Some business schools are more selective than others. Acceptance rate and yield rate are the two metrics that convey the selectivity index of a business school. First, let’s understand what these two terms mean.
Acceptance rate – It is the ratio of the number of admissions offers made by the business school and the total number of applications.
Yield rate – It is the ratio of the number of admissions offers accepted (students who enroll in the MBA program) and the total number of admission offers made by the business school.
Acceptance rate helps you decide what are your chances of getting an admission offer from your target business school. The yield rate helps you understand the probability of converting the waitlist to an offer. If the yield rate of the business school where you have been waitlisted is high then the probability of getting an admission offer decreases.
Acceptance rate and Yield rate of top 50 business schools (2016-2021)
Here is the total data on acceptance rates for the top 50 business schools from 2016 to 2021:
| Data | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2-Year Trend | 6-Year Trend |
| Acceptance Rate | 18.4% | 22.3% | 19.7% | 17.2% | 16.0% | 14.5% | -4.0 (17.9%) | 3.9 (26.9%) |
| Applications | 57,975 | 57,187 | 50,439 | 53,907 | 57,311 | 54,694 | 788 (1.4%) | 3,281 (6.0%) |
| Admits | 9,484 | 11,324 | 8,664 | 8,397 | 8,309 | 7,934 | -1,840 (16.2%) | 1,550 (19.5%) |
| Enrolled | 5,459 | 5,500 | 5,361 | 5,446 | 5,349 | 5,100 | -41 (0.7%) | 359 (7.0%) |
| Yield | 57.6% | 48.6% | 61.9% | 64.9% | 64.4% | 64.3% | 9 (18.5%) | -6.7 (10.4%) |
The acceptance rates of the top 50 business schools increased for the 2020 admissions because of the uncertainty created after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It jumped to 22.3% in 2020 from 19.7% in 2019.
Even though the applications and offers increased in 2020, the yield rate dropped significantly from 61.9% in 2019 to 48.6% in 2020.
However, as the global economy improved in 2021 so did the interest in attending business schools. This is evident from the yield rate which improved from 48.6% in 2022 to 57.6% in 2021. It is also expected to improve in subsequent years.
Now that you have an understanding of the top 50 business schools’ acceptance rates and yield rates, let’s now take a look at the acceptance rates and yield rates of individual business schools.
Acceptance rates and yield rates of business schools
| S. No. | Business School | Acceptance Rate 2021 | Yield 2021 | Applications 2021 | Admits 2021 | Enrolled 2021 (Class of 2023) | Acceptance Rate 2020 | Yield 2020 | Acceptance Rate 2019 | Yield 2019 | Acceptance Rate 2018 | Yield 2018 |
| 1 | Stanford GSB | 6.2% | 93.6% | 7,367 | 455 | 426 | 7.2% | 82.3% | 6.7% | 84.2% | 6.3% | 85.3% |
| 2 | MIT (Sloan) | 12.1% | 52.4% | 7,112 | 859 | 450 | 22.0% | 34.7% | 11.5% | 69.5% | 12.1% | 60.6% |
| 3 | Harvard Business School | 12.5% | 82.7% | 9,773 | 1,222 | 1,010 | 12.0% | 65.6% | 12.0% | 89.0% | 11.0% | 90.0% |
| 4 | Columbia | 15.7% | 64.8% | 6,535 | 948 | 614 | 16.2% | 69.2% | 19.1% | 67.2% | 17.0% | 73.5% |
| 5 | UC-Berkeley (Haas) | 17.6% | 43.0% | 3,841 | 677 | 291 | 23.3% | 38.5% | 17.7% | 46.3% | 12.0% | 49.4% |
| 6 | Wharton | 18.2% | 67.0% | 7,338 | 1,338 | 897 | 25.0% | 51.2% | 22.0% | 66.0% | 20.6% | 66.9% |
| 7 | Duke (Fuqua) | 19.2% | 61.8% | 3,762 | 723 | 447 | 25.0% | 48.7% | 22.9% | 56.8% | 22.0% | 55.1% |
| 8 | NYU (Stern) | 19.5% | 46.7% | 3,958 | 771 | 360 | 28.7% | 29.9% | 26.1% | 39.1% | 23.0% | 42.2% |
| 9 | Michigan (Ross) | 20.2% | 49.3% | 4,003 | 808 | 398 | 37.0% | 37.6% | 31.0% | 45.6% | 27.0% | 49.0% |
| 10 | Chicago (Booth) | 22.6% | 54.4% | 5,037 | 1,140 | 620 | 22.0% | 57.5% | 22.5% | 59.5% | 22.9% | 60.1% |
| 11 | USC (Marshall) | 23.0% | 39.3% | 2,418 | 555 | 218 | 24.3% | 28.3% | 29.9% | 37.7% | 28.0% | 38.8% |
| 12 | Yale SOM | 23.6% | 38.2% | 3,877 | 914 | 349 | 29.7% | 34.1% | 25.2% | 42.8% | 20.0% | 45.0% |
| 13 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 26.0% | 42.2% | 4,632 | 1,205 | 508 | 20.0% | 48.1% | 26.0% | 48.0% | 20.7% | 51.6% |
| 14 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | 29.5% | 40.5% | 2,463 | 726 | 294 | 34.8% | 37.4% | 34.5% | 40.5% | 22.7% | 48.2% |
| 15 | Cornell (Johnson) | 29.5% | 49.0% | 2,105 | 620 | 304 | 39.6% | 39.4% | 38.3% | 48.0% | 33.0% | 52.7% |
| 16 | CMU (Tepper) | 29.7% | 39.6% | 1,963 | 583 | 231 | 27.4% | 24.6% | 41.5% | 36.8% | 35.0% | 41.0% |
| 17 | UCLA (Anderson) | 29.8% | 40.5% | 3,085 | 919 | 372 | 35.3% | 35.6% | 26.0% | 49.2% | 24.3% | 43.3% |
| 18 | Virginia (Darden) | 29.9% | 38.4% | 3,058 | 913 | 351 | 35.6% | 38.1% | 36.3% | 42.5% | 32.9% | 45.3% |
| 19 | Indiana (Kelley) | 31.5% | 42.4% | 1,173 | 370 | 157 | 42.7% | 29.6% | 49.4% | 37.4% | 38.0% | 44.7% |
| 20 | Washington (Foster) | 35.2% | 42.7% | 839 | 295 | 126 | 41.3% | 32.0% | 36.0% | 38.9% | 35.0% | 38.1% |
| 21 | Texas-Austin (McCombs) | 35.5% | 36.1% | 2,102 | 747 | 270 | 37.0% | 33.3% | 38.0% | 35.1% | 34.0% | 37.9% |
| 22 | Rice (Jones) | 42.0% | 48.9% | 867 | 364 | 178 | 39.5% | 49.3% | 37.3% | 45.9% | 39.0% | 51.3% |
| 23 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | 44.0% | 35.7% | 1,159 | 510 | 182 | 46.3% | 32.8% | 58.7% | 36.8% | 61.0% | 41.1% |
| 24 | UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | 44.3% | 44.7% | 1,494 | 662 | 296 | 50.6% | 35.6% | 52.9% | 36.0% | 46.0% | 34.1% |
| 25 | Georgetown (McDonough) | 48.1% | 36.2% | 1,626 | 782 | 283 | 57.0% | 29.2% | 60.5% | 33.5% | 55.0% | 33.6% |
| 26 | Emory (Goizueta) | 53.1% | 34.0% | 915 | 486 | 165 | 46.1% | 29.5% | 44.0% | 32.7% | 37.0% | 36.3% |
Let’s take a look at the class size, acceptance rates, and yield rates of top business schools from 2019 to 2021
Acceptance rates of top business schools (2019 to 2021)
| S. No. | School | Acceptance Rate 2021 | Acceptance Rate 2020 | Acceptance Rate 2019 |
| 1 | Stanford GSB | 6.2% | 8.9% | 6.7% |
| 2 | MIT (Sloan) | 12.1% | 21.9% | 11.5% |
| 3 | Harvard Business School | 12.5% | 9.2% | 12.0% |
| 4 | Columbia | 15.7% | 13.6% | 19.1% |
| 5 | UC-Berkeley (Haas) | 17.6% | 23.3% | 17.7% |
| 6 | Wharton | 18.2% | 23.1% | 22.0% |
| 7 | Duke (Fuqua) | 19.2% | 24.9% | 22.9% |
| 8 | NYU (Stern) | 19.5% | 29.0% | 26.1% |
| 9 | Michigan (Ross) | 20.2% | 37.0% | 31.0% |
| 10 | Chicago (Booth) | 22.6% | 27.6% | 22.5% |
| 11 | USC (Marshall) | 23.0% | 24.3% | 29.9% |
| 12 | Yale SOM | 23.6% | 29.7% | 25.2% |
| 13 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 26.0% | 27.9% | 26.0% |
| 14 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | 29.5% | 34.8% | 34.5% |
| 15 | Cornell (Johnson) | 29.5% | 39.6% | 38.3% |
| 16 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | 29.7% | 27.7% | 41.5% |
| 17 | UCLA (Anderson) | 29.8% | 34.4% | 26.0% |
| 18 | Virginia (Darden) | 29.9% | 35.1% | 36.3% |
| 19 | Indiana (Kelley) | 31.5% | 42.7% | 49.4% |
| 20 | Washington (Foster) | 35.2% | 41.3% | 36.0% |
| 21 | Texas (McCombs) | 35.5% | 36.9% | 38.0% |
| 22 | Rice (Jones) | 42.0% | 39.5% | 37.3% |
| 23 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | 44.0% | 46.3% | 58.7% |
| 24 | UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | 44.3% | 52.5% | 52.9% |
| 25 | Georgetown (McDonough) | 48.1% | 56.9% | 60.5% |
| 26 | Emory (Goizueta) | 53.1% | 46.1% | 44.0% |
Class size of top business schools (2019-2021)
| S. No. | Business School | Enrolled 2021 (Class of 2023) | Enrolled 2020 (Class of 2022) | Enrolled 2019 (Class of 2021) | 3-Year Trend |
| 1 | Harvard Business School | 1,010 | 732 | 938 | 72 |
| 2 | Wharton | 897 | 916 | 855 | 42 |
| 3 | Chicago (Booth) | 620 | 621 | 593 | 27 |
| 4 | Columbia | 614 | 782 | 754 | -140 |
| 5 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 508 | 559 | 474 | 34 |
| 6 | MIT (Sloan) | 450 | 484 | 416 | 34 |
| 7 | Duke (Fuqua) | 447 | 408 | 395 | 52 |
| 8 | Stanford GSB | 426 | 436 | 417 | 9 |
| 9 | Michigan (Ross) | 398 | 358 | 422 | -24 |
| 10 | UCLA (Anderson) | 372 | 360 | 343 | 29 |
| 11 | NYU (Stern) | 360 | 317 | 359 | 1 |
| 12 | Virginia (Darden) | 351 | 409 | 338 | 13 |
| 13 | Yale SOM | 349 | 350 | 345 | 4 |
| 14 | Cornell (Johnson) | 304 | 292 | 282 | 22 |
| 15 | UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | 296 | 344 | 252 | 44 |
| 16 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | 294 | 289 | 284 | 10 |
| 17 | UC-Berkeley (Haas) | 291 | 331 | 283 | 8 |
| 18 | Georgetown (McDonough) | 283 | 247 | 275 | 8 |
| 19 | Texas (McCombs) | 270 | 242 | 260 | 10 |
| 20 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | 231 | 141 | 200 | 31 |
| 21 | USC (Marshall) | 218 | 217 | 214 | 4 |
| 22 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | 182 | 182 | 147 | 35 |
| 23 | Rice (Jones) | 178 | 180 | 107 | 71 |
| 24 | Emory (Goizueta) | 165 | 145 | 147 | 18 |
| 25 | Indiana (Kelley) | 157 | 92 | 137 | 20 |
| 26 | Washington (Foster) | 126 | 110 | 117 | 9 |
Yield rates of top business schools (2019-2021)
| S. No. | Business School | Yield 2021 | Yield 2020 | Yield 2019 |
| 1 | Stanford GSB | 93.6% | 67.0% | 84.2% |
| 2 | Harvard Business School | 82.7% | 85.2% | 89.0% |
| 3 | Penn (Wharton) | 67.0% | 55.4% | 66.0% |
| 4 | Columbia | 64.8% | 69.2% | 67.2% |
| 5 | Duke (Fuqua) | 61.8% | 48.7% | 56.8% |
| 6 | Chicago (Booth) | 54.4% | 45.8% | 59.5% |
| 7 | MIT (Sloan) | 52.4% | 34.7% | 69.5% |
| 8 | Michigan (Ross) | 49.3% | 37.6% | 45.6% |
| 9 | Cornell (Johnson) | 49.0% | 39.4% | 48.0% |
| 10 | Rice (Jones) | 48.9% | 49.3% | 45.9% |
| 11 | NYU (Stern) | 46.7% | 29.9% | 39.1% |
| 12 | UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | 44.7% | 35.6% | 36.0% |
| 13 | UC-Berkeley (Haas) | 43.0% | 38.4% | 46.3% |
| 14 | Washington (Foster) | 42.7% | 32.0% | 38.9% |
| 15 | Indiana (Kelley) | 42.4% | 29.6% | 37.4% |
| 16 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | 42.2% | 34.5% | 48.0% |
| 17 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | 40.5% | 37.4% | 40.5% |
| 18 | UCLA (Anderson) | 40.5% | 35.6% | 49.2% |
| 19 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | 39.6% | 24.6% | 36.8% |
| 20 | USC (Marshall) | 39.3% | 28.3% | 37.7% |
| 21 | Virginia (Darden) | 38.4% | 38.1% | 42.5% |
| 22 | Yale SOM | 38.2% | 34.1% | 42.8% |
| 23 | Georgetown (McDonough) | 36.2% | 29.3% | 33.5% |
| 24 | Texas (McCombs) | 36.1% | 33.3% | 35.1% |
| 25 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | 35.7% | 32.8% | 36.8% |
| 26 | Emory (Goizueta) | 34.0% | 29.5% | 32.7% |
FAQs
Stanford GSB had the lowest acceptance rate of 6.2% in 2021
Acceptance rate is the ratio of the number of admissions offers made by the business school and the total number of applications.
Yield rate is the ratio of the number of admissions offers accepted (students who enroll in the MBA program) and the total number of admission offers made by the business school.
