Why Take the GMAT? To Prove Your Quant Skills
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Do you have the necessary quantitative and data analytics skills to do well in an MBA program? Business school admissions officers will evaluate your readiness in these areas when assessing your application.
And, really, it’s in your own best interest to feel comfortable with these topics. You don’t want to pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend a graduate business program only to feel like you’re drowning in the quant-based coursework as soon as your program starts.
There are some obvious potential benefits to earning a good GMAT score (for example: get into a higher ranked school and/or earn a scholarship or fellowship). There are also some additional concrete ways in which a good GMAT score can improve your business school application or your chances of securing certain internships or jobs.
A good GMAT score is especially valuable in certain scenarios
Do any of these scenarios apply to you?
- Your grade point average (GPA) is below the average for your target business schools.
- You don’t have much of a quant / data literacy background to show: no or very few quant-based classes in undergrad and no significant data- or quant-based component to any jobs you’ve held.
- You want to work for one of the name-brand management consulting or banking firms.
Getting a good GMAT score isn’t the only way to address these points, but it has the significant advantage that it’s still something you can change. Your GPA is probably locked in already, as is most of your work experience.
A good GMAT score can help to mitigate any concerns from business school admissions officers about your ability to handle the workload in grad school. And a strong GMAT score can help to impress corporate recruiters from highly competitive firms.
Use the GMAT to demonstrate quant and data analysis “readiness”
Business programs use the GMAT for two main reasons. First, it’s relatively easy to compare across all applicants. It’s not as easy to compare work experience or GPAs from different schools.
Second, business school admissions folks use GMAT as a gauge of your “readiness” to succeed in business school. If you can show a certain minimum level of proficiency, you’re more likely to do well in their MBA program. In particular, a lot of first-year business school students struggle with courses like accounting, statistics, economics, and finance, so the admissions process is designed to gauge whether you’ll be able to handle the expected quant load.
The GMAT covers statistics concepts such as mean, median, weighted average, and standard deviation. Your GMAT studies will also get you up to speed with: line, column, bar, and pie charts; scatterplots; bubble charts; Venn diagrams; and more.
Is that last paragraph stressing you out at all? If you’re feeling uncertain about your own ability to handle the quant and data-heavy courses in graduate school, you can use your GMAT studies to build a solid baseline before your business school program even starts. It'll feel a lot better to sit down in your first class knowing that you already feel relatively comfortable with quantitative reasoning, graphics analysis, and other real-world business skills.
Get yourself back in study mode
There’s a secondary benefit from the “quant readiness” angle – your own readiness to go back to school. Are you fully ready to:
- Sit down for 2 hours to do homework?
- Learn concepts from a book or lecture?
- Analyze data, draw conclusions, solve problems, and review your work?
- Focus for 2 hours while taking practice tests?
Most people work full-time while studying 10 to 15 hours a week for the GMAT. Building study routines, figuring out how you best learn, ramping up your critical thinking skills, prioritizing competing interests (study, work, real life), keeping yourself focused... it's a lot!
In other words, it’s just like business school. While you get ready for GMAT, you're also preparing yourself to get the most out of your business school investment from your very first day on campus. Don't wait until your first term to get your brain back into "study mode."
Use the GMAT to secure management consulting and banking internships
If you apply for a management consulting or banking internship (or job) during business school, there’s a decent chance you’re going to be asked for your GMAT scores. These companies tend to care most about the Quant and Data Insights sections of GMAT.
A few years ago, we (Manhattan Prep) had a couple of students who studied for the GRE exam with us and used those scores to get into a top-20 business school. (Context: The GRE doesn’t have a Data Insights section and the GRE Quant section is generally considered less challenging than the GMAT Quant section.)
The two students also successfully used those GRE scores to secure summer internships with a top-5 consulting firm. But a company employee involved in running the internship program advised them to take the GMAT if they wanted to improve their chances of getting a full-time offer. So that summer, they came back and did another course with us, this time for the GMAT. (They did secure job offers at this company in the end, I’m happy to say.)
Now, it’s entirely possible that the company in question no longer asks specifically for GMAT scores – so I can’t say for sure that you must take the GMAT over the GRE if you want to work for name-brand consulting and banking companies.
It's still true, though, that these are very competitive jobs. If you want to go into banking or consulting, my best advice is to take a standardized test – even if your schools are test optional – and I do advise taking the GMAT exam in particular.
So, should I take the GMAT?
I recommend taking the GMAT if:
- Your GPA is lower than the average for your target programs
- You need a way to demonstrate your quantitative and data analysis skills to admissions committees
- You want to work for top consulting or investment banking companies
I’d also consider whether taking the exam could help your admissions chances or set you up for a scholarship or fellowship.
Good luck with your applications!
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