The Importance of the GMAT™ Exam for Southeast Asian Applicants
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“How do you pursue a top MBA in the United States when you come from an emerging country and your annual income is less than US$25,000?” This question perplexed Paige Nguyen, Duke Fuqua Class 2020, as she researched MBA programs that would be the best fit for her.
“Fortunately, after earning a GMAT score of 730 and polishing my application, I won MBA admission and a scholarship from Fuqua, as well as multiple offers from other T15 schools,” Paige attests. “This helped me overcome the financial burden of pursuing an MBA and ultimately helped me land my dream career at Amazon.”
The role of the GMAT exam for Southeast Asian candidates
For most candidates hailing from Southeast Asia (SEA), a stellar GMAT exam score has always been considered the most important factor to make their application stand out.
Even though top business schools in popular destinations like the United States and Western Europe strive for a diverse student body, they still tend to put more emphasis on GMAT scores for over-represented groups. Although they are not as over-represented as those from China or India, the reality is that SEA applicants are still expected to have a score at least 10 to 20 points higher than the typical applicant.
For graduate business schools that wish to raise their ranking, there is often greater emphasis on standardized test scores like the GMAT. In my experience working with a variety of Vietnamese candidates, many T30 schools would offer full and partial scholarships to candidates possessing an outstanding GMAT score (usually over 740) but only average employer prestige or interview performance.
This does not necessarily mean that the GMAT is the single most important part of your application, as admissions is a holistic process in which all factors are considered. Nonetheless, a stellar GMAT score will boost your chances of earning admission and even a scholarship at most schools.
💲 Read more: The Truth About MBA Scholarships
In recent years, it has become clear that admissions officers are weighing GMAT scores more heavily than ever before, as evidenced by the significant increase in the average GMAT score of many business schools in the United States.
Gaining a competitive advantage with the GMAT exam
In 2018, I worked with a candidate (let’s refer to her as Ms. X) who requested help with her MBA application.
In the previous admissions cycle, she earned a score of 650 on the GMAT and, unfortunately, was rejected by the T30 and T50 schools to which she applied. More importantly, with a monthly salary of only US$1k and no financial support from her family, Ms. X also needed considerable financial aid to help her alleviate her financial burden.
After dissecting her application, I identified two major weaknesses:
- First, a less competitive GMAT score than usually expected for Asian candidates, as well as a low score on the Quantitative section (typically less than 47).
- Second, the absence of a unique story needed to separate her from other Vietnamese candidates with similar backgrounds.
After meeting with Ms. X to discuss her application, I worked with her to:
- First, improve her Quantitative and overall score on the GMAT. While the overall GMAT score indicates general problem-solving skills, the Quantitative component assures admission officers that the candidate can successfully handle the quantitative rigor of their MBA programs. In the end, Ms. X was able to raise her GMAT score by 40 points, from 650 to 690, and increase her Quantitative score to 44 to 48.
- Second, I worked with Ms. X to analyze her personal and professional experiences in order to develop her “selling points” as a candidate and build out a compelling personal statement that reflected the values of her target schools.
And the result? Ms. X was accepted into a T20 school with a US$70k MBA fellowship, a T30 school with over US$100k financial aid, and a T40 school with a full-ride scholarship.
While Ms. X’s professional achievements and extracurricular involvement were important to her success, it cannot be ignored that her improvement on the GMAT played a critical role in her reapplication accomplishments.
Hung-Le is an mba.com Featured Contributor and founder of VietAccepted.
VietAccepted is a leading test prep center (GMAT, IELTS) and MBA admission consulting for Vietnamese candidates. Its past clients went to many schools in M7, S10 and T15 programs in the US, INSEAD, Oxford, Cambridge, LBS, etc.
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