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NYU Stern’s 2020 MBA Class Profile

New York University’s Stern School of Business has become one of the first prominent U.S. business schools to release data on its full-time MBA Class of 2020. Admission to Stern’s MBA program remains competitive, with 23 percent of candidates landing a spot in the class.

Overall, Stern received 3,781 applications and sent out 876 offers of admission. The final size of this year’s cohort of enrolled MBA students is 375.

So what’s the typical academic profile of a student in Stern’s latest MBA class? The median GPA is 3.44 and the median GMAT score is 720.

Of course, there’s some variation in both GPA and GMAT. The 80 percent range is 3.16-3.78 for GPA and 660-760 for GMAT.

The GMAT remains overwhelmingly the standardized test of choice for successful Stern applicants. Seventy-four percent submitted GMAT scores and 19 percent submitted GRE scores. An additional 2 percent provided results from both the GRE and the GMAT.

As expected, the vast majority of Stern’s newest batch of MBA students have prior work experience. More precisely, 96 percent have worked full time in the past, and those students have 5.3 years of experience on average.

As for what industries they’ve worked in, there’s substantial variation. Twenty-six percent are coming from finance, 13 percent from consulting and 9 percent from technology. But a wide range of other industries are represented, including entertainment, government and retail.

Stern’s MBA Class of 2020 consists of 35 percent women and 39 percent international students, including those who have dual citizenship. Twenty-nine percent are minorities, and 13 percent underrepresented minorities.

Altogether, those students account for 39 different countries. While the average age is 28, the class includes students between the ages of 21 and 36.

Besides having a diverse range of backgrounds and workplace experiences, Stern’s 2020 MBA cohort comes to business school with variety in their academic experiences. Although business is the most popular undergraduate major, it still accounts for a minority of students, at 29 percent.

STEM majors are the next most popular, at 20 percent. Economics, humanities and arts, and social sciences also have healthy representation, at 18 percent, 17 percent and 16 percent respectively.

Statistically, this class profile tells us something about the typical Stern admit, but it’s worth keeping in mind that there are a lot of other variables not captured by the numbers.

These include leadership accomplishments that stand out, a personal brand that is communicated effectively and memorable letters of support from carefully chosen recommenders.

Knowing whether all these factors align to make you a strong applicant at a top B-school like Stern can be challenging, so we’re happy to help. Contact us for a free assessment and we’ll give you feedback both on how your profile lines up at schools like Stern and how you can maximize your chances!