Almost All Business Schools Now Accept the GRE

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/21/2014 - 19:33

More business schools than ever are accepting an alternative to the Graduate Management Admissions Test, or GMAT, according to data released today by Kaplan Test Prep (GHC). Eighty-five percent of business school admissions officers surveyed by Kaplan said they now accept the Graduate Records Examination, or GRE, in place of the GMAT, up from just 24 percent in 2009.

“What was once seen as an almost exotic admissions policy by business schools has become nearly ubiquitous,” said Brian Carlidge, executive director of pre-business and pre-graduate programs at Kaplan Test Prep, in a statement. Nearly eight in 10 admissions leaders said the two tests would be viewed equally, the data showed. Kaplan polled representatives from 200 American business schools, including 11 top-tier schools.

Prospective students have been slow to catch on to the shift. Most admissions officers said that just one in 10 applicants submits scores from the GRE instead of the GMAT.

The GRE has been gaining prominence since 2006, when the Educational Testing Service, which administers the test, dissolved a non-compete agreement with the Graduate Management Admissions Council, which publishes the GMAT. As my colleague Patrick Clark reported in February, the GRE has benefited from an energetic marketing campaign heralding its low cost and broad appeal among women.

After Harvard Business School began accepting the test in 2009, “dozens of business schools followed, and 29 of the top 30 schools in Bloomberg Businessweek’s rankings of full-time programs in the U.S. now accept the GRE,” Clark reported.

Evaluating the acumen of the next C-suite generation is itself a healthy business. In 2012, GMAC took in $88 million in testing fee revenue.

Article references
www.businessweek.com