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Harvard MBA Class of 2024 Profile: Diversity Reigns & Deferrals Conclude

Harvard Business School shared their MBA Class of 2024 profile today and, while HBS couldn’t dodge the industry-wide dip in application volume, the program maintained diverse representation, academic strengths and an enlarged class size. The percentages of women, international students and U.S. minorities nearly mirror last year’s class. The new HBS MBA candidates also maintained the median GMAT score of 730 and had earned an average undergraduate GPA of 3.70.

HBS received 8,264 applications for the Class of 2024 and 1,015 ultimately enrolled. The year prior, the MBA program received 9,773 applications and landed at a class size of 1,010.

In the HBS Admissions blog, Direct from the Director, Chad Losee commented on class size, noting, “This class includes about 100 people who were originally admitted to start in fall 2020. That year, due to the onset of the pandemic, we allowed incoming students to defer for 1 or 2 years. (But remember that was a one-time exception—we don’t offer deferrals, so apply in the year you are ready to enroll.) We plan to go back to our normal class size of around 900 next year.”

Harvard MBA Class of 2024 Profile Breakdown

Here are some key elements of the HBS class profile:

Seventy-four percent of the class submitted GMAT scores and 30 percent submitted GRE scores.

Diverse Representation in the Harvard MBA Class of 2024

Women make up 46 percent of the HBS Class of 2024 profile, which matches the representation of last year. Thirty-eight percent of new members are international, another figure on par with last year at just a one percent jump.

In the Harvard MBA Class of 2024 profile, HBS is sharing the racial and ethnic identities of its domestic students in two ways. Federal reporting guidelines allow each individual student to be represented in a single race or ethnic group, whereas HBS also employs multidimensional reporting, allowing students to be counted in each group they identify with. Out of domestic students and permanent U.S. residents, when counted according to Federal guidelines, 24 percent are Asian American, 11 percent are Black or African American, 13 percent are Hispanic or Latino, and 4 percent identify as multiracial. Multi-dimensional reporting indicates that 28 percent of students identify as Asian American, 13 percent are Black or African American, and 13 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino. This method also reveals that 60 percent identify themselves as white as opposed to 48 percent under Federal reporting guidelines.

Academic and Professional Background

Thirteen percent of the MBA Class of 2024 are first-generation college students. Twenty-eight percent of the new HBS class earned undergraduate degrees in engineering. Twenty-four percent hold degrees in business/commerce followed by 19 percent in economics. Fourteen percent had studied math/physical sciences during their undergraduate years. Ten percent majored in social studies and five percent in arts/humanities. Based on U.S. schools with a 4.0 scale, the students averaged a 3.70 GPA during undergrad.

Prior to matriculating, the HBS MBA Class of 2024 averaged five years of professional experience. Sixteen percent of the class comes from a consulting background. Another 16 percent had worked in private equity/venture capital. Fourteen percent came from the tech industry followed by 10 percent from financial services. Manufacturing/industrial/energy and consumer products/retail/e-commerce each cover nine percent of HBS students’ pre-MBA work experience.

Posted in: Class Profile, MBA News

Schools: Harvard Business School

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