The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.
Applying to business school is never easy. There’s the test-taking, the essay writing and the gathering of letters of recommendation. Then, of course, there’s the long, anxiety-inducing wait for the final verdict.
At least at some business schools, there’s likely to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
[See the 2016 Best Business Schools in photos.]
More than 73 percent of applicants to full-time programs were accepted at these 10 business schools in the fall of 2014, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Northern Arizona University had the highest acceptance rate of the 124 ranked schools that submitted data. It admitted 98 percent of students in fall 2014. That’s a jump from the previous year, when the school admitted 89.4 percent of students.
Only two schools on the list did well enough in the U.S. News rankings to receive a published rank: University of Kentucky, which tied for the 91st spot, and University of Tennessee–Knoxville, which tied for 63. The other institutions are labeled Rank Not Published, or RNP, meaning they ranked in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking category. U.S. News calculates ranks for these schools but has decided not to publish them.
[Dodge three surprising application mistakes MBA students make.]
While students who applied to these schools had a good chance of getting in, not every applicant had such high odds. At Stanford University, the most selective of the business schools ranked by U.S. News, only 7.1 percent of the 7,355 applicants seeking to attend full time were accepted in fall 2014.
Below is a list of the 10 business schools with the highest full-time acceptance rates in fall 2014. Unranked schools, which did not submit enough data to U.S. News to be ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (name) (state) | Full-time applicants | Full-time acceptances | Full-time acceptance rate | U.S. News rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Arizona University (Franke) | 50 | 49 | 98% | RNP |
| Truman State University (MO) | 34 | 29 | 85.3% | RNP |
| Duquesne University (Donahue) (PA) | 61 | 51 | 83.6% | RNP |
| University of Kentucky (Gatton) | 120 | 100 | 83.3% | 91 (tie) |
| Coastal Carolina University (SC) | 61 | 50 | 82% | RNP |
| University of California–Riverside (Anderson) | 241 | 191 | 79.3% | RNP |
| University of St. Thomas (MN) | 91 | 70 | 76.9% | RNP |
| University of North Carolina–Greensboro (Bryan) | 97 | 72 | 74.2% | RNP |
| University of Tennessee–Knoxville | 149 | 110 | 73.8% | 63 (tie) |
| Bentley University (McCallum) (MA) | 229 | 168 | 73.4% | RNP |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find acceptance rate data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 464 schools for our 2014 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The acceptance rate data above are correct as of March 19, 2015.
More from U.S. News
Online MBA Programs May Offer Easier Admissions Path
10 Work-Life Balance Tips for MBA Students
Incubators Help Business School Students Become Entrepreneurs
MBA Programs With the Highest Acceptance Rates originally appeared on usnews.com
