Average GRE Scores At Leading B-Schools

The Graduate Record Exam popularity continues to grow. In 2018, according to data collected by U.S. News & World Report for its newly released annual ranking of U.S. business schools, the GRE was more popular than ever.

Analysis of U.S. News data from last fall’s intakes at the top 50 schools finds

1. 30 of 48 schools saw a year-over-year gain between 2017 and 2018 in the percentage of entrants who submitted GRE scores.
2. The top overall score in 2018 is Stanford Graduate School of Business, which reported an average 165 Quant and 165 Verbal for a 330 overall.
3. UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, was #2 at 329 total.
4. Three schools scored 328 total: Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. 
5. 8 of 43 schools saw their overall GRE scores rise since 2016
6. 8 schools stayed even
7. 14 schools saw drop-offs.

• Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, which rose 7 points to 314 between 2016 and 2018
• UC-Davis School of Business, climbed 7 points, to 323, in that span. 
• UCLA’s Anderson School of Management climbed 6 points in two years, to 326, good for sixth place overall
• Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management also climbed 6 points, to 318. 
• Illinois Gies and Penn State Smeal, saw 7-point drops in their overall scores, both landing at 308. (See all data on the following pages.)

Eight schools — including five of the top 10, Wharton, Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth, MIT Sloan, and Columbia Business School — have never reported GRE data to U.S. News. 

• The number of schools with over 20% of entrants who submitted GRE scores is now 25, up from 22 last year. 
• The number over 30% is 14, double what it was only a year ago. 
• Last year there were no schools over 50% and two schools at 45% (Ohio State Fisher and Texas-Dallas Jindal); both saw declines.

Overall in the last four years, six schools have seen a 250% or greater gain in entrants who submitted GRE scores, led by the University of Washington Foster School of Business, which grew from 2% to 16% from 2015 to 2018. That’s a 700% increase.

MBA Schools GRE Scores Ranking

• Stanford retained its status as the top school for total average GRE score at 330
•  UC-Berkeley vaulted over a handful of competitors to land in second at 329.
•  Harvard, Yale, and Virginia Darden tied for third with 328 points. 

P&Q Rank & School	2018 Average Quant Score	2018 Average Verbal Score	2018 Average Total	2018 Average Writing Score	2017 Total	2016 Total	3-Year Trend
3. Stanford GSB	165	165	330	4.9	329	329	+1
8. UC-Berkeley (Haas)	164	165	329	4.8	325	NA	NA
1. Harvard*	163*	165	328*	NA	328	NA	NA
11. Yale SOM	163	165	328	4.9	329	328	Even
12. Virginia (Darden)	164	164	328	4.0	323	326	+2
15. UCLA (Anderson)	163	163	326	4.6	328	320	+6
16. NYU (Stern)	161	163	324	4.5	323	324	Even
49. UC-Davis	161	162	323	NA	321	316	+7
27. Georgia Tech (Scheller)	162	159	321	NA	320	324	-3
13. Cornell (Johnson)	160	160	320	4.4	322	320	Even
10. Michigan (Ross)	161	159	320	4.6	320	322	+2
17. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	162	158	320	4.0	321	323	-3
14. Duke (Fuqua)	159	160	319	4.4	321	319	Even
33. Wisconsin	157	161	318	4.0	315	318	Even
38. Purdue (Krannert)	159	159	318	4.5	314	312	+6
22. USC (Marshall)	159	159	318	4.4	319	316	+2
30. Minnesota (Carlson)	158	160	318	4.3	318	320	-2
19. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)	158	159	317	4.4	316	317	Even
24. Rice (Jones)	157	160	317	4.4	321	314	+3
23. Georgetown (McDonough)	158	159	317	4.2	314	315	+2
18. Texas (McCombs)	158	159	317	4.4	316	319	-2
37. UC-Irvine (Merage)	159	157	316	4.1	315	316	Even
50. Rutgers	157	159	316	NA	316	314	+2
39. Rochester (Simon)	157	159	316	4.2	314	315	+1
25. Indiana (Kelley)	157	158	315	4.5	317	314	+1

*Median

Source: Poets&Quants analysis of U.S. News data Get the data Created with Datawrapper

Average GRE Scores At Leading B-Schools

P&Q Rank & School	% GRE 2015	% GRE 2016	% GRE 2017	% GRE 2018	2-Year % Gain	4-Year % Gain
66. Illinois	23%	36%	41%	64%	56.1%	178.0
28. Washington (Olin)	28%	34%	27%	50%	85.2%	78.6
41. Southern Methodist (Cox)	12%	35%	20%	47%	135%	292.0
42. Boston (Questrom)	34%	42%	29%	45%	55.2%	32.4
45. Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	34%	32%	45%	40%	-11.1%	17.6
31. Arizona State (Carey)	14%	30%	30%	40%	33.3%	186.0
40. Maryland (Smith)	34%	29%	31%	38%	22.6%	11.8
46. Texas A&M (Mays)	15%	39%	33%	36%	9.1%	140.0
27. Georgia Tech (Scheller)	10%	23%	25%	35%	40.0%	250.0
48. Boston College (Carroll)	26%	27%	23%	34%	47.8%	30.8
43. Georgia (Terry)	NA	31%	33%	33%	Even	6.5
23. Georgetown (McDonough)	22%	22%	28%	33%	17.9%	50.0
36. Ohio State (Fisher)	15%	23%	45%	31%	-31.1%	107.0
19. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)	16%	21%	20%	30%	50.0%	87.5
35. Michigan State (Broad)	7%	6%	8%	29%	262.5%	314.0
32. Penn State (Smeal)	10%	16%	24%	26%	8.3%	160.0
11. Yale SOM	23%	22%	NA	25%	NA	8.7
30. Minnesota (Carlson)	18%	16%	22%	24%	9.1%	33.3
47. Florida (Hough)	17%	23%	21%	24%	14.3%	41.2
10. Michigan (Ross)	14%	14%	19%	24%	26.3%	71.4
18. Texas (McCombs)	15%	18%	18%	23%	27.8%	53.3
44. Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	22%	29%	22%	-24.1%	Even
24. Rice (Jones)	8%	11%	12%	22%	83.3%	175.0
39. Rochester (Simon)	18%	14%	23%	20%	13.0%	11.1
22. USC (Marshall)	NA	13%	21%	20%	-4.8%	53.8
16. NYU (Stern)	NA	13%	12%	19%	58.3%	46.2
3. Stanford GSB	16%	13%	16%	18%	12.5%	12.5
12. Virginia (Darden)	NA	8%	8%	18%	125%	125.0
21. Washington (Foster)	2%	6%	17%	16%	-5.9%	700.0
7. Columbia	8%	7%	9%	16%	77.8%	100.0
50. Rutgers	NA	11%	16%	15%	-6.3%	36.4
9. Dartmouth (Tuck)	7%	13%	15%	15%	Even	114.0
1. Harvard	NA	NA	12%	15%	25.0%	25.0
14. Duke (Fuqua)	12%	11%	11%	14%	27.3%	16.7
13. Cornell (Johnson)	11%	10%	11%	14%	27.3%	27.3
17. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	4%	8%	11%	14%	27.3%	250.0
25. Indiana (Kelley)	4%	8%	10%	14%	40.0%	250.0
29. Notre Dame (Mendoza)	9%	11%	20%	13%	-35.0%	44.4
26. Vanderbilt (Owen)	12%	14%	13%	12%	-7.7%	Even
49. UC-Davis	15%	16%	21%	11%	-47.6%	-26.7
37. UC-Irvine (Merage)	12%	20%	14%	11%	-21.4%	-8.3
8. UC-Berkeley (Haas)	NA	NA	10%	11%	10.0%	10.0
33. Wisconsin	10%	10%	12%	10%	-16.7%	Even
1. Penn (Wharton)	7%	9%	11%	10%	-9.1%	42.9
38. Purdue (Krannert)	9%	10%	7%	10%	42.9%	11.1
15. UCLA (Anderson)	10%	8%	10%	9%	-10.0%	-10.0
6. MIT (Sloan)	18%	18%	18%	NA	NA	Even
20. Emory (Goizueta)	13%	13%	13%	NA	NA	NA

Source: P&Q analysis of U.S. News data Get the data Created with Datawrapper

フィナンシャル・タイムズ TOP 25 GLOBAL MBA ランキング

For only the third time in 24 years, the Financial Times named Stanford Graduate School of Business the best MBA experience in the world. It was Stanford's second consecutive No. 1 FT ranking, after initially getting the honor in 2012.

2019 Rank & School	2018 Rank	Y-O-Y Change	2017 Rank	2016 Rank	2015 Rank	2014 Rank	Five-Year Trend
1. Stanford GSB	1	————	2	5	4	2	1
2. Harvard	5	+3	4	2	1	1	-1
3. INSEAD	2	-1	1	1	4	5	2
4. UPenn (Wharton)	3	-1	3	4	3	4	————
5. CEIBS	8	+3	11	17	11	17	12
6. London	4	-2	6	3	2	3	-3
7. Chicago (Booth)	6	-1	9	8	9	9	2
8. MIT (Sloan)	9	1	13	9	8	8	————
9. Columbia	7	-2	7	6	6	5	-4
10. Berkeley (Haas)	10	————	13	7	10	11	1
11. Yale SOM	15	4	15	18	17	10	-1
12. IESE	11	-1	10	16	7	7	-5
13. Oxford (Said)	27	14	33	28	22	23	10
14. Northwestern (Kellogg)	12	-2	12	11	14	15	-1
15. Dartmouth (Tuck)	16	1	18	22	23	20	5
16. Cambridge (Judge)	13	-3	5	10	13	16	————
17. Singapore	18	1	26	32	31	32	15
18. Hong Kong UST	14	-4	15	14	14	14	-4
19. HEC Paris	21	2	20	15	16	21	2
19. Duke (Fuqua)	19	————	24	21	21	17	-2
21. ESADE	20	-1	17	23	19	22	1
22. IMD	24	2	21	13	20	12	-10
23. Virginia (Darden)	32	9	35	27	32	27	4
24. Indian School of Business	28	4	27	29	33	36	12
25. NYU (Stern)	23	-2	19	19	18	17	-8

Source: Financial Times 2019 Global MBA Ranking Get the data Created with Datawrapper

Double-Digit Gainers In The 2019 Financial Times Ranking

Excluding new schools on this year's list, 15 full-time MBA programs saw double-digit gains in their rankings, with the IIM of Calcutta showing the biggest year-over-year advance of 29 places

School	Gain	2019 Rank	2018 Rank
Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta	29	49	78
WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management	23	71	94
Durham University Business School	21	43	64
Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management	21	52	73
University of Florida Warrington College of Business	19	39	58
Notre Dame University Mendoza College of Business	19	58	77
EMLyon Business School	19	80	99
Boston University Questrom School of Business	18	68	86
UC-Irvine Merage School of Business	16	48	64
Babson College Olin Graduate School of Business	15	66	81
University of Oxford Saïd Business School	14	13	27
Indiana University Kelley School of Business	14	43	57
University of Southern California Marshall School of Business	13	46	59
Imperial College Business School	12	39	58
Penn State University Smeal College of Business	12	63	75

Double-Digit Decliners In The 2019 Financial Times Ranking

Not including schools that dropped off the list entirely this year, 19 full-time MBA programs saw double-digit, year-over-year declines in their rankings

School	Decline	2019 Rank	2018 Rank
Alliance Manchester Business School	23	59	36
Lancaster University Management School	21	91	70
Purdue University Krannert School of Management	20	75	55
Rotterdam School of Management	18	55	37
City University of London Cass	18	64	46
Shanghai Jiao Tong University	17	51	34
Ohio State University Fisher School of Business	16	84	68
Mannheim Business School	16	77	61
Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad	16	47	31
Cranfield School of Management	15	76	61
University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School	15	52	37
University of Edinburgh Business School	14	87	73
City University of Hong Kong	14	57	43
University of Maryland Smith	13	72	55
Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business	11	56	45
Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business	11	62	51
Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management	10	27	17
University of Wisconsin Business School	10	81	71
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business	10	78	68

スタンフォード大学経営大学院 #1 : フィナンシャル・タイムズ ランキング

For the second consecutive time and just the third in 21 years of rankings, the Financial Times named Stanford Graduate School of Business the best full-time MBA in the world. Stanford’s arch-rival, Harvard Business School, captured second place on the 2019 list, gaining three places from its year-earlier rank of fifth, as it jumped over INSEAD, Wharton and London Business School.

• INSEAD came in third, Wharton fourth, with CEIBS of China rounding out the top five. For China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, it was the highest ranking ever achieved by an Asian school in the Financial Times ranking.
• Saïd Business School jumped 14 spots, more than any other Top 25
• Judge Business School, fell three places to rank 16th. In 2017, Cambridge’s one-year MBA program was ahead of Oxford by 28 positions, ranking fifth versus Oxford’s 33rd.
• Darden School of Business moved into the Top 25, ranking 23rd from 32nd only a year ago.  
• IE sank to 31st, the school’s weakest showing since 2002 when IE finished 35th, and significantly below its eighth-place finish in the world in 2017

Seven MBA programs fell off the list, replaced by seven new business schools 

• Alliance Manchester, fell 23 places to rank 59th from 35th
• Lancaster, dropped 21 places to end up 91st from 70th
• Krannert School of Management plunged 20 places to finish 75th from 55th last year.
• Indian Institute of Management at Calcutta soared 29 places to rank 49th from 78th.
• WHU’s Otto Beisheim School of Management improved by 23 places to rank 71st from 94th.
• Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management and Durham University Business School both advanced 21 places to rank 52nd and 43rd, respectively.