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The easiest MBA schools to get into with the highest acceptance rate

So you’ve put your heart and soul into your applications. But you aren’t sure still cause of the unknowns in the admission equation – who knows who else applied to the same set of schools you did and who knows if they were better than you on more than one profile parameters?

Given this predicament, it serves to play safe if for instance it’s a make or break year for you or any other personal reason that may necessitate this strategy.

With this premise in mind, we explore the choices when it comes to making things stick and also provide some numbers that may help you arrive at the decision.
 

The easiest MBA programs in the world to get into

 

Business schools with the highest acceptance rate in USA

Getting the definition out of the way first. Selectivity is simply the number of offers a school makes over the number of application received.

The data provided by US schools on this count is apparently more transparent and forthcoming than for those outside. The following chart will give you a quick sense of the range we are talking about.

MBA Acceptance Rates in USA
Source: US News

Yes, there does exist a school with 100% admittance! This is in stark contrast with schools such as Stanford (6.1%) and Harvard (10.7%) that have really low selectivity rates. The above average is based on a group of ~150 schools. You can find a list of the schools with highest admit rates available in the table below:

 

The easiest MBA programs in USA

S. No. School (name) (state) Full-time acceptance rate
1 University of South Florida 100%
2 Northern Arizona University (Franke) 96.20%
3 Belmont University (Massey) (TN) 91.90%
4 Missouri University of Science & Technology 84.80%
5 Appalachian State University (Walker) (NC) 84.40%
6 Coastal Carolina University (SC) 84.10%
7 Oklahoma State University (Spears) 83%
8 Tulane University (Freeman) (LA) 78.30%
9 University of Colorado—Boulder (Leeds) 74.90%
10 Clarkson University (NY) 72.90%

Source: US News
 
We advise to tread with caution here though. You may not find several of the schools mentioned above in most ranking lists. This means that if you do apply to one of these, research more than what you would for other more popular schools.
 

Easiest MBA programs in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia

As mentioned before, the data for US schools seems to be available readily. For the non-US ones, it is not the case. In situations where actual data is not available, it is often the case that one falls back on surveys/dip stick analyses.

This means that you cannot compare the data of US and Non-US schools. Even so, we do what best we can with the available data. We got hold of 25 such schools that had been surveyed by Poets and Quants.

These are certainly not run of the mill schools and one could argue that they are amongst the better ones out there. The range of schools is huge and there would certainly be a lot of them with more than 100% selectivity potentially (those giving out admits to candidates who’ve just taken the GMAT for instance). But it’s still a good set to start off with.

Here’s what the range looks like:

MBA Selectivity Rates in the World
Source: Poets and Quants

Since we are dealing with a small set here, the range is expectedly lower. By the way, this includes the schools of the likes of LBS and INSEAD, though the hardest business school to get into is NUS (Singapore).

Without further ado then, here’s the list of schools where you might find lady luck smiling more at you than the more famous ones.
 

The easiest MBA programs in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia

S. No. School Acceptance Rate
1 Erasmus Rotterdam 64%
2 ESADE 61%
3 Imperial College 50%
4 Hong Kong UST 50%
5 Queen’s 42%
6 Manchester 41%
7 SDA Bocconi 38%
8 CEIBS 38%
9 Melbourne 37%
10 Toronto (Rotman) 36%

Source: Poets and Quants

As mentioned before, these are certainly not comparable to the US list where we may not even have heard about various schools.

ESADE, SDA, Rotterdam are splendid schools provided you can settle into those cultures/languages and know where you are headed. But the cherry on top is that some of these schools, which are great brands in themselves, also seem to be less selective than their equivalent US counterparts.

Europe could be a bit tricky as a destination though. So the advice on research applies here too – more from the external to school factors perspective rather than the school itself.

Also take the above data with a pinch of salt since some of this is self-reported and some other is anecdotal/survey based.

As an overall school strategy, one should always have a mix – ranging from the ambitious ones to the within reach/safe ones.

We’ve written articles before that may help you start the process of school selection which at first looks intimidating. Go about this methodically as this sets the tone of things to come.

If you are looking for a more rigorous approach to this, check out our MBA MAP.

Also read:
Top MBA colleges in the world: Payback time
Best value MBA programs
Selectivity Rates at the top business schools for MBA


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Manish Gupta
About Manish Gupta
Chief Consulting Officer at MBA Crystal Ball, ex-McKinsey, IIT & ISB topper. MG can help you get into the top B-schools. Read more about this top MBA admissions consultant. Connect with MG on Email. Or follow on Linkedin, Facebook.

17 thoughts on “The easiest MBA schools to get into with the highest acceptance rate”

  1. Hello Manish,
    I am sailing as a 2nd officer but I get paid only for the period that I am on board. When I am on leave I do not get paid. How do I calculate my work experience then ?

    Reply
  2. Hi MG,

    I have a total experience of around 4 Years and 6 Months, first with a market research company (where I used to build surveys and manage that data) and now an operations job, confused what should I go ahead with: a two year program or a one year program and in which field.

    Thanks,
    Tushar

    Reply
  3. Hello Sir,
    I am a B.Tech final year student. I want to do MBA after my graduation. I want your suggestion on the fact that, if I do not accept the job letter being offered to me this year and take a drop to prepare for CAT/GMAT for the year 2017, will it be a right decision or I must give priority to work experience?
    And sir as I am a fresher and haven’t begin the preparation please suggest me which one should I choose GMAT OR CAT?

    Thanks
    SONAL

    Reply
  4. Hi MG,
    It is necessary to do btech from any reputed or from IIT colleges to get admission in Stanford university in ms. I am doing btech in computer science from private college.

    Reply
  5. Hi Manish,

    Thanks for the tips and advice.
    I looking for Phd. in Management of Information Systems. Have an year+ experience as Application developer in an MNC.
    Done with my MCA previously and working parallel on a research under guidance of a Prof. from IIT.
    Yet to give my GRE.

    Any guidance on the above?

    Reply
  6. Hello MANISH

    This is prabhat singh. I am working in merchant navy as a chief engineer. I seriously thinking about doing MBA but as of know I don’t know where to start. I have a working exp of 10 yrs in merchant navy and I have degree in mechanical engineering.

    Kindly guide where to start and how can get admission in good university either in India or in abroad.

    Waiting for ur reply.

    Reply
  7. I’m a student of Erasmus University. There is one point that needs to be mentioned. Erasmus University screens a lot of resume before the prospects actually apply. Most of the students apply only after the school gives a green signal. Hence, the acceptance rate looks high.

    Reply
  8. Hello Sir,
    I am planning to do a phd in marketing management. I am considering Europe, Canada & US options. My brief profile:

    GRE:302
    Toefl:90
    PGDM in Marketing from ISB&M under PTU(72%)
    Btech in Computer Science from WBUT (7.08/10)
    Work ex: 5 and half years in Airtel, Bajaj Electricals etc

    With the above profile can you please suggest some colleges with tuition fee waiver & stipend in the mentioned places.

    Will look forward for your guidance.

    Reply

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