Average GMAT Scores For The World’s Top 20 MBA Programs 2018

The GMAT is an unavoidable obstacle on the road to business school. But is a world-beating score the be-all and end-all?

The GMAT: an unavoidable obstacle on the road to business school. When that journey begins though, candidates already have a target to aim for. Business schools publish their average GMAT scores openly, and the scores for the world’s top MBA programs indicate the challenge ahead.

But, at least the figure is out there. Having a figure gives students a nudge in the right direction, packaging into three numbers an idea of the amount of preparation applicants need to do.

Those figures are rising. When BusinessBecause covered the average GMAT scores for the world’s top 20 MBA programs last year, we found that elite programs in the US recorded year-on-year increases in GMAT averages. The same can be said of this year’s scores.

Chicago Booth’s average GMAT score hit a whopping 738 this year, up from 726 last year, meaning that Stanford—whose score remained the same at 737—was ousted as the school among the world’s top 20 with the highest average score.

Kellogg saw an increase from 717 in 2014, to 728 last year. This year, the school’s...