A 7 min read

Aiming to ‘educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who build strong organizations’, Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University is one of the most respected business schools in the world. Renowned for its pioneering approach towards learning, a full-time MBA at Kellogg promises to truly groom and build leaders of tomorrow.

Kellogg School of Management has an acceptance rate of 20.2%, which means 4 out of every 5 candidates get rejected by Kellogg. To be accepted in this B-school could be a life-changer for many and the first step towards being considered as a serious applicant is to have an outstanding GMAT score. One of our previous articles highlights the weightage of GMAT scores in an application and gives a perspective on what it takes to make it to some of the top business schools in the world.

This article will help you determine a good GMAT score for Kellogg School of Management by presenting to you, a thorough analysis of the past trends and latest data available from the current application pool of Kellogg.

As you begin your application process, do go through this article on Kellogg SOM class profile and career prospects

Here’s what you will read next:

• 5-year GMAT score trend of Kellogg School of Management
• Kellogg GMAT score – a good one for you
  • Methodology
  • Observations
  • Inference
• What is a good GMAT score for Kellogg MBA
• What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to Kellogg School of Management

5-year GMAT score trend of Kellogg

We will begin by analyzing the average GMAT scores of the past 5 years of the incoming class of Kellogg to get a bird’s eye view of the trend.

As we can see, there has been a gradual increase in the average scores from 2014 to 2018 owing to toughening competition and a rise in the number of applicants from around the globe.

We have talked about a simple 5-step approach in one of our previous articles, to determine a good GMAT score for getting admission into any top B-school of your choice. The process asks us to add 20 points to the average GMAT score of the last class.  Since the average score for the class of 2018 was 732, 750+ seems a good score for making the cut for Kellogg Business School.

However, this article will go much deeper in terms of analysis to get a detailed perspective by analyzing the currently available data from the applicant pool for the class of 2021. We will look at observations and derivations available from this data to be able to narrow down a good score for Kellogg.

If there are other B-schools in your dream list which you are aiming for, here’s a 5-year GMAT score trend report of 50 top US and European business schools

Kellogg GMAT score – A good one for you

In the next section, let’s evaluate the data of some students who applied to Kellogg and see how they fared based on their GMAT scores. Moreover, we will also look at the data of waitlisted candidates to estimate the chances of conversion and to figure out how big a role one’s GMAT score plays in the whole application process.

Methodology

For this article, we have referred to the gmat club decision tracker page to get access to the raw data of applicants for Kellogg’s MBA class of 2021. The gmatclub decision tracker is where many applicants update their status as they move forward in the application process.

To find out a good GMAT score for Kellogg, we will be taking a closer look at the scores corresponding to applications, interview invites, waitlisted candidates and the final converts.

Observations

• A range of 710 to 760 saw the maximum number of interview invites
• While 17 out of 18 applicants with a score of 700 received an invite, only 2 were finally admitted to Kellogg
• For a score of 780, 4 out of 4 applicants received an interview invite. However, only 1 was finally admitted to Kellogg. This could be because other applicants with such a high score could have chosen other B-schools
• The invite rate for interviews lies in a remarkably high range of 71.4% to 96.7% for a score between 710 and 760 with the highest number of interview invites (30) for a score of 740
• The highest admission to application ratio is for GMAT scores 750 (53.6%) and 760 (50%)
• GMAT scores 740 and 750 stands out in terms of number of final admits with 18 and 15 applicants respectively receiving the final admission offer
• The admit rate drastically drops below a score of 710, however, the invite to application ratio remains good even at a lower score

 

Inference – GMAT score for Kellogg MBA

• A score in the range of 710 to 760 increases one’s chances of receiving an interview call and eventually an admit at Kellogg and hence a score in this range can be considered a good GMAT score for Kellogg Management School
• Even as we go below 710, we can see that a lot of applicants with a low score were able to receive an interview invite, which means even if one’s score is not ideal, one might be able to get a chance to reach the interview stage. An exceptional performance during the interviews could help a candidate impress the admissions committee at Kellogg and there is a chance to get that coveted admission offer.

For those who are able to score in the ideal range of 710 to 760 for Kellogg, the chances of receiving an interview call are extremely high and hence, here are 10 ways to boost your MBA profile for standing out in other parameters of your application process.

Prawee, one of our students scored a 740 and received admits from Kellogg, along with USC Marshall, Georgetown Mcdonough, and UCLA Anderson.

She received cumulative scholarships worth US $180,000. If you want to try out the e-GMAT course that helped Prawee make the jump of 90 points from 650 to 740, sign up for our Free Trial

 

Since the yield rate at Kellogg is around 50%, one might be able to observe a lot of movement in the waitlist. We will analyze the GMAT scores of waitlisted candidates to understand this further:

A total of 5 candidates from the waitlist made it to the admission list of Kellogg, with scores 710(2), 720(1), 740 (1), 750(1). No candidate below a score of 620 was waitlisted. No candidate below a score of 710 received an admit.

Here are some interesting ways to get off the MBA waitlist

 What is a good GMAT score for Kellogg MBA

While a score of 710 or above highly boosts one’s chances of receiving an admit from Kellogg, we recommend a score of 730 or higher as a good GMAT score considering that the competition is increasing year-on-year.

With a plethora of applicants in the 710 to 770 range, you have to ensure that your profile stands out and you perform really well in the interview to be able to make your mark if your scores fall in this range.

 

What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to Kellogg SOM

If you belong to the over-represented candidate pool of Indian applicants, things are going to be tougher for you relatively.

Our evaluation will hence have to consider additional data, especially for Indian candidates to be able to figure out a good GMAT score for Indians applying to Kellogg School of Management.

• 34 Indians applied to Kellogg MBA
• 15 received an interview invite with GMAT scores in the range of 700 to 770
• 6 received admits (GMAT score of 770,770,750,750,740,740)

As is evident, no Indian below a score of 740 received an admit. And hence a good score for an Indian candidate applying to Kellogg jumps up to 750 or higher to be able to stand apart from the crowd and be able to make the cut.

One of the candidates, Mansi Dhiman, who scored 770 on the GMAT was an e-GMAT student and went on to receive admits from 5 top business schools viz. Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and INSEAD. She joined the Harvard MBA class of 2020.

If you want to try out the e-GMAT course that helped Mansi score a 770, sign up for our Free Trial. 

We can also help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 1840 reviews (as on July 5, 2019). 

*Kellog logo used in the image is the property of Kellog School of Management.