Tuck | Mr. Invest In Change
GMAT 710, GPA 3.1
Tuck | Mr. Chemical Engineer
GRE 326, GPA 3
INSEAD | Mr. Future AI Product Manager
GMAT 715, GPA 3.7
NYU Stern | Mr. Operations Strategy & Youth Leadership
GMAT 770, GPA 4
IE Business School | Mr. JD Garay
GRE GPA: 3.9, GPA 3.0
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Military To Entrepreneur
GMAT 745, GPA 2.38
London Business School | Mr. Decarbonisation
GMAT 695, GPA 3.5
Kellogg SOM | Mr. MENA Growth Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.4
Kellogg SOM | Mr. West Point Logistics
GRE 327, GPA 2.76
Harvard | Mr. Energy & AI PM
GRE 328, GPA 9.65
Tepper | Mr. Tech Mil-Veteran
GMAT TBD, GPA 3.35
Columbia | Mr. European MBB Consultant
GMAT 645 (Gmat Focus), GPA 8.2
MIT Sloan | Mr. Startup Strategy
GMAT 720, GPA 3.7
Stanford GSB | Mr. Mid-Market PE
GMAT 770, GPA 4
Stanford GSB | Mr. MBB Guy From Big 4 & Startup
GRE 325, GPA 3

MIT Sloan MBA Class Of 2028: Apps Plunge 25%, But International Share Climbs Again

Admits with consulting backgrounds rise to 37% while women fall to 43%, and Black & Latino representation among U.S. students slips to 13%

by: Marc Ethier on October 01, 2026 | 6 minute read

MIT Sloan welcomed its MBA Class of 2028 to campus in Boston in September. Photo Credit: Kelly Davidson

In just two years, MIT Sloan School of Management has lost nearly a third of its MBA applicant pool. The school received 4,228 applications for the Class of 2028, including its dual-degree Leaders for Global Operations program. That’s down 25% from 5,654 last year and 32% from the 6,181 it drew two years ago. It’s the smallest pool since at least the Class of 2020 (see table below).

Even so, the class that enrolled this fall is Sloan’s most international in years. International students make up 45% of the Class of 2028, up for a second straight year (from 42% last year) and the highest share since at least the Class of 2020. The class also draws from 65 countries, four more than a year ago and the most in that span. Meanwhile Sloan enrolled 450 students, matching last year’s class. The school did not disclose how many applicants it admitted, so the admit rate and yield are as yet unknown.

The class’s median undergraduate GPA of 3.74 is its highest since at least the Class of 2020, while its median GMAT Focus score holds at 675. For the first time, Sloan did not report a median or range for GMAT 10th Edition scores.

The new class profile also shows a class tilting further toward consulting and away from finance, with fewer women and a U.S. cohort that is less diverse than last year’s.

BY THE NUMBERS: MIT SLOAN MBA CLASSES 2020-2028

Class of 2028 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** 4,228 5,654 6,181 5,317 5,349 7,112 6,350 5,260 5,560
Enrolled 450 450 433 409 408 450 484 416 409
Admit Rate NR 19% 14% 17.8% 14.8% 12.1% 22% 14.6% 12.1%
International 45% 42% 40% 40% 40% 43% 33% 42% 38%
Countries Represented 65 61 53 60 63 64 51 54 49
Women 43% 47% 49% 46% 46% 44% 38% 41% 42%
URM*** 13% 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 5 years 4.9 years
Median Class GPA 3.74 3.69 3.7 3.61 3.62 3.59 3.54 3.58 3.48
Median Class GMAT* NR 720 730 729 730 730 725 730 730
Mid-80% GMAT Range* NR 710-760 690-760 700-760 690-760 690-760 690-760 700-760 700-760
Median GMAT Focus 675 675 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Mid-80% GMAT Focus Range 645-715 645-735 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Median Class GRE* NR NR NA 327 325 325 NA NA NA
Mid-80% GRE Quant Range 160-170 159-170 159-170 157-168 158-169 158-169 156-168 156-168 158-169
Mid-80% GRE Verbal Range* NR NR 157-168 155-167 157-168 157-168 154-168 156-168 154-169
% GRE* NR NR 39% 34% 32% 24% NA 24% NA
Source: MIT Sloan
* Not reported
** Includes Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program applications
*** Poets&Quants‘ calculation of Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian and Pacific Islander students as a share of U.S./PR students

INTERNATIONAL GAINS CONTINUE

The international share of Sloan’s class has now risen two years running. It held at 40% for three straight classes, then climbed to 42% for the Class of 2027 and 45% this fall. The number of countries represented has also grown, from 53 two years ago to 61 last year and 65 now.

Sloan made those gains despite continued uncertainty over U.S. visa policy, which has weighed on overseas enrollment at many U.S. business schools. The school did not say whether international applications rose or fell.

“We believe our international community is an essential part of what makes MIT Sloan excellent, and that MIT Sloan would not be MIT Sloan without our international students,” Dawna Levenson, assistant dean of admissions at MIT Sloan, tells Poets&Quants.

“We’ve done a lot to encourage international students to consider and apply to MIT Sloan – we have increased our travel to connect with prospective students, stayed on top of developing federal guidelines and regulations on student visas to best support our applicants and admits, and have shared a lot of information with them about what their program and experience at MIT Sloan could look like.”

FEWER WOMEN, LESS U.S. DIVERSITY

The female share of the class falls four points to 43%, the lowest since the Class of 2022 (38%). Two years ago, women made up 49% of the class. MIT now reports sex data under a federal IPEDS standard that uses “female” rather than “women,” but the school says its methodology has not changed and the figure is directly comparable with last year’s.

Underrepresented minorities make up 13% of Sloan’s U.S. students, down from 15% in each of the previous two classes. Before the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling barring race-conscious admissions, the figure was 28% for the Class of 2025 and 32% for the Class of 2024.

Hispanic/Latinx students account for 9% of the U.S. cohort, down from 12%. Black students make up 4%, up from 3%. The class includes no American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. White students make up 55% of the U.S. group, up from 49% last year, and Asian students 26%, down from 29%.

Under the IPEDS methodology, students count in only one racial or ethnic category. Any student who checks Hispanic counts only as Hispanic, and non-Hispanic students who check more than one race count only as “two or more races.” That group makes up 5% of the U.S. cohort and is not included in P&Q‘s URM figure.

“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,” a Sloan spokesperson told Poets&Quants in 2024.

MIT SLOAN MBA CLASSES 2020-2028: PRE-MBA INDUSTRIES

INDUSTRY Class of 2028 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 37% 35% 30% 26% 23% 22% 22% 26% 21%
Financial Services 14% 18% 21% 17% 23% 21% 17% 17% 19%
Technology 16% 17% 20% 23% 14% 16% 15% 18% 18%
Government/Education/Nonprofit 7% 7% 10% 10% 14% 12% 13% 13% 14%
Pharma/Healthcare/Biotech 4% 6% 6% 7% 6% 7% 9% 9% 6%
Consumer Products/Retail 3% 3% 5% 2% 3% 4% 4% 4% 5%
Other 8% 6% 3% 7% 7% NA NA NA NA
Media/Entertainment/Sports 1% 1% 2% 1% 0.5% 2% 1% NA NA
Manufacturing 2% 4% 1% 3% 3% 4% 4% 4% 8%
Energy 5% 1% 1% 2% 4% 5% 5% 4% 7%
Automotive/Transportation/Defense 2% 2% 1% 2% 2% 2% 4% NA NA
Source: MIT Sloan

CONSULTING CLIMBS, FINANCE FALLS

Consulting now accounts for 37% of the class, up from 35% last year and the highest share since at least the Class of 2020, when it was 21%. Financial services falls to 14% from 18%, its lowest share in that span and down from 23% for the Class of 2024. Technology slips for the third straight year, to 16% from 17%, after peaking at 23% for the Class of 2025.

Energy is the biggest mover among smaller sectors. It jumps to 5% from 1%, its highest share since the Class of 2023. Manufacturing falls to 2% from 4%, and pharma, healthcare and biotech to 4% from 6%. Average work experience holds at five years.

The class’s median GPA rises to 3.74 from 3.69, up from 3.48 for the Class of 2020. The median GMAT Focus score is unchanged at 675, but the top of the middle-80% range falls 20 points, to 645-715 from 645-735. The middle-80% GRE Quant range edges up to 160-170. Sloan declined to release test-score data beyond what appears on its website.

MIT SLOAN MBA CLASSES 2020-2028: UNDERGRAD MAJORS

MAJOR Class of 2028 Class of 2027 Class of 2026 Class of 2025 Class of 2024 Class of 2023 Class of 2022 Class of 2021 Class of 2020
Engineering 29% 27% 29% 33% 29% 33% 33% 33% 31%
Business 25% 23% 22% 16% 23% 18% 16% 18% 20%
Economics 15% 17% 15% 18% 17% 19% 19% 21% 21%
Computer Science 8% 10% 9% 6% 2% 3% 2% 2% 2%
Math & Science 9% 10% 8% 12% 15% 9% 10% 11% 7%
Social Sciences 7% 5% 6% 5% 10% 6% 8% 8% NA
Other 3% 5% 5% 6% 1% NA NA NA NA
Humanities 2% 2% 4% 3% 2% 4% 4% 5% NA
Law 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% NA
Source: MIT Sloan

ENGINEERING REBOUNDS, COMPUTER SCIENCE DIPS

After two years of decline, engineering majors rebounded to 29% of the class from 27%. Business majors reached 25%, their highest share since at least the Class of 2020. Economics fell to 15% from 17%, matching the Class of 2026’s low.

Computer science majors fell to 8% from 10%, ending three straight years of gains. Social sciences rose to 7% from 5%.

See the full Class of 2028 MBA profile here.

DON’T MISS MIT SLOAN MBA CLASS OF 2027: INTERNATIONAL RANKS GROW, BUT U.S. DIVERSITY STAYS FLAT

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