GMAT Now Accepted By More Than 5,000 MBA Programs

The rivalry between the two competing entry exams needed to get into most top business schools continues to heat up.

Today (April 20), the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) announced the its GMAT test has reached a new milestone as the number of programs accepting the exam has now exceeded 5,000 for the first time. The announcement comes at a time when Educational Testing Services’ Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is attempting to make significant inroads on GMAT’s supremacy as the entry exam for MBA candidates. The GRE, for example, is now offering a 50% discount on its exams to test takers who sit for its newly revised test in August and September of this year.

GMAC said the increase in number of programs marks a 31 percent increase from the 3,800 programs that used the GMAT only five years ago. The organization attributed much of the growth to what it called “dramatic increases in usage by programs outside the U.S., particularly in Asia and Europe.”

“The dramatic growth in programs that rely on the GMAT as a critical part of the admissions process is a strong testament to the validity, reliability and security that have been the hallmarks of the GMAT,” said Dave Wilson, president and chief executive officer at GMAC, in a statement. “We are meeting this increasing demand by continually expanding our extensive global network of test centers, where candidates can sit for the GMAT exam nearly any day of the year.”

The addition of 17 new members since December 2010 now brings total membership in GMAC to 200. More than seventy-five percent of the newest members are based outside the U.S., including five in Europe and six in Asia and Australia. They are:

Asia/Australia

Great Lakes Institute of Management (India)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (india)

Korea University Business School (South Korea)

NMIMS University (India)

School of Business Management

SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (India)

University of Queensland (Australia)

UQ Business School

Europe

Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)

Cranfield University (U.K.)

School of Management

ESSEC Business School (France)

EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht i. Gr. (Germany)

EBS Business School

Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden)

North/Central America

Chapman University (USA)

Argyros School of Business and Economics

Iowa State University (USA)

College of Business

INCAE (Nicaragua)

St. John’s University (USA)

Peter J. Tobin College of Business

Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Segal Graduate School of Business

University of St. Thomas (USA)

Opus College of Business

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