Meet the MBA Class of 2021: Diverse, Dynamic & Driven

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MBA students moved onto campus for the start of the academic year. | Elena Zukhova

In September, Stanford Graduate School of Business welcomed 417 new MBA students from around the world.

The members of the MBA Class of 2021 come from many different backgrounds, offering a diversity of perspectives to the Stanford GSB community. Sixty-six countries are represented; international students make up 43% of the class, and U.S. minorities comprise 27%. For the first time in the program’s history, women account for 47% of the entering class, up six percentage points from 41% last year.

As with prior classes, Stanford GSB’s newest students are highly accomplished. Fourteen percent of the members come to the school with previous advanced degrees. The average GMAT score is 734, and the average undergraduate GPA for those who attended U.S. schools is 3.7. Students come from 80 U.S. undergraduate institutions and 80 non-U.S. institutions.

“We welcome an extraordinary Class of 2021 and look forward to how our new students will rise to the challenge of leadership in a global world,” said Kirsten Moss, assistant dean and director of MBA admissions and financial aid. “We believe they have the courage to challenge conventional wisdom, the dynamic energy to generate new ideas, and the intellectual confidence to benefit and ultimately lead their industries and communities.”

Below are some other highlights of Stanford’s MBA Class of 2021:

• The new MBA students’ employment background reflects tremendous professional variety, with students arriving from 297 different organizations. Investment management/private equity/venture capital, consulting, and technology make up the top three categories. Government/education/nonprofit jobs are next, and consumer products and services, and financial services round out the top six. Other fields include the military, manufacturing, health care, arts/media/entertainment, and clean technology/energy environmental. The average work experience of incoming students is 4.6 years.
• The students’ undergraduate majors reflect an array of intellectual pursuits — 17% studied business, 33% majored in engineering/math/natural sciences; and 50% studied the humanities and social sciences.
• The average GRE verbal score for new students was 165, and the quantitative average was also 165. The TOEFL average was 114.

The Stanford MBA Program received 7,342 applications for the incoming class. Because the candidate pool is ever-changing, the statistics for entering students change each year, too. The constant is the students’ commitment to becoming leaders who will transform their industries and communities.

The students who make up the Class of 2021 demonstrate intellectual vitality and curiosity, leadership potential, a desire to learn and experience new things, a willingness to share knowledge and experiences, and a positive impact on others, organizations, and communities.

The incoming class joins a community of innovative thinkers who strive to make a meaningful impact in the world. Students will learn about the latest research, leadership, and business concepts from world-renowned faculty members, as well as talented classmates and industry leaders. Stanford GSB’s educational process leverages the uniqueness of students’ backgrounds, and through this diversity, students become more aware of the experiences of others and learn how to reconsider their own assumptions as they cultivate new ways of understanding the world.