How Do B-School Applicants Really Feel About Admissions Tests?
Interest in graduate business degrees like MBAs and business master’s has jumped in the last year. Amidst all the workforce disruption of the pandemic, thousands of young professionals like you are making the choice the invest in themselves with globally recognized degrees and in-demand skillsets to set them apart in the hiring market and increase their salaries.
But first things first: you need to get into one of your target programs. With so many people applying this year, how can you stand out and demonstrate your potential to business schools?
Admissions tests are a great way to elevate your profile amongst the pool of other qualified applicants. Nine in 10 applications to top 100 MBA programs are submitted with an admissions test score. Of those, 7 in 10 use the GMAT™ exam.
What do applicants think about admissions tests? Which test do they prefer, and how do they think about the role of tests in the admissions process? Here, we highlight some new survey findings that reveal how business school applicants really feel about admissions tests in 2021.
GMAT or GRE? B-school applicants prefer the GMAT™ exam by a wide margin
The two most widely accepted admissions tests for MBA and business master’s admissions are the GMAT™ exam and the GRE. A very common question applicants have early in their journey to business school is “should I take the GMAT or the GRE?”
Which do business school applicants favor? According to a recent poll by MBA consultancy MBA Crystal Ball, applicants prefer the GMAT exam by a wide margin. Of more than 3,000 respondents to their social media poll, 79 percent say the GMAT is the better choice, versus only 21 percent for the GRE.
Why the GMAT exam? Because the GMAT exam means business. The GMAT is the only admissions test designed and validated specifically for business school admissions. When you take the GMAT exam, schools know you’re serious about pursuing a business degree, and they trust what your GMAT scores say about your ability to succeed in their program. Because the test measures the higher order skills most relevant to the business school classroom, your exam prep time is an investment not only in earning your best score, but also in sharpening your skills for business school and your career.
✔Read more about the GMAT Exam Advantage
What’s more, the flexibility and freedom of the GMAT online exam and its unlimited score sending give you the confidence you need to showcase your talents and elevate your standing in competitive MBA and business master’s applicant pools.
Admissions exams improve reliability, fairness, and transparency in admissions
How do business school applicants feel about the role of testing in admissions in general?
According to new findings from the mba.com Prospective Students Survey based on data collected January through April, the most applicants agree that tests enhance admissions process transparency, improve reliability in the evaluation of applicants, and improve fairness in the admissions process.
Feelings about admissions tests and their promotion of transparency, reliability, and fairness are especially strong among international applicants, defined here as applicants whose preferred study destination is not their country of citizenship. Relative to domestic applicants, international applicants are more likely to agree exams enhance transparency (63% agree), improve fairness (57%), and improve reliability (59%).
This makes sense, given admissions tests’ role in the holistic admissions review—the process in which reviewers consider the entirety of your application to gain as complete a picture as possible of your fit for their program. Among the many components of a business school application, the admissions test is the one part that’s standardized, or directly comparable across applicants. Admissions tests help schools compare applicants from disparate backgrounds, like different country locations with different educational systems. For that reason, its logical that international applicants would feel especially strong about the value of testing and its role in the overall admissions process.
Admissions exam requirements send a signal about the quality of students in a program
The survey findings also reveal what a business school program’s use of admissions exams says about the program. Overall, 55 percent of applicants say that a graduate business school’s use of admissions exams demonstrates that they place importance on the quality of their students.
Applicants from Africa (69% agree), Central and South Asia (69%), and East and Southeast Asia (62%) are especially likely to see the use of admissions exams as a signal of the importance of the quality of students in a program.
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