Importance of GMAT for your MBA Admission

Importance of GMAT for MBA

The GMAT is a crucial element in admissions decisions at top business schools. It is one of those exams that will influence your career trajectory for a considerable amount of time. It allows you to kick-start your career at a good pay scale and inculcates knowledge, confidence, and good habits that help you with an alternate career to fall back on—most of the B-schools trust and use the GMAT test to make admissions decisions. The GMAT is most widely trusted and used as an indicator of academic success in MBA and other graduate business degree programs. Nine out of Ten MBA admission decisions are made using a GMAT score.

Here are the qualitative value additions of the GMAT-

Confidence: It gives you confidence when applying for a business school or interviewing for a job.

Good habits: It is not just an exam of logic and knowledge but also diligence and perseverance. The practices developed during the preparation will go a long way, which will help you succeed in the rigorous MBA program and ensure your professional success.

Increased knowledge: The knowledge you gained while preparing for GMAT is something that no one can take away from you. It will remain with you for life.

A good GMAT score will help you get into your dream B-school and benefit you even after you have enrolled in your program. It is a test of your ability and reflects your diligence, focus, hard work and intellectual aptitude, which are valued immensely not just by B-schools but also by employers. Majority of the aspirants of MBA programs often think that the GMAT plays a crucial role in the admissions process to their dream B-school, but that is not true. It depends on where you will be applying. If you apply to an MBA program, you probably already know that the B-school admissions committee will look at various elements in your application. When applying to business school, one of the most critical factors is your score for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), a standardized exam explicitly developed for business school applicants, intended to measure their capability to pursue an MBA program objectively. Not all B- schools place the same importance on the score. However, it is known that most of the top B-schools use the score to filter the applicants before closely looking at other parts of their application. It just means that they are required to make up for a good score in the rest of their profile. Candidates applying to such GMAT-heavy B- schools may consider retaking the test if they end up with a less desirable score to improve their admission chances and repeat if necessary.

On the other hand, plenty of other reputable B-schools see the score as a part of the application and mainly look for a well-rounded application. Candidates applying to these schools need not worry about their GMAT score and may consider other ways of boosting their profile instead of retaking the exam. Depending on your low- score and the schools you are targeting, if you are in a position to retake it, it may be a good idea. It is an expensive deal for sure, so weigh in your chances before taking it up.

If you decide to proceed with the original score, then focus on the overall quality of the program you want to get into. Figure out the school and its reputation in the business, look at its placement record. If the latter is good enough, which is the degree's purpose, then try and not assess it with the rankings.