The deans of the seven most reputable colleges had come together and formed a closed circuit which is now known as M7 or the Magnificent 7. Covid-19 has affected the admission process of the M7 MBA colleges and they have had to relax the eligibility criteria. Even though the rate of employment offers has fallen, the number of applicants has increased.

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Why choose M7?

M7 includes the seven elitist groups of schools: Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, MIT Sloan School of Management, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Columbia Business School. The M7 provides the best faculty, the most innovative research work, dynamic curriculum, employment and networking opportunities, capital, influence, and permanent ranking among the top B-schools; which keeps the M7 business schools ahead of others in the race. The average yearly salary package offered by the M7 group of MBA colleges is $150,000 and involves multiple employment fields.

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M7 in 2020

2020 was not a good year for the business schools. The admission process went through a major setback due to Covid-19. The pay increment of the graduates slowed down, only five out of the seven B-schools had their entrepreneurship, the population of the class of Harvard Business School fell from 17% to 10%, the GMAT numbers reduced to six out of seven schools. Due to these reasons, the M7 group of business schools had to increase the number of acceptances. They relaxed the admission criteria and extended deadlines.

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Acceptance Rate and Median Salary in M7 in 2021

M7 schools, unlike rankings, do not change every year. They have stayed constant for decades and will be for many to come. The acceptance rate and the Average GMAT score change. The list of the M7 business schools with their acceptance, average GMAT and salary has been provided below:

Application hike in M7 in 2021

M7 has been on an upward trend concerning the number of applications every year. 2020 saw an increased interest in MBA due to the lowered admission requirements. In 2020, only Stanford and Harvard have suffered a loss as compared to their number of applicants in 2016- 2017. Between 2019 to 2020, M7 schools of business raised their education cost by 1.1%, in contrast to the 2.3% increments in the last two cycles. The following table shows the number of applications and number of enrolled students in M7 2021 and 2022:

Increased number of Applications in 2020

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Expenses at M7

The present MBA fees at MIT for two years’ tuition and boarding is $241,692. At Stanford the expense is around $237,288 for a single student. It hikes to $281,760 for a married student. Even though the education fees at M7 colleges are steep, they offer financial support and scholarships. The allowance at Harvard and Stanford is almost $40,000 yearly. NYU Stern, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, and UCLA are offering the highest scholarship rates to attract MBA students. The average MBA scholarship amounts to $95,800. In 2019, Wharton’s and Booth’s scholarships were $32000 and $30000 respectively.

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Tuition Fee, Total Cost & Student Debt at The M7

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M7 in the Rankings

According to US News, BusinessWeek, and Poets and Quants’ Ranking, Stanford in 2020 ranks number 1 among the M7. Financial Times ranked Harvard Business School number 1 in 2020. In 2019, Harvard ranked 3rd among the M7, and Wharton ranked 4th. The M7 rankings in 2020 show that their places have been swapped. In the table below, the M7 rankings of 2020 are shown, and the 2019 rankings are given in brackets.

The Rankings of the M7

Specializations of the M7

US News made a survey and ranked the M7 business schools according to their specializations. Not all M7 MBA colleges came into the ranking, but Stanford ranked fairly well in all the fields except real estate. In the 2020 Specialisation ranking, Kellogg has maintained its number one ranking in marketing, as has Harvard in management. In 2020, MIT ranks first in specialization in Business Analytics and Information Systems.

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Undergraduates before MBA: M7 Class of 2022

There are students from various fields applying for MBA in the M7 colleges, such as economics, business, engineering, liberal arts, physical sciences, arts/humanities, law. 26% of the students in the class of 2022 in Harvard were engineering majors, 22% business or commerce majors, 19% economics, 15% math or physical sciences, 14% social sciences, and 4% arts/humanities. 38% of the students in Wharton class 2022 were humanities majors, 34% business majors, and 28% STEM. Whereas in M7 MBA colleges of Columbia, Chicago, and Kellogg, business graduate students comprise the highest strength.

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Employment before MBA in M7 Class of 2022

A large percentage of the candidates taking admission in any one of the M7 business schools have had prior working experience in business/economy firms, consulting firms, media, or technology firms. The majority of the students who were employed before studying MBA in M7 come from the consulting industry. The MBA class of 2022 of Harvard has students who have worked in private equity firms, consulting firms, technology, finance, energy, and others. The MBA class of 2022 of Wharton has students coming with experience of working in consulting and financial services, government sector, technical services, and other industries.

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Employment after MBA in M7

Although the number of employment offers has decreased in 2020, there has been a rise in the yearly package of the post-MBA students of all M7 colleges from 2019 to 2020, except Wharton and Columbia Business Schools. In HBS the median salary has increased from $148,750 to $150,000; in Booth from $145,000 to $150,000; in Kellogg from $140,000 to $144,000; in Stanford from $150,000 to $156,000, and in MIT from $140,000 to $150,000. The different firms that have employed MBA students from the M7 are given below:

Industry Choices in the M7

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M7 Alumni

The table below shows the number of Alumni of the Magnificent 7 as of 2019. MIT has the maximum number of alumni whose total yearly contribution is 20%. The maximum number of CEOs as of 2021 comes from Harvard Business School.

The Alumni of the M7 as of 2021

The M7 only gets better every year, be it their increment in education fees or employment status. Thus these seven elite business schools will always remain the dream destination of every MBA aspirant.