Top business schools to accept GRE scores

Some of the nation’s top business schools are changing their admissions policies in attempts to broaden their applicant pools, but UNC is not planning to make changes right now.

Until recently, business schools required students applying for Master of Business Administration programs to take the Graduate Management Admissions Test.

But schools are now allowing students to submit scores from a more general test — the Graduate Record Examination, which students take for a variety of graduate programs.

“In the business school world, it’s a huge deal,” said Mark McNutt, manager of external relations for Educational Testing Service, a company that manufactures standardized tests such as the GRE.

Both tests measure mathematical, reading and writing skills. But traditionally, only students applying to business schools have taken the GMAT, while those applying to most other programs have taken the GRE, said Liz Riley Hargrove, associate dean of admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

“It is a bit of a controversy because the GRE was never meant to be used for MBA programs,” Hargrove said.

Hargrove said Duke has decided to accept GRE scores for students applying for joint graduate programs, such as graduate degrees in environment and business.

Several of the nation’s top ten business schools, including Harvard Business School and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, also will accept GRE scores.

But Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC won’t accept the GRE because it is content with the applicant pool it has now, an admissions official said.

“If at any time we conclude that accepting the GRE in addition to GMAT would enhance our ability to enroll a higher volume of the most qualified MBA students, we will revise our policy at that time,” said Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions, in an e-mail.

Wake Forest’s Schools of Business and UNC-Wilmington’s Cameron School of Business are other N.C. schools that will accept GRE scores.

Karen Barnhill, graduate programs administrator at UNC-W, said they hope the shift will diversify the applicant pool.

“Five times as many students take the GRE than the GMAT. Sheer numbers alone add diversity to the program,” McNutt said.

Allowing the GRE also could ease the financial burden for students. The GRE, which costs $170, is cheaper than the $250 GMAT.

It could also relieve the financial burden for an increasing number of U.S. students who are choosing to attend graduate schools due to the economic climate and could also encourage students from nonbusiness tracks to apply.

“Schools can now recruit artists and say, ‘Look, you’re talented — why not learn to make some money off of it?’” McNutt said.



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