Why Average MBA Age is Trending Down for HBS and Stanford

MBA age has become a hot topic of debate because HBS and Stanford have been accepting younger and younger applicants. HBS’ Dee Leopold herself published the following graph which shows a breakdown of when the Class of 2010 graduated from college.

HBS MBA Age

What this graph shows is that a big majority of the class started their first year at HBS as 25 and 26 year olds. Stanford is trending the same way with their average MBA age. For most business schools however, the average applicant typically starts business school with 5 or 6 years of work experience under their belt, so the average age across other schools is more in the 27-28 range. There are several reasons why certain schools (primarily HBS and Stanford) are trending this way:

1. Graduate schools are sort of like sports teams. Business schools, law schools, med schools, and other graduate schools (engineering, sciences, etc.) compete for top talent from colleges. The reason why business schools are at a disadvantage is because they traditionally require that applicants have several years of work experience before applying. Because of this “hurdle,” business schools tended to lose out on talented college graduates who opt to go to graduate school directly from college (and by default, choose law school, med school, or PhD programs since an MBA isn’t really an option). In reaction, HBS has been accepting students directly out of college, and also introduced the 2+2 program, both putting downwards pressure on the average MBA age.

2. The younger a business school student is, the earlier they are in their career. What this means is that, if and when they become successful, they are more likely to attribute their success to the business school they went to than a 29 year old who thinks he or she knows everything already. This is an important point. Younger students means greater loyalty to the schools. More loyalty means larger donations down the road. My question is, with a younger average MBA age, doesn’t that mean admissions committees have a tougher time predicting whether their candidates will be successful (since there are fewer data points to judge younger applicants by)?

3. Traditionally, many women come across the “when do I have baby and how will that affect my career” crossroad shortly after graduating from business school. By accepting women at a younger age, they graduate at a younger age, and therefore have more time to establish themselves in their careers before having children. Does a lower average MBA age means more executive-level moms going forward? (I certainly hope so!)

4. Professors at HBS have observed that younger students tend to be more open to learning compared to older students who tend to be more cynical or think that they’re beyond academic environments since they’ve already had substantial real world experience.

Regardless of the different rationale for schools like HBS and Stanford to accept younger students, I would strongly advise that any older applicant ignore these trends and not let these trends influence their decision to apply to HBS and/or Stanford. A compelling and well-crafted story about your candidacy will trump your age any day. If you write a great application and paint a great picture of yourself, how could any admissions committee stand not to accept you? If you still have fears about the MBA age issue, there are plenty of ways to address it including demonstrating humility and an honest open-mindedness to learning new things in a structured academic environment irrespective of how accomplished you already are.