MBA programs range from highly selective full-time degrees to part-time, executive, and fully online options. Recent figures from Harvard Business School, AACSB, and GMAC show how applicant volume, student backgrounds, delivery formats, test scores, financial aid, and early-career pay differ across the market.
Contents
- MBA class profile and applicant volume
- Student backgrounds and academic preparation
- MBA test-score statistics
- Enrollment formats and acceptance rates
- Scholarships and affordability
- Starting salaries and employer demand
MBA class profile and applicant volume
Harvard Business School’s MBA Class of 2027 includes 943 students. The class profile reports 9,409 applications during the 2024–2025 academic year. These figures put the size of one incoming class alongside the scale of its applicant pool, although they do not by themselves establish an acceptance rate.
The HBS class is internationally and geographically broad. International students represent 37% of the Class of 2027, and the class includes students from 62 countries. Students also come from 283 universities. Women make up 44% of the class, while first-generation students account for 10%.
The HBS Class of 2027 has an average GPA of 3.76. Average work experience is 4.9 years, and the middle 80% work-experience range is 3 to 7 years. Together, these figures describe a class profile with substantial professional experience, while also showing that the typical range is wider than a single average.
Student backgrounds and academic preparation
The HBS profile breaks down students’ pre-MBA industries. Venture capital and private equity account for 16% of the class background, technology for 13%, and financial services for 10%. Consumer products, retail, and e-commerce account for 9%.
Consulting represents 19%, the largest listed pre-MBA industry share. Health care, biotech, manufacturing, industrial, and energy each represent 8%. Nonprofit, government, and education account for 6%, while media, entertainment, and travel account for 5%.
Military backgrounds account for 3% and services for 2%. These categories describe students’ pre-MBA industry backgrounds; they are not measures of post-graduation employment or guarantees of a particular career path.
| HBS Class of 2027 background | Share |
|---|---|
| Consulting | 19% |
| Venture capital / private equity | 16% |
| Technology | 13% |
| Financial services | 10% |
| Consumer products / retail / e-commerce | 9% |
| Health care / biotech | 8% |
| Manufacturing / industrial / energy | 8% |
The HBS class profile also reports how students submitted admissions-test scores. Forty-four percent submitted GRE scores, 34% submitted GMAT scores, and 28% submitted GMAT 10th edition scores. These percentages describe the reported score submissions and should not be added together as a count of students, because the profile does not establish whether categories overlap.
MBA test-score statistics
Among HBS Class of 2027 students who submitted GRE scores, the verbal median is 164 and the quantitative median is 164. The middle 80% spans 158 to 168 on verbal and 159 to 169 on quantitative.
For the GMAT, the verbal median is 86, the quantitative median is 84, and the total median is 685. The middle-80% ranges are 82 to 90 for verbal, 79 to 89 for quantitative, and 645 to 735 for the total score.
The HBS profile separately reports GMAT 10th edition results. The verbal median is 42, the quantitative median is 49, and the total median is 730. The middle-80% ranges are 38 to 47 for verbal, 45 to 50 for quantitative, and 690 to 770 for the total.
| HBS Class of 2027 test measure | Median | Middle 80% |
|---|---|---|
| GRE verbal | 164 | 158–168 |
| GRE quantitative | 164 | 159–169 |
| GMAT verbal | 86 | 82–90 |
| GMAT quantitative | 84 | 79–89 |
| GMAT total | 685 | 645–735 |
| GMAT 10th edition total | 730 | 690–770 |
These score scales should be read within their respective exams. A GRE score, a GMAT score, and a GMAT 10th edition score are not interchangeable numbers, so the medians are best used to understand the reported profile for each testing route.
ETS reports that the Major Field Test for MBA uses a scale from 220 to 300. That is a program assessment scale, not an admissions-test range, and should not be compared directly with the HBS GRE or GMAT figures.
Enrollment formats and acceptance rates
AACSB’s Master’s Enrollment Trends 2025 reports more than 660,000 students enrolled in master’s programs at accredited schools in 2023–24. The report says master’s enrollment grew 30% over the past decade and 13% over the past six years. Applications rose 48% from 2018–19 to 2023–24, representing average application growth of 7% annually across that period.
MBA programs account for around 30% of total master’s enrollment, according to AACSB. About 60% of MBA students are enrolled part-time. At the broader master’s-program level, full-time enrollment remains between 66% and 67%.
Delivery formats have also shifted. AACSB reports that fully online MBA enrollment rose from 30% in 2020–21 to 38% in 2024–25. Fully face-to-face MBA enrollment declined to 46%. These are enrollment-format measures for the stated academic years, not projections of future market share.
AACSB’s Master’s Enrollment Trends 2024 reports acceptance rates around 60% for Executive MBA programs. It reports MBA-program acceptance rates of 36% to 39%, while master’s specialist programs have acceptance rates of 44% to 48%.
The categories are useful for comparing program types, but an acceptance-rate range does not predict the result for a particular applicant. Selectivity can vary by school, format, applicant pool, and admissions cycle.
Scholarships and affordability
The HBS Class of 2027 profile reports that about 50% of HBS MBA students receive need-based scholarships. Ten percent receive full-tuition scholarships. The average need-based scholarship awarded over two years is $100,000.
These figures describe HBS need-based aid and should not be treated as a typical scholarship amount across all MBA programs. They also distinguish full-tuition scholarships from the average two-year need-based award: the two measures answer different questions about aid coverage and award size.
AACSB’s enrollment figures help place this financial-aid context within a larger graduate-management-education market. More than 660,000 students were enrolled across accredited master’s programs in 2023–24, while MBA programs represented around 30% of total master’s enrollment. That market-level denominator includes programs beyond the HBS full-time MBA.
Starting salaries and employer demand
GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey 2024 U.S. profile reports a $120,000 median starting salary for MBA graduates. The same profile reports $90,000 for experienced direct-from-industry candidates and $69,320 for bachelor’s graduates.
Several specialized master’s degrees have lower reported median starting salaries in the same U.S. profile: $80,000 for Master of Business Analytics, Master of Data Analytics, Master of Finance, and Master in Management graduates; $79,500 for Master of Marketing graduates; and $75,000 for Master of Accounting graduates.
| Graduate group | Median starting salary, U.S. |
|---|---|
| MBA graduates | $120,000 |
| Experienced direct-from-industry candidates | $90,000 |
| Master of Business Analytics graduates | $80,000 |
| Master of Data Analytics graduates | $80,000 |
| Master of Finance graduates | $80,000 |
| Master in Management graduates | $80,000 |
| Master of Marketing graduates | $79,500 |
| Master of Accounting graduates | $75,000 |
| Bachelor’s graduates | $69,320 |
GMAC estimates that MBA graduates in the United States earn 1.75 times the salary of bachelor’s-degree holders. This is an estimate reported in the U.S. profile, not a guaranteed salary multiple for every graduate or occupation.
Employer expectations also differ by geography. In the United States, 26% of employers expect demand for graduate management education to increase over the next five years, 66% expect it to remain stable, and 9% expect it to decrease. The comparable global figures in GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey 2024 are 54% expecting an increase, 43% expecting stability, and 3% expecting a decrease.
GMAC ranks artificial intelligence as the 22nd most important current skill for U.S. employers and the sixth most important future skill. Those rankings connect current employer priorities with a higher future ranking, but they do not quantify a salary premium or identify one universal MBA curriculum.