One Big Number Stands Out In Dartmouth Tuck’s New MBA Class

The numbers barely budged – until they did. Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business enrolled a new MBA class that looks strikingly similar to last year’s on every major academic metric: same 727 GMAT, same 3.6 GPA, same 44% women, same five-plus years of work experience.

But behind that surface-level stability was a more dramatic shift: Tuck received 3,267 applications for its Class of 2027, a nearly 20% one-year jump and a school record for a second consecutive year. The surge helped drive the school’s acceptance rate down to one of its lowest in history.

STEADY SCORES, SHARP SELECTIVITY

Tuck enrolled 304 students, up from 296 last year and one of the largest cohorts the Hanover, New Hampshire school has welcomed. The jump in volume, however, came on the front end: Applications rose 19.5%, following last year’s massive 36% spike. Tuck admitted 924 candidates, yielding a 28.3% acceptance rate — a meaningful drop from 31.2% and down nearly 30% in two years.

The tightening comes even as Tuck holds its academic bar perfectly steady. The average Graduate Management Admission Test (10th Edition) remains 727, continuing a remarkable run at the highest levels of the MBA landscape. Graduate Record Exam averages, 162 Verbal and 160 Quant, mirror last year almost exactly. The average GPA remains at 3.6, tied with last year’s all-time high. GMAT subscores – 42 Verbal, 46 Quant, and 7 in Integrated Reasoning – repeat the 2026 profile nearly digit for digit. Students arrive with an average of 68 months of professional experience, or roughly 5.7 years, effectively unchanged.

Five straight cohorts have averaged 726 or higher on the GMAT; three straight have posted a 3.6 GPA. Additionally, like many of its peer schools, Tuck for the first time this year added GMAT Focus scores to its profile – and those compare well to Tuck’s rivals. See the table below.

“Every year we seek candidates who are not only academically capable, but who will stretch themselves and invest in the success of others,” says Lawrence Mur’ray, executive director of admissions and financial aid. “The members of the class of 2027 embody those values fully.” The Class of 2027 was tested early during Tuck Launch, the school’s immersive orientation program. One student described it this way: “Tuck Launch was a microcosm of what the MBA experience is like: intellectually rigorous, immersive, intense, and fun.”

TEST SCORES & GPA FOR TUCK MBA CLASSES, 2020-2025

Test Scores & GPAs	Class of 2027	Class of 2026	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Class of 2022
Average GMAT (10th Edition)	727	727	726	726	724	720
Range	690-770	650-780	630-800	610-790	600-780	590-780
Verbal Average	42	42	42	42	42	41
Verbal Range	33-50	32-51	31-51	34-51	34-51	32-51
Quant Average	46	48	48	48	48	47
Quant Range	37-51	42-51	39-51	39-51	39-51	38-51
IR Average	7	7	7	7.0	7.0	7.0
Average GMAT (Focus Edition)	671	–	–	–	–	–
Range	595-775	–	–	–	–	–
Verbal Average	86	–	–	–	–	–
Verbal Range	80-90	–	–	–	–	–
Quant Average	83	–	–	–	–	–
Quant Range	74-90	–	–	–	–	–
DI Average	82	–	–	–	–	–
GRE Verbal Average	162	161	161	162	162	161
GRE Verbal Range	146-170	150-169	152-170	150-170	149-170	32-51
GRE Quant Average	160	161	161	162	162	159
GRE Quant Range	142-170	148-170	149-170	150-170	152-170	149-169
% Submitting GRE Scores	54%	46%	42%	38%	37%	39%
GPA Average	3.6	3.6	3.49	3.52	3.54	3.48
GPA Range	2.8-4.0	2.95-3.99	2.70-4.00	2.70-4.00	2.60-4.00	2.60-4.00

Source: Dartmouth Tuck

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DIVERSITY & DEMOGRAPHICS: SMALL SHIFTS, BIG CONTINUITY

Even with soaring demand, Tuck’s composition remains broadly stable. The share of women holds at 44%, exactly matching last year. U.S. students of color account for 24% of the class – or 30% among U.S. citizens and permanent residents – down slightly from 29% a year ago. First-generation college students dropped from 15% to 13%, while international representation remains consistent at 34% when including dual and permanent residents.

Academic backgrounds continue a slow evolution. Forty-eight percent of students studied arts or humanities as undergraduates, 22% STEM, and 25% business – a distribution almost identical to the Class of 2026.

“Our students bring a breadth of perspectives shaped by personal and professional journeys around the world,” Mur’ray says. “We’re excited to see how the class of 2027 builds on Tuck’s tradition of trust, collaboration, and leadership.”

The school also remains one of the most family-friendly MBA environments: 26% of students arrive with partners and 4% with children.

‘INTELLECTUALLY RIGOROUS, IMMERSIVE, INTENSE, AND FUN’

Tuck’s MBA Class of 2027 arrives with wide-ranging industry experience, including 252 unique employers (up from 231 last year). Financial services and consulting are tied as the two largest feeder industries at 19% of the class each, representing a 6-percentage-point drop for consulting and a 4-point decline for finance from last year. See above.

They are followed by nonprofit and government at 14% (up from 10%), technology at 11% (down from 13%), and health care/pharma/biotech at 9% (unchanged). Another 6% come from consumer goods and retail, up 1 point from last year, while smaller but still meaningful shares arrive from energy, manufacturing, and media/entertainment, with 12% categorized as “other.”

DON’T MISS WHARTON’S MBA CLASS OF 2027: MORE RACIALLY DIVERSE, FEWER WOMEN & INTERNATIONALS

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