Manhattan Prep, a premier provider of graduate admissions test preparation, and global education company Kaplan’s 2025 business school admissions officers survey finds that 84 percent of business schools predict the current application cycle will be at least as competitive as the 2024-2025 cycle.* Of that 84 percent, 5 percent said it will be much more competitive; 28 percent said it will be somewhat more competitive; and 51 percent said the level of competitiveness will stay about the same.
These results come on the heels of a recent report from the Graduate Management Admission Council showing that applications to U.S. business schools remain at elevated levels, surging 8 percent from the 2022-2023 cycle to the 2023-2024 cycle. And though applications were flat this past cycle, applications to many individual top programs are up.
Admissions officers shared the following pieces of advice for applicants:
- “Many times, candidates want to impress the admission committees. However, what admissions committees really want is to see who they are, and whether they fit with their program’s culture, values, and community.”
- “The thing students should know is that academic transcripts are the most important determinant of admissions. Anything else is secondary. Taking the right courses, getting good grades in these courses, having the right undergraduate major, these are the things that matter most.”
- “Though holding strong grades and work experiences are reviewed, we also look at students’ communication and collaboration efforts, their motivations, curiosity about the field, emotional intelligence, and any leadership potential.”
Notably, the survey also found that 75 percent of test optional schools say that if an applicant submits a competitive GMAT®, GRE®, or EA® score, it does in fact help their application. Many schools adopted test-optional policies during the COVID pandemic when it was difficult to test safely, and most have chosen to stick with them as a way to widen the application funnel—though the most competitive MBA programs such as Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton School, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business still require a score from one of the major admissions exams, making it likely top aiming students will have to take one of the exams.
Stacey Koprince, director of content and curriculum, Manhattan Prep, said:
“Competition for seats at top business schools remains intense. That’s driven not only by the enduring value and versatility of the MBA, but also by external forces—a job market that appears to be weakening and rapid advances in technologies like AI, which business schools are now integrating deeply into their curricula. In this environment, applicants need to assemble the strongest application possible across every dimension. And while many schools are now test-optional, the schools we surveyed have clearly indicated that a strong GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment score can still serve as a powerful differentiator, giving candidates a meaningful edge in an increasingly crowded pool.”
Contact Russell Schaffer at russell.schaffer@kaplan.com for more information.
*Admissions officers from 86 full-time business schools across the U.S. were polled by e-mail between July and August 2025. Included are 18 of the top 100 programs as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Findings were rounded to the nearest whole number.
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