GRE Scores & Submission Rates At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

As Fortuna Admissions’ Rachel Erickson Hee wrote for Poets&Quants in February: “Most U.S. business schools are agnostic about the GMAT vs. the GRE, and unless stated otherwise, they will accept either for all applicants. They truly have no preference and will evaluate whichever test you submit. You will not be penalized if you take the GRE exam, which is designed for admission to any graduate degree program.” This is borne out by the fact that of 54 B-schools analyzed by P&Q, every one officially will accept GRE scores over GMAT scores — if they require a test at all (see page 4 for details).

This month, P&Q published excerpts from an advice column by Jennifer Jackson, an admissions consultant at Stratus Admissions Counseling, on understanding the differences between the GMAT and GRE given the recent launch of the streamlined versions of both tests. Jackson wrote:

“The first thing you should do is decide between the GMAT and the GRE. All MBA programs accept either, so you should take the one on which you can score higher. To determine which exam is a better fit for you, we encourage you to take a diagnostic test for each to see how you perform in both formats.”

She recommends applicants consider MBA programs where their test score is within or above the school’s 80% range — giving value to the ranges published below.

“It is ideal to have a score you are happy with by late spring so you can create a list of target schools and start working on your essays for Round 1 in May or June when the prompts come out,” Jackson writes. “Those deadlines in September (and January for Round 2) come fast and furiously, and you will be happy that you planned ahead and completed your testing early so you could focus on the rest of the application.”

2023 GRE RANGES AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS + QUANT & VERBAL AVERAGES 2020-2022

Source: U.S. News and business schools

*Full range of scores

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Next Page: GRE submission rates at the top U.S. B-schools from 2017 to 2023

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