GMAC has released the total mean GMAT score for the past five years (2008-12). Except for the year 2008-09, mean GMAT scores have shown consistent improvement. This can be attributed to the large number of online GMAT prep services that have sprung in the market, post the 2008-09 financial crises. On an average, the total mean GMAT score has increased by 1.5 to 2 points every year, reaching 548.21 during the year 2011-12.
An interesting trend that can be noticed in the 2012 Profile of GMAT Candidates report is the performance of GMAT test takers from various undergraduate degrees. Let us for the sake of argument attribute GMAT scores to have the maximum priority in an MBA application. Here are the observations that we made from the report.
1) Test takers from Physics, Mathematics and Engineering, topped the 5 Year Mean GMAT score with 607.4, 603.4 and 592.8 respectively
2) Marketing and Education undergraduates were at the bottom of the list with mean total GMAT Scores of 493.2 and 485.8.
3) Test takers from Statistics background showed the maximum growth in Mean GMAT score with mean varying from 486 to 510 in the past 5 years.
4) The group with the maximum negative growth was Art & History undergraduates with the score dipping by over 10 points from the highs of 571 during 2009-16 to 555 in 2011-12.
So where do you stand among your peers?
As a rule of thumb, if your score is 120-150 points above the mean of your undergraduate group, you have a competitive GMAT Score.
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.