People who pursue an MBA often set their sights on the cream-of-the-crop programs — think Stanford, Harvard or Wharton. While it’s fine to aim high, the harsh reality is that these schools have acceptance rates of 20 percent or lower, which means that most aspiring entrepreneurs shouldn’t get their hopes up.
Not everyone can go to the highest ranked business schools, but there are plenty of more easily attainable MBA programs to choose from. Using the most recent data from individual business school websites, StartClass has identified the 25 best business schools in the country where qualified applicants could reasonably hope to be accepted.
Each school that was considered for this list had to meet the following criteria:
- Must have an acceptance rate above 50 percent
- Must have at least 30 students matriculating into the newest entering class
- Must have a Smart Rank of 150 or better
Smart Rank is determined by the weighted average of business school rankings by five publications — U.S. News, Bloomberg, the Economist, the Financial Times and Forbes, along with some other school factors, such as acceptance rate, post-graduation salary and average GMAT score. Schools on the list are ordered according to their Smart Rank.
#25. Claremont Drucker and Ito Graduate School of Management
Smart Rank: 107
Acceptance rate: 52.3 percent
Average GMAT score: 577
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#24. Saint Louis University Cook School of Business
Smart Rank: 106
Acceptance rate: 64.7 percent
Average GMAT score: 580
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#23. Marquette University College of Business
Smart Rank: 102
Acceptance rate: 54.9 percent
Average GMAT score: 562
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.35
#22. Fordham University Gabelli School of Business
Smart Rank: 97
Acceptance rate: 51.4 percent
Average GMAT score: 607
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#21. Willamette University Atkinson School of Management
Smart Rank: 96
Acceptance rate: 73.1 percent
Average GMAT score: 580
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#20. Clarkson University School of Business
Smart Rank: 92
Acceptance rate: 64 percent
Average GMAT score: 550
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.29
#19. University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business
Smart Rank: 91
Acceptance rate: 61 percent
Average GMAT score: 625
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.35
#18. Chapman University Argyros School of Business
Smart Rank: 87
Acceptance rate: 54.8 percent
Average GMAT score: 631
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.3
#17. University of St. Thomas Minnesota Opus College of Business
Smart Rank: 84
Acceptance rate: 76.9 percent
Average GMAT score: 564
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.21
#16. University of Cincinnati Linder College of Business
Smart Rank: 81
Acceptance rate: 70.1 percent
Average GMAT score: 606
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.4
#15. University of Tennessee-Knoxville Haslam College of Business
Smart Rank: 79
Acceptance rate: 73.8 percent
Average GMAT score: 605
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.32
#14. Syracuse University Whitman School of Management
Smart Rank: 78
Acceptance rate: 52.7 percent
Average GMAT score: 626
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.5
#13. Iowa State University College of Business
Smart Rank: 76
Acceptance rate: 52.7 percent
Average GMAT score: 613
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.49
#12. University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business
Smart Rank: 75
Acceptance rate: 62.9 percent
Average GMAT score: 635
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.41
#11. University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business
Smart Rank: 74
Acceptance rate: 62 percent
Average GMAT score: 665
Average undergraduate GPA: N/A
#10. University of Arkansas Walton College of Business
Smart Rank: 73
Acceptance rate: 60.6 percent
Average GMAT score: 653
Average undergraduate GPA: N/A
#9. University of San Diego School of Business
Smart Rank: 70
Acceptance rate: 58 percent
Average GMAT score: 621
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.4
#8. Babson College School of Management
Smart Rank: 65
Acceptance rate: 66.8 percent
Average GMAT score: 628
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#7. Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management
Smart Rank: 64
Acceptance rate: 67.9 percent
Average GMAT score: 642
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#6. University of Utah Eccles School of Business
Smart Rank: 63
Acceptance rate: 55.3 percent
Average GMAT score: 600
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.41
#5. University of Oklahoma Price College of Business
Smart Rank: 62
Acceptance rate: 53.1 percent
Average GMAT score: 620
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.4
#4. Tulane University Freeman School of Business
Smart Rank: 61
Acceptance rate: 63.5 percent
Average GMAT score: 676
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#3. University of Arizona Eller College of Business
Smart Rank: 58
Acceptance rate: 51.4 percent
Average GMAT score: 646
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.43
#2. College of William and Mary Mason School of Business
Smart Rank: 56
Acceptance rate: 57.8 percent
Average GMAT score: 620
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.2
#1. BYU Marriott School of Management
Smart Rank: 40
Acceptance rate: 53.8 percent
Average GMAT score: 667
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.49