A strong and competitive undergraduate grade point average will increase your eligibility for admission to top-tier business schools. In part, that’s because your undergraduate GPA is an indication of your capabilities in the classroom and a predictor of future success; but perhaps more importantly, the average incoming GPA for a new business school class will affect the program’s overall rankings—a significant consideration when highly selective universities are in competition with one another!
And while most Admission Committee members would agree that an applicant’s undergraduate GPA would not, by itself, make or break an application, the AdCom will nonetheless be wary of admitting someone whose GPA is too far below from the average. For this reason, you will find that the most selective business schools will demand the highest standards in regard to undergraduate performance, while lower ranked programs will likely have more lenient policies.
Many top business schools publish the average GPA figures in the incoming class profiles circulated every year before matriculation. The following table draws from these profiles to show the average incoming grade point average for MBA programs in the US.
| MBA Program | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Harvard Business School | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| The Wharton School | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Northwestern Kellogg | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Chicago Booth | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Columbia Business School | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| MIT Sloan* | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Dartmouth Tuck | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Berkeley Haas | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Virginia Darden | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Yale SOM* | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Duke Fuqua** | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Michigan Ross | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Texas McCombs | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Cornell Johnson* | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| UCLA Anderson** | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.7 |
| NYU Stern | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Carnegie Mellon Tepper | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| UNC Kenan-Flagler | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Emory Goizueta** | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| USC Marshall | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Georgetown McDonough | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Indiana Kelley | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| UW Foster | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Rice Jones | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
*Median GPA
**Contains estimates
Put simply, a GPA 1 point off the average (or more) could be considered low, especially for top business schools, where standards are higher. As we’ve already mentioned, MBA admissions officers are keenly aware of the average stats for their incoming classes, and applying with a lower grade point average will certainly put you at a disadvantage compared to someone who meets or exceeds the average GPA of the incoming class. Nonetheless, there are still steps you can take to improve your application.
If you are applying to a business school on the list above and you are worried that your performance as an undergraduate does not stand up to that of other admitted applicants, don’t be discouraged. By putting time and effort into your GMAT score and your application package—which includes your resume, extracurriculars, and most importantly, your essays—you can make up for a less-than-stellar GPA.
