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Women Rise to Record Numbers at Top-Ranked Business Schools

At Dartmouth and Stanford, women MBA students almost hit parity with men but fall way short elsewhere in a volatile admissions cycle.

Anna Nakayasu, a first-year international MBA student at Stanford, says the pandemic didn’t deter her from pursuing her degree. 

Anna Nakayasu, a first-year international MBA student at Stanford, says the pandemic didn’t deter her from pursuing her degree. 

Photographer: Philip Pacheco/Bloomberg
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Women’s share of the entering class at top-ranked U.S. business schools inched up to a record this year in an admissions cycle shaken by the pandemic, though women remain a long way from making up half the class in most elite MBA programs.

Of the top 20 schools in Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth came closest, reporting that 49% of its new class was female, with the Stanford Graduate School of Business close behind at 47%, according to a Bloomberg Best B-Schools analysis of the classes that started in August and September for most programs.