Your MBA application is equivalent to a marketing document, and it’s important to assess the competitive landscape as you begin the admissions process. Research the details of applicants and students at the schools you are interested in applying to. The following are some national trends in MBA admissions.
Quality of Candidates
The majority of graduate management programs, including all executive, flexible, and online MBA programs, indicated that their applicants either match the academic profile seen last year or were even more academically qualified based on their undergraduate GPA, GMAT scores, and other academic achievements in 2007, according to GMAC research. The average acceptance rate across all full-time MBA programs according to GMAC was 49% in 2007.
Demographics
The average age of entering MBA students is 24-34 nationally, with most of the top schools' entrants at about 27 or 28 years old. However, due to U.S. demographics, this number appears to be changing. Many baby boomers' children are graduating from college and are interested in applying to business school immediately. So, while there are a lot of reasons for getting 3-5 years of work experience under your belt before applying to business school, you may be up against some slightly younger applicants in the upcoming years than in the previous few.
More women are attending business school now than 10 years ago, though they are still in the minority. Top schools tend to receive around 30% female applicants, with a few top schools receiving up to 40% of their applications from women. Part-time MBA programs consistently receive larger proportions of women applicants, 37% on average. In terms of nationality, the top US schools generally receive between 20 to 30% international applicants. (This percentage drops significantly with schools that don't rank around the top 20.)
Regardless of whether your competition is young or old, male or female, American or international, one business school admissions director offers the following advice:
"We look at how [candidates] articulate their accomplishments
through their essays....When you get down to the basics, there's
not much variance in terms of GMAT scores and GPAs between the
majority of applicants and the admitted students. The difference
is in the subjective area: how well you can articulate what you
have done and how well you've reflected on those
accomplishments."
—Linda Baldwin, Admissions Director, UCLA Anderson School,
BusinessWeek Online, MBA Insider
