The acceptance rate at Kellogg School of Management typically hovers around 20%. Learn more about this highly-coveted program 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, student involvement…these 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 cut throat – 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 differs from Booth.
| Class of 2022 Admission Stats | Kellogg | Booth |
| Average GMAT | 727 | 732 |
| GMAT Range | 630-780 | 590-790 |
| Average GPA | 3.7 | 3.5 |
| Acceptance Rate | 20%* | 23%* |
*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 21%, versus 11.6% 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 | 21% | 11% |
| Engineering/Math/STEM | 35% | 32% |
| Business/Economics | 49% | 50.9% |
*Estimated and doesn’t account for overlap
| Enrollment Stats for Full-Time MBA Students | Kellogg | Booth |
| Enrolled MBA Students | 1301 | 1229 |
| International MBA Students | 36% | 38.9% |
| Women MBA Students | 49% | 42% |
| Minority* | 44% | 23% |
*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.
Sample Kellogg Essays
Winning essays from our successful admits are new on the SBC site and can be found here:
More Kellogg Application Tips
View our extensive overview of how the application for Kellogg varies from that of Booth here.