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MBA Programs With the Most Female Students

MBA Programs With the Most Female Students 

MBA applications from female students are up six percentage points (to 39 percent) since 2013, according to data from GMAC. Still, gender parity remains an elusive goal at top business schools.

Among top MBA programs, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business have the most balanced ratio of women to men, at 44 percent women. And top  B-schools are increasingly cracking the 40 percent mark. 

The 50 percent threshold, though, has proved harder to attain. Out of the highest-ranked MBA programs in the United States, these were the ones with the most women in 2017, according to data from Poets & Quants: 

– Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business: 44 percent
– University of Pennsylvania Wharton School: 44 percent
– University of Michigan Ross School of Business: 43 percent
– Yale School of Management: 43 percent
– Harvard Business School: 42 percent
– MIT Sloan School of Management: 42 percent
– Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management: 42 percent
– University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business: 40 percent
– University of Chicago Booth School of Business: 40 percent
– Stanford Graduate School of Business: 40 percent

If we expand our scope to include not just the top MBA programs in the country, some programs have achieved classes with high portions of female students. 

Last year, for example, U.S. News found that the business school with the highest percentage of full-time female students was Missouri University of Science and Technology, at 55.6 percent.

At the most highly ranked B-schools in the country, though, such a figure doesn’t seem to be in striking distance yet. It will be a major milestone when a top MBA program enrolls a class with 50 percent women. 

The good news is that applications from women are on the rise, according to GMAC’s 2017 Application Trends Survey.

Globally, 42 percent of business school applications are now submitted by women, up from 37 percent in 2013. In MBA programs, that figure has risen to 39 percent from 33 percent in 2013. 

Interestingly, applications from women already outnumber those from men in business master’s programs, at 54 percent. This figure is unchanged from 2013. 

That said, the majority of women who apply to business school still apply to MBA programs. Specifically, 71 percent of applications submitted by women are for MBA programs.

 As the number of MBA applications from women has increased, top MBA programs have made real gains in recruiting classes with more equal gender representation.

Since 2013, for example, the top two schools in terms of gender ratio, Wharton and Tuck, have increased their percentage of female students by 2 and 12 points respectively.

Other top schools have made similar gains. While only three of the 25 highest-ranked schools had MBA classes with 40 percent or more female students in 2013, 12 do now. 

If you’re looking to attend a top MBA program where 40 percent or more of the students are women, you now have several schools to choose from.

 Of course, these programs are highly competitive, but that’s where we come in. We can give you feedback on how adcoms at these schools will perceive your application and how you can submit an application that maximizes your strengths – ask us for a free assessment!