MBA News: HBS Class of 2013 Profile

Harvard Business School (HBS) just published its Class of 2013 class profile, showing both a few constants and some interesting changes. This year, 39% of the HBS class is made up of women, up three points from last year—a record year for the school. Percentages of U.S. ethnic minorities and international students have remained the same at 23% and 34%, respectively, although only 68 countries are represented, compared with 73 last year. GMAT scores this year range widely from 490 to 790, with a median score of 730, so the GMAT average is up, but the range has widened (giving hope to all!). Notably, HBS received almost 400 fewer applications, although at 907, the class size remains close to the school’s traditional 900. In addition, HBS seems to be steering away from candidates with humanities/social sciences backgrounds; only 21% of the Class of 2013 has either of those undergraduate majors, compared with 43% in the class of 2012. Of course, given all these data, candidates will start to fret about what they are or are not. Remember, no set template or formula exists for gaining admission to HBS.