Northwestern Kellogg

Evanston, IL · Private · 2-year full-time

Average GMAT Focus: 687
Average GPA: 3.68
Class size: 534 (Class of 2027)
Median base salary: $175,000 (Class of 2025)
Program tuition: $177,072 (≈ 2 × first-year tuition)

Deadlines

Round 1: Sept. 9, 2026
Round 2: Jan. 6, 2027
Round 3: March 31, 2027

Essays

Essay, Parts I and II (550 words total)

Part I: An MBA is a significant investment of time, energy and resources, and the decision to pursue one deserves serious reflection. Tell us about the pivotal experiences and decisions that have brought you to this moment in your career, how they have shaped your ambitions, and why now is the right time to take this next step. Part II: Now turn the lens outward: beyond what you hope to gain, what do you hope to contribute to the students who will learn alongside you?

Video essays (five questions) (Up to 1 minute each)

The video will be comprised of five questions, each designed to help you showcase your personality and share some of the experiences that brought you here today. You will have a brief moment to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response.

Reapplicant essay (reapplicants only) (250 words)

How have you grown or changed personally and professionally since you previously applied and what steps have you taken to become the strongest candidate you can be?

Alternate program paragraph (optional) (Short paragraph)

If you select an alternate program, you'll be asked to provide a short paragraph explaining your interest in the other program.

Finance Fellows essay (optional, Two-Year MBA) (250 words)

What excites you about finance? How do you plan to make an impact as you pursue a finance career after earning your Kellogg MBA?

Editor's notes

Round 1 closed Sept. 9, so Jan. 6, 2027, is your target. Remember the application isn't done when you hit submit: the five video answers are due 96 hours later, and you can't redo them.
This year there's one written essay, and the video portion grew to five questions, two more than before. That shifts weight to how you think on your feet. Your 550 words should set up the stories you'll tell on camera and in the interview, not compete with them.
Brief both recommenders on the first question. It asks how you handled people who saw things differently, which is the same ground as Part II of your essay. If their example and yours point the same way, the file reads as one person.
Test ranges here are wide. Kellogg labels 515–775 as its middle 80% for GMAT Focus around a 687 average, and says it has no minimum. Treat the average as context, not a cutoff.