S2E16: How to Decide If You Should Take the GRE or GMAT for MBA Admissions
Question of the Week: Should I take the GRE or GMAT if I want to apply to an MBA program?
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Question of the Week: Should I take the GRE or GMAT if I want to apply to an MBA program?
Want to submit your own question of the week? Send us a message @admittedlypodcast for a chance to have your question featured.
There are many different aspects to consider when choosing which standardized test to take if you want to apply to a MBA program. Listen to see which one is right for you.
About Thomas
Thomas is a parent and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his MBA at the Wharton School in 2003, he moved to Silicon Valley. For three years, he was director of admissions and financial aid at Wharton School. He worked closely with admissions professionals, students, alumni, and professors to create the best possible MBA class.
Thomas has been an entrepreneur his entire life in the fields of finance, agriculture, wellness, and sporting goods. As the founder of Global Education Opportunities, he works with diverse and underserved communities to help them become successful college students. Thomas started the podcast Admittedly because he is passionate about demystifying the application process for parents and applicants.
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Hello, and welcome to the admittedly podcast. My name is Thomas Caleel. I'm the former director of MBA admissions and financial aid from my alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In this podcast, I don't promise easy answers or quick fixes. But I will use my decades of experience to help you achieve your education goals. Now, let's get started.
And today, we're going to take a minute to look at the MBA application process, specifically, the two main standardized tests that are requested by MBA programs, the GRE, and the GMAT, getting a lot of questions about which test should I take. Do schools have a preference? The answer like most of my answers is, it depends. Let me break that down a little bit for you. The first thing you can do is take a diagnostic test on the GRE. And the GMAT. See if one of them speaks to you, they're very different tests.
And you may find that you do better on one than the other. I also urge you to consider what your overall application strategy is, if you are an undergrad, for example, and you're looking at applying to some early action or you know, deferred admission MBA programs, then the GRE might be better for you in some ways, because it does give you some options, right.
So let's say that you decide not to do an MBA you want to pursue a master's degree or a different graduate degree, the GRE is going to be a little bit more flexible because it's accepted by a lot of programs that say you want to go for a Master of Public Policy, master of finance or something like that. Certainly, that GRE score is going to be important. Now, where the strategy comes in, is when you're looking at the test, they're very different, right? So we want to look at our background, we want to look at the type of program we're applying to.
So you have to do your research on the particular MBA programs you're applying to, are they quantitatively rigorous? Or do they take more of a, let's say, a different softer case-based approach where the quantitative rigor is not the primary focus? Alright. If you are applying to a quant forward MBA program, let's say Chicago, Wharton, MIT, for example, then they are going to want to know that you have the quantitative abilities required to be successful in the classroom, right, that it's their job as admissions to make sure that they're not setting you up for failure. Now, how can you demonstrate that you can demonstrate that through your undergraduate academic rigor and work?
So for example, if you were an engineering major and undergrad, you had a three-point A 3.9 GPA, you've gone to work in finance or some other quantitative-related field, then look, the GMAT is going to be icing on the cake, right, they're going to assume that you do, you're going to do very well on the quant and you need to do that.
But it kind of shows Hey, you know, I am good at this, I can do this, you know, they might look at the verbal section a little bit more closely, especially for international students, they want to make sure that you are going to be able to participate in all aspects of the education experience, from class discussions to learning teams to, you know, writing reports and homework and present yourself well in recruiting and all of those good things. If you have a quantitative background and you take the GRE, it could be perceived. It doesn't have to be but it might be perceived that you're kind of hiding from the GMAT because the GMAT is considered the more quantitatively rigorous exam. So I'm not sure that that's going to reflect particularly well on you.
Similarly, if you have what we would refer to as a non-traditional background, let's say you were a history or international relations major in undergrad, and you've been working in the nonprofit sector or consumer products, or there's something where there's not a strong quantitative spine to what you've been doing, then we want to look at this two ways. The first is, there's an argument for taking the GMAT because it shows hey, I can handle the quantitative rigor look at my quantitative score. I'm in the 90th percentile, I can do this. If you let's say have an English literature, undergrad major, you've been working in the nonprofit sector. Your thesis for the MBA is Look, I know I'm going to struggle I know it's gonna be hard, but I want to build my own nonprofit and I need this rigor. The GRE might be a good option for you now GRE a lot of schools brought in the GRE because they realized it opened them up to a lot of non-traditional students.
And so that's a way for you to say, look, I have the quantitative ability, I'm not going to be the top quant in the class, but I can do this, this maps with my undergraduate experience. And so there's a nice strategic story to be told there.
So, you know, as with most things in admissions, I'm not able to give you a clear answer one way or the other because it really is case by case and dependent on the individual strategy, background, and applicant. But hopefully, I've been able to demystify this a little bit and give you some idea based on your own profile and your own strategy of what's going to work best for you.
Thank you for joining us today. Please take a moment to subscribe to the podcast and download this episode. I welcome you to share your thoughts and questions with me. You can find us on social media at intuitively podcast. I look forward to continuing our journey together.
