dropped 8.5% to 5,654 after a surge the previous year, pushing its admit rate up five percentage points to 19%. 

In a year when many U.S. business schools reported declines in international enrollment, Sloan bucked the national trend. International students make up 42% of its incoming class, up from 40% for each of the last three years.

While Sloan’s post-pandemic momentum continues, its latest class profile also reveals a continued struggle in U.S. diversity. Representation among U.S. students has yet to recover from the steep declines that followed the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action ruling.

BY THE NUMBERS: MIT SLOAN MBA CLASSES 2020-2027
	Class of 2027	Class of 2026	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021	Class of 2020
Applications	5654	6181	5317	5349	7112	6350	5260	5560
Enrolled	450	433	409	408	450	484	416	409
Admit Rate	19%	14%	17.80%	14.80%	12.10%	22%	14.60%	12.10%
International	42%	40%	40%	40%	43%	33%	42%	38%
Countries Represented	61	53	60	63	64	51	54	49
Women	47%	49%	46%	46%	44%	38%	41%	42%
URM	15%	15%	28%	32%	23%	NA	NA	NA
Average Work Experience	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	4.9 years
Median Class GPA	3.69	3.7	3.61	3.62	3.59	3.54	3.58	3.48
Median Class GMAT	720	730	729	730	730	725	730	730
Mid-80% GMAT Range	710-760	690-760	700-760	690-760	690-760	690-760	700-760	700-760
Median GMAT Focus	675	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Mid-80% GMAT Focus Range	645-735	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Median Class GRE	NR *	NA	327	325	325	NA	NA	NA
Mid-80% GRE Quant Range	159-170	159-170	157-168	158-169	158-169	156-168	156-168	158-169
Mid-80% GRE Verbal Range	NR *	157-168	155-167	157-168	157-168	154-168	156-168	154-169
% GRE	NR *	39%	34%	32%	24%	NA	24%	NA
Source: MIT Sloan website
* Not Reported

ONGOING STRUGGLES IN U.S. DIVERSITY

Last year’s 49% women set a school record. While the Class of 2027 dipped slightly to 47%, it’s still a strong gender balance compared to its M7 peers. The international share climbed to 42% with students hailing from 61 countries, eight more than the year before.

Diversity among its U.S. students, however, remains a low point on MIT’s data tables. Black and Latino enrollment dropped from 28% to 15% in last year’s class following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling ending affirmative action.

“At MIT Sloan, our academic leadership strongly believes in the value of diversity in our community — both in its importance to our students’ experience and because it contributes to the generation of new ideas and solutions to complex problems,” a Sloan spokesperson told Poets&Quants last year. 

“Although we faced new constraints this year as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on the use of race and ethnicity in admissions, we will continue to explore ways to ensure we are able to attract and enroll talented students from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented in graduate business education, within the constraints of the law.”

The Class of 2027 at least maintained the 15% of URM students (Black, Latino and other non-Asian minorities.) Its U.S. students are 49% white, 29% Asian,12% Latino, and 3% Black.

INTERNATIONAL ENROLLMENT BUCKS TREND

Based on class profiles reported by other schools this fall, MIT’s Sloan international enrollment may be a bright spot. 

Several other U.S. schools have reported significant drops. Emory University’s Goizueta Business School’s international enrollment fell to 36% for the Class of 2027, down from 50% for the Class of 2024 and 48% for the Class of 2025. 

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, UCLA Anderson School of Management, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania have similarly struggled to maintain their international mix, a trend tied to shifting visa policies, rising costs, growing hostility toward immigration under the Trump administration, and intensifying competition from overseas programs.

MIT SLOAN MBA CLASSES 2020-2026: PRE-MBA INDUSTRIES & UNDERGRAD MAJORS
INDUSTRY	Class of 2027	Class of 2026	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022	Class of 2021	Class of 2020
Consulting	35%%	30%	26%	23%	22%	22%	26%	21%
Financial Services	18%	21%	17%	23%	21%	17%	17%	19%
Technology	17%	20%	23%	14%	16%	15%	18%	18%
Government/Education/Nonprofit	7%	10%	10%	14%	12%	13%	13%	14%
Pharma/Healthcare/Biotech	6%	6%	7%	6%	7%	9%	9%	6%
Consumer Products/Retail	3%	5%	2%	3%	4%	4%	4%	5%
Other	6%	3%	7%	7%	NA	NA	NA	NA
Media/Entertainment/Sports	1%	2%	1%	0.50%	2%	1%	NA	NA
Manufacturing	4%	1%	3%	3%	4%	4%	4%	8%
Energy	1%	1%	2%	4%	5%	5%	4%	7%
Automotive/Transportation/Defense	2%	1%	2%	2%	2%	4%	NA	NA
UNDERGRAD MAJORS
Engineering	27%	29%	33%	29%	33%	33%	33%	31%
Business	23%	22%	16%	23%	18%	16%	18%	20%
Economics	17%	15%	18%	17%	19%	19%	21%	21%
Computer Science	10%	9%	6%	2%	3%	2%	2%	2%
Math & Science	10%	8%	12%	15%	9%	10%	11%	7%
Social Sciences	5%	6%	5%	10%	6%	8%	8%	NA
Other	5%	5%	6%	1%	NA	NA	NA	NA
Humanities	2%	4%	3%	2%	4%	4%	5%	NA
Law	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	NA

CONSULTING SURGES, TECH SLOWS

The composition of the Sloan class continues to mirror the job market. Consulting now accounts for 35% of the incoming cohort — its highest share since the Class of 2020 when it was 21% — while finance dipped to 18% and technology slid again to 17%, down from 20% last year and 23% two years ago.

The shift underscores a post-2022 cooling in Big Tech hiring.

The average work experience remains five years, consistent with prior classes.

For the second consecutive year, Sloan’s undergraduate mix tilted away from engineering. The share of engineering majors fell to 27%, the lowest percentage since at least the Class of 2020. That’s down from 29% last year and one-third of the class before that.

Business majors (23%), economics (17%), and computer science (10%) majors all grew. 

See the full 2027 MBA Class profile here.

DON’T MISS: EMORY GOIZUETA’S INTERNATIONAL MBA ENROLLMENT PLUNGES 9 POINTS IN ONE YEAR and UCLA ANDERSON’S INTERNATIONAL MBA POPULATION HAS DECLINED BY 1/4 IN TWO YEARS 

 

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