Financial Times and Others Look to Kaplan Test Prep Survey Results for B-school Admissions Trends

Between August and September of 2012, Kaplan Test Prep conducted a survey of admissions officers from 265 MBA programs, including 17 of the top 25 business schools as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.  The three-pronged focus of the survey includes officers’ thoughts on standardized test policies and trends, general MBA program admission trends, and various online and social networking issues.  The findings are very interesting and for a quick two-page highlights write-up.

One aspect of the report has garnered the attention of The Financial Times and other organizations interested in business school trends.  Writers from Kaplan’s GMAT Student Blog have previously explored the encroachment of ETS’ Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) into the market share of GMAC’s Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), and Kaplan’s latest survey provides some notable data.

It is well-known that the GMAT has always been the dominant standardized admissions exam for individuals interested in pursuing graduate management degrees.  Over the past few years, however, Educational Testing Service (ETS) has lobbied hard for business schools to accept their GRE test from applicants in lieu of the GMAT.  These efforts have proved extremely fruitful—click here for an impressive worldwide list of MBA programs now accepting the GRE—and Kaplan Test Prep’s survey revealed that 69 percent of polled schools now accept both tests, up from just 24 percent in 2009.

The story seems easy to infer from here and the inferences likely do not look positive for the GMAT.  However, subsequent survey questions underscore the continued dominance of the GMAT among aspirant b-schoolers despite the growing institutional acceptance of the GRE in its stead.

As it turns out, those schools that are accepting both the GRE and the GMAT are not seeing very significant numbers of submitted GRE scores among their applicants.  In fact, at 46 percent of these institutions, GRE scores make up less than one in ten of submitted standardized test scores.  The take away?  A GMAT score signals unequivocal interest in pursuing a graduate education in business and prospective students know it.

Andrew Mitchell, Kaplan Test Prep’s director of pre-business programs, quoted by the Financial Times, puts it this way: “As long as business schools signal the slightest advantage in taking the GMAT, it’s hard to see more applicants going the GRE route.  Our advice to students: take the GMAT if you plan to apply only to business school, but if you’re unsure whether your path will take you to graduate school or business school, consider taking the GRE.”  Good advice, indeed.