Business school admissions statistics show both the scale of competition and the varied backgrounds of students who enroll. Recent class profiles from Harvard Business School, Chicago Booth, Berkeley Haas, Michigan Ross, and Tuck provide comparable measures for MBA applicants, while GMAC and AACSB reports show wider application and enrollment trends.
Contents
- At-a-glance admissions figures
- Class size and application volume
- Academic and testing profiles
- Work experience and educational background
- Gender, international, and first-generation representation
- Military experience and prior degrees
- Application and enrollment trends
At-a-glance admissions figures
The supplied school profiles describe incoming MBA classes for 2027, while Harvard Business School’s annual-report metrics describe MBA activity in 2025. Those periods should not be treated as interchangeable. The class-profile figures describe a particular incoming cohort; the annual-report figures describe a broader institutional year.
| School or source | Measure | Reported figure | Period or class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Business School | Applications | 9,409 | MBA Class of 2027 |
| Harvard Business School | Class size | 943 | MBA Class of 2027 |
| Chicago Booth | Applications | 5,876 | Full-Time MBA Class of 2027 |
| Chicago Booth | Class size | 635 | Full-Time MBA Class of 2027 |
| Berkeley Haas | Enrollment | 273 | Full-Time MBA Class of 2027 |
| Michigan Ross | Class size | 379 | Full-Time MBA Class of 2027 |
| Tuck | Enrollment | 304 | MBA Class of 2027 |
The Harvard Business School Class Profile reports 943 students and 9,409 applications for the MBA Class of 2027. The Chicago Booth Full-Time MBA Class Profile reports 635 students and 5,876 applications for its Class of 2027. Berkeley Haas reports 273 enrolled students, Michigan Ross reports 379 students, and Tuck reports enrollment of 304 students for their respective MBA Classes of 2027.
Harvard’s annual report provides a separate admissions measure: 12% of applicants were admitted for the incoming class shown in that report. The same Harvard Business School Key Metrics source reports an 85% MBA yield rate in 2025 and MBA enrollment of 1,878 in 2025. Because these figures come from an annual-report context rather than the Class of 2027 profile, they are best used as institutional context rather than as a direct conversion of the class-profile application and enrollment figures.
Class size and application volume
Class size varies substantially across the reported full-time MBA cohorts. Harvard’s 943-student incoming class is larger than Chicago Booth’s 635-student class, Michigan Ross’s 379-student class, Tuck’s 304-student class, and Berkeley Haas’s 273-student class. These are reported cohort sizes, not rankings of program quality or guarantees of future class size.
Application volume also differs. Harvard Business School reports 9,409 applications for the Class of 2027, while Chicago Booth reports 5,876. The two figures indicate the scale of demand at those schools during the stated admissions cycle, but they do not by themselves establish comparable acceptance rates. An application count can include applicants who differ in eligibility, application round, or reporting treatment, and the class sizes describe enrolled students rather than all admitted applicants.
The Harvard Business School Key Metrics source reports that the MBA program enrolled 1,878 students in 2025. That annual enrollment number is larger than the 943-student Class of 2027 figure because it concerns MBA enrollment in an institutional year, not only one incoming class. The same source reports 2025 tuition of $76,410 and average aid per student of $47,345. Harvard’s Class Profile separately says that about 50% of HBS students receive need-based scholarships, 10% receive full-tuition scholarships, and the average need-based scholarship is about $100,000 over two years.
Academic and testing profiles
The academic measures in the reported profiles are not uniform. Harvard Business School reports an average GPA of 3.76 for the MBA Class of 2027. Berkeley Haas reports a 3.67 average undergraduate GPA for its Class of 2027. Chicago Booth’s Class Profile reports a 3.6 average GPA for the Class of 2026, an earlier cohort than the other class-profile figures in this comparison.
Testing information is also presented in different ways. For Harvard’s Class of 2027, 44% submitted GRE scores, 34% submitted GMAT scores, and 28% submitted GMAT 10th edition scores. These percentages describe submitted score types in that class profile; they should not be added to infer a single applicant pool because the categories and reporting conventions may overlap or distinguish different GMAT versions.
Chicago Booth’s Class Profile reports a 729 average GMAT for the Class of 2026 and average GRE scores of 161 verbal and 163 quantitative. Michigan Ross reports a 731 average GMAT and a 681 average GMAT Focus score for the Class of 2027. Berkeley Haas reports a 730 median GMAT and a 675 median GMAT Focus score for its Class of 2027.
| School and class | GMAT measure | GRE measure or additional score |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Booth, Class of 2026 | 729 average GMAT | 161 verbal / 163 quantitative average GRE |
| Berkeley Haas, Class of 2027 | 730 median GMAT; 675 median GMAT Focus | Not reported here |
| Michigan Ross, Class of 2027 | 731 average GMAT; 681 average GMAT Focus | Not reported here |
A median identifies the midpoint of a reported distribution, while an average is a mean. The Berkeley Haas median GMAT and the Chicago Booth and Michigan Ross average GMAT figures therefore answer slightly different questions and should not be read as a precise school-to-school ranking. The same caution applies when comparing standard GMAT and GMAT Focus measures.
Work experience and educational background
Harvard reports 4.9 average years of work experience for the Class of 2027, with the middle 80% ranging from 3 to 7 years. Chicago Booth reports 5 years of average work experience for its Class of 2027. Tuck reports 68 average months worked for its Class of 2027, equivalent to a little under six years when expressed in years, but the source’s original measurement is months and should be understood that way.
Tuck’s profile also reports 85 unique undergraduate majors and 252 unique employers in the Class of 2027. Those measures suggest breadth in academic and professional backgrounds, but they do not identify which majors or employers are most common. Tuck additionally reports that 10% of the class had previous advanced degrees.
Chicago Booth’s Class of 2027 includes 60 joint-degree students. That figure identifies students in a joint-degree category within the reported class; it is not a measure of all students with prior graduate education. Tuck’s 10% previous-advanced-degree figure uses a different background measure and should not be combined with Booth’s joint-degree count.
Harvard’s Class Profile reports 283 universities represented in the Class of 2027. Together with the average GPA and work-experience figures, that statistic gives applicants a clearer picture of the cohort’s academic reach and professional timing than a single test score would. It still describes the enrolled class, not a formal minimum for admission.
Gender, international, and first-generation representation
The reported Class of 2027 profiles provide several measures of representation. Harvard reports that 44% of its MBA Class of 2027 are women and 37% are international students. The class represents 62 countries, and 10% of students are first-generation. Chicago Booth reports 41% women, 37% international students, 63 countries represented, and 12% first-generation students for its Class of 2027.
Berkeley Haas reports 43% women, 44% international students, representation from 42 countries, and 18% first-generation college students in its Class of 2027. Michigan Ross reports 39% women, 40% international students, and 22% first-generation college students. Tuck reports 44% women, 34% international students, and 46 countries represented by citizenship.
| School, Class of 2027 | Women | International students | First-generation measure | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Business School | 44% | 37% | 10% first-generation | 62 |
| Chicago Booth | 41% | 37% | 12% first-generation | 63 |
| Berkeley Haas | 43% | 44% | 18% first-generation college | 42 |
| Michigan Ross | 39% | 40% | 22% first-generation college | Not reported here |
| Tuck | 44% | 34% | Not reported here | 46 by citizenship |
The labels matter. “International students,” “foreign nationals,” and “countries represented by citizenship” are related but not identical measures. Tuck separately reports that 22% of its Class of 2027 are foreign nationals and 34% are international students. Those percentages should remain distinct rather than being treated as duplicate descriptions of one statistic.
Chicago Booth’s earlier Class of 2026 profile reported 42% female, compared with 41% women in its Class of 2027 profile. The two figures belong to different classes and are not evidence of a trend unless a consistent time series is available.
Military experience and prior degrees
Several schools report military or veteran representation. Chicago Booth’s Class of 2027 is 11% veterans. Berkeley Haas reports 6% veterans for its Class of 2027. Michigan Ross reports that 15% of its Class of 2027 is U.S. military. These labels are not identical: veteran status and U.S. military representation can describe different categories, so the figures should be compared only as the sources define them.
Berkeley Haas reports an 18% first-generation-college share, while Michigan Ross reports 22% first-generation college and Chicago Booth reports 12% first-generation students. Harvard reports 10% first-generation students. The different wording may reflect each school’s own profile definition, so applicants should consult the school’s full methodology when using these measures for detailed comparisons.
Tuck’s profile adds two distinctive background measures: 10% of the Class of 2027 had previous advanced degrees, and the class includes 85 unique undergraduate majors. These figures are useful reminders that MBA cohorts include applicants with varied academic paths. They do not indicate that an advanced degree is required or preferred for admission.
Application and enrollment trends
The broader business-school reports point to renewed application activity, but their scopes differ from the individual MBA class profiles. GMAC’s United States Application Trends Survey 2024 found that more than half of U.S. programs reported growth in applications. The same survey found that the full-time two-year MBA reached application levels similar to the pandemic-related peak in 2020.
AACSB’s Enrollment Trends at AACSB Business Schools: 2025 reports that aggregate international master’s enrollment grew 25% from 2020–21 to 2024–25. It also reports that the international share of master’s enrollment rose from 30% to 36% over that period. These are aggregate international master’s enrollment measures, not acceptance rates for full-time MBA programs.
An AACSB enrollment article published for 2026 reports that business school applications reached 1.3 million in 2024–25, that new entrants reached 222,713 in 2024–25, and that applications were up 25% year over year. The figures describe the scope used by that article and should not be substituted for the application counts reported by Harvard Business School or Chicago Booth.
For applicants, the practical message is to read every statistic with its cohort, geography, definition, and measurement date attached. A class profile can clarify the backgrounds of students who enrolled, while an application-trends survey can show how demand is changing across programs. Neither source alone predicts an individual applicant’s outcome.