Study: Few MBA Applicants Consider Taking the GRE

Even though most top business schools now give applicants the option of submitting the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for admissions, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) still reigns as king for the vast majority of aspiring MBAs, according to a recent survey by Kaplan Test Prep. The test-prep giant surveyed 314 future business school applicants taking a GMAT prep course over the past five months and asked them if they had ever considered taking the GRE, the graduate school admissions exam administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Only 16 percent said they had contemplated doing so, while the remaining 84 percent said it had never occurred to them to submit the GRE to business schools in lieu of the GMAT, the survey showed.

The reasons applicants gave for brushing aside the GRE varied. Roughly 60 percent said they believed the business programs they applied to would allow students to submit only the GMAT, the exam administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Another 19 percent said they felt applicants who submitted the GMAT would have an admissions advantage over those who submitted the GRE, while some 8 percent believed they’d perform better on the GMAT.