Percent of Applicants Rejected

Admission to all accredited MBA programs is selective, based on undergraduate grade point average (GPA), score on the GMAT, work experience, and personal characteristics. Taken together with a school's average GMAT score, acceptance selectivity tells as much about those who apply as about the standards of the school. Some schools may attract a large number of applicants, many of whom are poorly qualified. Others may attract fewer, but better qualified applicants. The number of applicants depends on many factors, including tuition, location, visibility of the school, perceived quality, and reputation. In general, the number of applicants rejected may say something about the reputation or quality of a school's MBA program.

Schools with the highest rejection rate are ranked the highest.

The 20-22 May 2002 Doonesbury comic strip illustrated a humorous example of a university manipulating the rejection-rate rankings to its advantage: