Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business has released its MBA Class of 2023 profile. This year’s class of 231 is more typical than last year’s pandemic-shrunk 141-member class, and reflects the challenges that have changed the business school landscape. Kelly R. Wilson, Executive Director of Masters Admissions at the school, had this to say about the incoming MBA students: “We have found the incoming class to have a great deal of enthusiasm, optimism, and empathy and look forward to their contributions throughout the coming year. As with Tepper MBAs before them, they demonstrate their resilience as their curiosity drives them to achieve even greater success.”
Here are some key elements of the profile:
| Average Undergraduate GPA | 3.35 |
| Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences | 12% |
| Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math | 35% |
| Percent majoring in business | 22% |
| Average GMAT Score | 691 |
| GMAT Score Middle 80% Range | 647- 740 |
| Women | 21% |
| Countries Represented (by citizenship) | 29 |
| International Students | 34% |
| Average Work Experience | 5.4 years |
Diverse Representation in the CMU Tepper MBA Class of 2023
Tepper’s approach to admissions in 2020 was focused on empathy and flexibility and sees this class benefiting from those choices to support the school’s community. “One of the things we have all learned over the past year and a half is that virtual recruiting allows us to connect with candidates that we might not have gotten the opportunity to do so when we relied mostly on in-person recruitment travel,” said Wilson.
Women make up 21% of the class. International students comprise 34% and represent 29 countries. Forty-four percent of the US citizens and permanent residents in the class are US minorities, and 12% are historically underrepresented minority students who identify as Native American and Native Alaskan, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and Native Pacific Islander, or multiethnic. LGBTQ+ students make up 4%.
Undergraduate and Career Experience
Carnegie Mellon is a STEM school, and so it is no surprise that 33% of the MBA class of 2023 have a degree in engineering. Business and commerce majors make up 22% of the class and economics majors 16%. Arts and humanities students and those with a degree in the social sciences are tied with 6% of students each.
Financial services professionals make up 19% of the class and 18% come from the technology and new media industries. Students with consulting backgrounds comprise 15%, manufacturing professionals 7%, and 6% came from energy and clean technology careers.
The strength of the students’ academic and professional backgrounds is key to Tepper’s MBA program. “Future business leaders need to thrive where data and imagination meet. This is the Intelligent Future of business, and Tepper MBAs are prepared to lead it,” said Wilson. “A combination of deep analytical skills and personalized leadership coaching prepares them to lead business innovation. A future fueled by data, powered by technology, and unleashed by human intelligence requires the skills of a Tepper MBA.”
