MBA Acceptance Rates at the World’s Top 20 Business Schools

By Linda Mohamed Updated Apr 02, 2021

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Introduction
The most competitive top schools
The least competitive top schools
How to ace your application

MBA Acceptance Rates at the World’s Top 20 Business Schools main image

Find out the acceptance rates at the top 20 US b-schools

Choosing a business school isn’t an easy job. There are many elements of the application process to take into consideration, such as GMAT and GRE scores, essays, references and interviews, and of course, whether the b-school is a good match for you and your career aspirations.

But there’s another key component to think about when applying to business school: acceptance rates.

Acceptance rates represent how many applicants are admitted into a school’s MBA program, and they’re a great indicator of how competitive it really is to land a spot on your preferred program.

Some schools and their programs are more difficult to get a place than others. To help you refine your search, we’ve compiled a list focusing on the acceptance rates at the world’s top 20 business schools, all featured in our QS Global MBA Rankings 2020.

MBA Acceptance Rates – Top 20 US Business Schools
QS Rank	Business School	Location	Acceptance Rate (%)
1=	Penn (Wharton)	Philadelphia (PA)	23.1
1=	Stanford	Stanford (CA)	6.9
3=	INSEAD	Fontainebleu	32
3=	MIT (Sloan)	Cambridge (MA)	14.6
5	Harvard	Boston (MA)	11.5
6	London Business School	London	20
7	HEC Paris	Jouy-en-Josas	11
8	Chicago (Booth)	Chicago (IL)	24.2
9	UC Berkeley (Haas)	Berkeley (CA)	17.7
10	Northwestern (Kellogg)	Evanston (IL)	27
11	Columbia	New York (NY)	16.4
12	IESE Business School	Barcelona	26
13	UCLA (Anderson)	Los Angeles (CA)	30.5
14	IE Business School	Madrid	23
15	Cambridge (Judge)	Cambridge	31
16	Oxford (Said)	Oxford	20
17	ESADE	Barcelona	20
18	Yale	New Haven (CT)	25.2
19=	Duke (Fuqua)	Durham (NC)	22.9
19=	Imperial	London	15

The most competitive top schools

Stanford Graduate School of Business is the most competitive school on the list, overtaking its Ivy League rivals with an acceptance rate of 6.9 percent. During the two-year full-time MBA program, students follow a core general management curriculum that includes the basics of business administration as well as a customizable curriculum with elective courses. The average GMAT acceptance score is the highest on the list at 734.

HEC Paris follows as the second most competitive top school on the list with an acceptance rate of 11 percent. Its 16-month full-time MBA includes a fundamental stage, with traditional MBA classes, and a customized stage, with courses designed to give students new skills and specific work experience in a new sector or role.

Harvard Business School is the third most competitive institution on the list with an acceptance rate of 11.5 percent and a GMAT score of 728. HBS’ MBA is a full-time, two-year residential program with different teaching activities and a busy social calendar.

MIT Sloan School of Management, Imperial College Business School, Said Business School and ESADE Business School follow closely, at 14.6, 15 and 20 percent respectively.

The least competitive top schools

UCLA Anderson School of Management is the third least competitive school on the list, with an acceptance rate of 30.5 and an average GMAT score of 716. The school’s MBA program is highly international and promotes organizational innovation across industries, from investment management to consulting and tech.

Judge Business School follows as the second least competitive school, with an acceptance rate of 31 percent. Its 12-months full-time MBA consists of 16 compulsory modules and a personal selection from 48 elective modules. Each student can choose a concentration with different electives, coaching sessions and team projects.

However, INSEAD is the least competitive program in our top 20 with a 30 percent acceptance rate. The school is one of the largest and most international graduate business schools in the world.

Other top schools you may want to consider applying to because their acceptance rates are slightly more forgiving are the Kellogg School of Management, Yale School of Management and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

How to ace your application

The application process to get into a top MBA program is rigorous, but don’t let the amount of work involved discourage you – it’ll be worth it once you get in and start your MBA journey.

Here at TopMBA, we have compiled a comprehensive step-by-step to-do list on how to earn a spot at these prestigious business schools – click here to access it.

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Written by

Linda Mohamed

Linda was a Content Writer at TopMBA, creating content about students, courses, universities and businesses. She recently graduated in Journalism & Creative Writing with Politics and International Relations, and now enjoys writing for a student audience.