GMAT Test Takers To Harvard Business School May Have To Take An Extra Test

MBA applicants who submit a GMAT score in their applications to Harvard Business School will be required to take an additional 30-minute writing test if they are invited to an admissions interview.

HBS made the decision to mandate the additional test, also administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council, after GMAC removed the writing section from its new shorter GMAT exam. The decision by HBS has apparently sent GMAC officials scrambling to add the writing assessment because GMAC has yet to include a way for applicants to even sign up for the writing test.

Harvard said it has “worked” with GMAC to offer the writing assessment for students who still prefer to take the GMAT. However, MBA applicants who submit a GRE score would not have to take an additional test because the GRE retained a writing assessment in its new, shorter version of the test (Listen to our podcast on the new HBS requirement).

GMAT NOW AT A SIGNIFICANT DISADVANTAGE TO THE GRE

More business schools are likely to follow Harvard’s lead. MIT’s Sloan School said its Admissions Committee may require applicants to take the GMAC Business Writing Assessment after interview invitations are sent.

The announcements by HBS and MIT puts the GMAT at a significant disadvantage with the GRE exam which has gained substantial marketshare over the GMAT in recent years. The need for applicants to take an additional 30-minute test costing $30 and requiring up to six hours of prep time will likely cause more applicants to choose the GRE over the GMAT. The $220 cost to sit for the GRE also is much lower than the $275 fee for the GMAT. With the extra writing test, GMAT test takers may have to fork over a total of $305, nearly 40% more than the GRE exam. Some MBA admission consultants are already recommending that their clients take the GRE over the GMAT.

GMAC removed its analytical writing assessment just as Chat-GPT and other artificial intelligence engines became popular. In retrospect, it was an ill-considered decision because admission officials see more value in a timed writing sample out of the concern that more applicants may use AI to draft their application essays.

POPULARITY OF CHAT-GPT IS BEHIND THE DECISION TO REQUIRE A WRITING SAMPLE

GMAC acknowledges this issue in describing the new writing test. “In the era of generative AI,” according to GMAC’s website, “business schools want to know that you can communicate important ideas critically and concisely through your writing. Coming soon, the GMAC Business Writing Assessment allows you to demonstrate your analysis, reasoning, and written communication abilities beyond traditional application materials.”

A GMAC spokesperson declined to answer whether it was a mistake for the organization to remove its writing section from the new shorter Focus Edition of the test. “Our research into the most recent edition of the GMAT exam told us that there was market interest in a model that supported the core skills evaluated by the GMAT exam as well as certain elective skills as measured by the GMAC Business Writing Assessment,” she told P&Q in a statement. ”This allows GMAC to provide options to both schools and test takers – schools to select the assessment(s) that are most relevant to their program and test takers to take the assessment(s) that are best fit for the degree they are pursuing, or to best demonstrate their strengths”.

The GMAC Business Writing Assessment is a 30-minute writing assessment that asks test takers to analyze the reasoning behind a given argument, and then write a critique of that argument. They will need to evaluate the line of reasoning and the use of evidence presented in the argument. The arguments include a range of topics relevant to both business and general interest. Specific knowledge of the topic is not required, according to GMAC.

WITH THE NEW WRITING TEST, THE GMAT OPTION IS NOW 47 MINUTES LONGER THAN THE GRE

Harvard explained its decision to require the extra test for applicants who are invited to interview this way: “Since the GMAT Focus Edition does not contain a writing section, HBS worked with GMAC (the makers of the GMAT exam) to offer an official writing assessment for students who would prefer to take the GMAT. We believe that giving candidates multiple options will allow them to select the standardized test that enables them to best display their writing skills.”

GRE not only beat GMAT to market with its shorter test, it also made it quicker to take by 17 minutes: an hour and 58 minutes for the new GRE vs. the new GMAT length of two hours and 15 minutes, without breaks. The addition of a writing assessment required by HBS applicants who interview means that the GMAT option  a full 47 minutes longer than the GRE.

Business Casual Podcast: Oops. GMAT Now Has A Separate Writing Test — Harvard Business School is now requiring a writing exam for interviewed applicants who submit a GMAT score