Kellogg MBA Application

The acceptance rate at Kellogg School of Management typically hovers around 20%. Learn more about this highly-coveted program, which ranked #2 in US News & World Report‘s 2023-2024 Best Business Schools ranking, here.

The Kellogg School of Management believes in developing well-rounded individuals through three educational objectives: partnership, leadership and scholarship. Kellogg strives to produce “leaders equipped to thrive in the challenging global business landscape.” In order to reach this objective, Kellogg emphasizes leadership and teamwork with a focus on group projects and evaluations to prepare students to thrive in the changing global business environment.

Kellogg is a general management program. People incorrectly peg it as a marketing program. While it has a stellar marketing curriculum, it is a very well-rounded program with fantastic resources in all major (and minor) business subjects. The overall goal of the program is to provide you with the tools to become an effective manager and business leader.

Key to Kellogg is its culture. Team-oriented, collaborative, and student involvement… are all ways to accurately describe the very unique culture that is cultivated at Kellogg. While the class is comprised of driven, high achievers, and the environment can be very intense, it is not cutthroat-competitive. Kellogg’s unique culture is partially a result of its policy of interviewing all applicants – thus emphasizing the personal aspect of the application more than almost any other school. This also makes it a very popular choice with recruiters. The placement office is regularly ranked at the top compared to other schools. Top companies, such as McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group, in particular, love Kellogg.

We asked the former Kellogg admissions officers on the Stacy Blackman Consulting team to profile what Kellogg seeks. Their consensus is:

Kellogg is looking for leadership, strong academic record and a track record of involvement. Leadership can be demonstrated at work, during undergrad, and/or through extracurriculars. Depth (long-term commitment) and breadth (involved in many activities) are valued.

Contact us for an assessment of your Kellogg MBA candidacy today. Here’s a snapshot of our Kellogg expertise on the SBC admissions consulting team:

Admissions Stats

Here is a snapshot of how Kellogg compares with Chicago Booth.

Class of 2024 Admission Stats Kellogg Booth
Average GMAT 729 729
GMAT Range 620-780 600-780
Average GPA 3.7 3.6
Acceptance Rate 31%* 30%*
*Estimated

Booth and Kellogg admit a high percentage of students who had majored in either business or economics when they did their undergraduate studies. Kellogg has retained more poets than Booth, with students who did their undergraduate work in liberal arts/humanities representing 24% versus 13% at Booth. It’s surprising that Kellogg brings in as many students with STEM backgrounds because of Chicago’s quant reputation.

Undergrad Degrees* Kellogg Booth
Humanities 24% 13%
Engineering/Math/STEM 38% 24%
Business/Economics 45% 50%
*Estimated and doesn’t account for overlap
Enrollment Stats for MBA Class of 2024 Kellogg Booth
Enrolled MBA Students 503 621
International MBA Students 38% 37%
Women MBA Students 48% 40%
Minority* 37% 48%
*Estimated

Application Essays, Tips & Candidate Evaluation 

The Kellogg and Booth essay prompts vary, with Kellogg’s prompts embodying intrinsic, holistic and/or value-based attributes. While they may change each year, Booth’s essays are seemingly more straightforward overall, with its first prompt a career goal question. SBC’s essay tips can be found here.

Check out this blog post, Kellogg MBA Program: Get the Inside Scoop, for a deep dive into what it takes to get in with SBC consultant Beth, the former director of full-time admissions at Kellogg.

Sample Kellogg Essays

Winning essays from our successful admits are new on the SBC site and can be found here:

Sample Kellogg essays

More Kellogg Application Tips

View our extensive overview of how the application for Kellogg varies from that of Booth here.

Kellogg Class of 2024 Key Statistics
Applicants: 4,187
Entering Full-Time MBA Students: 503
Average GMAT: 727
Median GRE Verbal and Quant: 162/163
Average GPA: 3.7
Average Age: 27
Average Work Experience: 5 years
Rolling Admissions: No
Women: 48%
International Students: 38%
U.S. Minority: 37%

Kellogg Important Dates
Round 1 Deadline: September 13, 2023
Round 2 Deadline: January 10, 2024
Round 3 Deadline: April 3, 2024

Contact

(323) 934-3936
info@StacyBlackman.com

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