Deconstructing Harvard Business School’s Largest MBA Class Ever

One of the new hybrid classrooms at Harvard Business School that cost HBS “tens of millions of dollars’

GMATs & GREs: Class of 2023 vs. Class of 2022 at HBS

 

Class of 2023 at Harvard Business School shows that a record 29% got into HBS with a GRE score. The numbers also show a wider range of GMAT scores, with at least one student getting into Harvard with a 590, 30 points below last year’s lowest score (see below).

Class of 2022 at Harvard Business School when 22% of the newest students were admitted with a GRE score.

Caroline Diarte-Edwards, a co-founder of Fortuna Admissions, points out that Harvard’s ability to hang onto its 730 median GMAT score in a year when the pandemic caused many applicants to struggle with online versions of the tests is a solid indicator of the quality of Harvard’s class. Even though Harvard’s median is now ten points below Wharton, she attributes the difference to the fact that more of Wharton’s students come from financial backgrounds and those candidates are more quant-focused and tend to do better on the GMAT exam.

More important than the reported scores, however, is the record number of enrolled students with GRE scores, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) alternative to the GMAT. Abraham says the increase reflects “the growing popularity and acceptance of the GRE among both applicants and schools. This year 29% of admitted students were accepted with GRE scores. That’s up from 22% for the class that entered in 2020 and 20% for the class that entered in 2019 (pre-COVID) This year’s scores were very similar to those for the classes that entered in 2019 and 2020. Clearly HBS doesn’t have any preference for one test over the other. Applicant takeaway: Take the test you feel you will do best on if you are applying to HBS and most other top MBA programs. Test requirements have to be more flexible, which the GRE allows, in order for schools to achieve their goal of a more diverse and gender balanced class.”

The GRE numbers reported by Harvard, with overall median class scores a point higher at 327 vs. 326, lag the higher GMAT scores. “The converted score for the HBS average GRE (163/164) is actually just at 700,” notes Esther Magna, a principal MBA admissions consultant at Stacy Blackman Consulting. “I would like to see Harvard reporting the percentage of GRE admits who are either of underrepresented minority backgrounds or women. I would predict that the vast majority of GRE opting applicants fall into those two demographic categories.  “There is a connection between the increase in number of admits with the GRE score and a more diverse student class. Stacy was hired as an influencer for ETS about six years ago, when they initiated a major campaign via a NY ad agency to raise awareness about the GRE. It is really nice to see that campaign paying off for the company, with even Losee himself echoing the advantages of the test. ”

Student Makeup: Class of 2023 vs. Class of 2022 at HBS

 

Class of 2023 at Harvard Business School shows a rebound in international students to more normal levels: 37% this year vs. 33%.

 

Class of 2022 at Harvard Business School shows a significant decline in international students due to the pandemic which imposed travel restrictions and made it more difficult for international students to gain student visas.

The big change in the makeup of Harvard’s new class is largely in the international numbers which had been depressed last year due to the pandemic. Domestic students fell substantially by four full percentage points to 63% of the Class of 2023 vs. 67% in the Class of 2022. Students from Asia were up by two percentage points this year to 13%, while those from the Middle East tripled as a percentage to 3% of the class, up from a mere 1% a year earlier. “At least in regard to international enrollment, the numbers also reflect a return to some semblance of normalcy or perhaps the reality that most of us, including HBS international MBA students, are adapting and learning to live with COVID,” believes Abraham.  “The pre-COVID Class of 2021 was 37% international. The COVID class of 2022 dipped to only 33% international students. This year’s class is back up to 37% international.”

Overall, the new class may well be the most diverse ever with more women and more U.S. minorities than ever before. While Harvard trails Wharton (52%), Kellogg (49%), and Duke Fuqua (48%), the 46% women at HBS is an impressive feat and a record for the school. Maria Wich-Vila, founder of ApplicantLab and an HBS alum, thinks the school deserves much praise for steadily increasingly the numbers of women at Harvard, from 41% in the Class of 2020, to 43% in the Class of 2021, and 44% in the Class of 2022.

More on diversity later when we take a look at the highly detailed reporting on the makeup of the class and ow it compares with the Class of 2022.

GPA & Undergrad Majors: Class of 2023 vs. Class of 2022 at HBS

 

Class of 2023 at Harvard Business School sows an inconsequential tick down in undergraduate GPA from 3.7 last year to 3.69 this year. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) majors make up 41% of the Class of 2023, even with last year but up from 37% three years ago. Roughly 28% of the class majored in engineering, while 15% studied math or the physical sciences.

 

Class of 2022 at Harvard Business School had slightly better GPAs and pretty much the same educational backgrounds as the newest students I the Clsss of 2023.

The changes in undergraduate grade point average and educational backgrounds of the new class yields few, if any surprises. GPA was down ever so slightly to 3.69 from 3.70. Changes in undergraduate majors was pretty inconsequential as well. The largest single chunk of MBA candidates majored in economics or business: 41%, exactly the same as last year. Some 21% majored in business or commerce, while 20% had studied economics in college. Students who majored in the arts and humanities (4%) and social sciences (13%) total 17%, down one percentage point from 18% last year. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) majors make up 41% of the Class of 2023, even with last year but up from 37% three years ago. Roughly 28% of the class majored in engineering, while 15% studied math or the physical sciences.

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