The average GMAT Score in top Business Schools has jumped from 610 in the early 90s to 690 in mid-2000 to 700 in 2012 to 720 in 2017. But don’t blindly follow the 720+ rule. A better strategy would be to aim for the 99th percentile. To convert GMAT Score to percentiles, visit GMAT Percentile page. Although GMAT Score is not the only factor that would decide you chance to get into top Business School, here are the average GMAT Scores of top Business Schools.
Average GMAT Score - Top Business Schools
Stanford 737
Harvard 730
Yale 730
MIT Sloan 713
Haas 725
Wharton 730
Tuck 722
NYU Stern 714
Chicago Booth 726
Kellogg 724
Average GMAT Score of other top Schools
GMAT
Ross 716
Columbia 724
Duke Fuqua 696
Virginia Darden 713
Cornell 700
Average GMAT Score - Top European Business Schools
Insead 707
LBS 707
IE 685
IESE 680
IMD 670
HEC Paris 690
Oxford Said 690
RSM 640
SDA Bocconi 650
GMAT 99th Percentile
The following is a sample set. The GMAT Percentile will vary from year to year and are calculated in a three year time period.
Percentile GMAT
96-99th Percentile 720
79-90th Percentile 630
61-65th Percentile 570
37-50th Percentile 500
Recommended GMAT Course: Veritas Prep
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.