GRE® Option for MBA Admissions Grows

Contact:

• Mark I. McNutt
  609-439-6324
  mediacontacts@ets.org

Princeton, N.J. (April 22, 2009) —

More than 190 business schools from across the globe — including many top-ranked global MBA programs — are part of a growing trend of MBA programs that are seeking to broaden and diversify their candidate pools by accepting GRE® General Test scores.

Five of the top 10 global MBA programs now accept GRE test scores, according to the Financial Times’ Global MBA rankings for 2009 and Educational Testing Service (ETS). These are China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Harvard (2+2 Program), Instituto De Empresa (IE), MIT Sloan and Stanford. Canada’s Queen's School of Business, ranked by BusinessWeek as the best MBA program in the world outside the United States, also accepts the GRE test.

Last month, Harvard Business School (HBS) announced that it will accept GRE scores for admission into its 2+2 program.

"The HBS 2+2 program is designed to encourage college juniors — especially those in majors such as engineering, science and government — to consider business as a career path," says Deirdre Leopold, Harvard Business School’s Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. “Since the GRE is the test these students are most familiar with on the road to graduate school, we are pleased to offer it as an alternative option to the GMAT®."

In addition, MBA programs cite institutional competitiveness and student access to GRE test centers as practical reasons for accepting GRE test scores. But it is the current global economy and the GRE test’s inherent ability to support programs’ diversity goals that creates the most appeal, according to David Bach, Associate Dean of MBA programs at Instituto de Empresa (IE) Business School.

“As the financial crisis deepens, new approaches are needed to rebuild global financial systems and to uncover opportunities for creating value in business and society,” says Bach. “Business schools must look to diverse participants to engage in this process. And we find the GRE test an excellent tool to help us meet this objective.”

To help admissions professionals compare GRE and GMAT verbal and quantitative test scores, ETS introduced the GRE Comparison Tool for Business Schools last fall. The tool is provided at no cost and is available at www.ets.org/gre/comparison.

When asked to explain additional reasons for the growing interest in the GRE exam by MBA programs, ETS Vice President and COO David Payne pointed to the introduction of the ETS® Personal Potential Index (ETS® PPI) slated for July 2009.

“Professional and graduate schools, especially MBA programs, place high value on critical personal attributes like ethics and resilience,” explains Payne. “As a tool designed to measure these skills, ETS PPI has drawn a lot of attention from graduate and professional programs that are seeking to recruit the very best and brightest.”

ETS PPI is a web-based evaluation system that offers reliable information on six personal attributes that graduate and business school deans and faculty have identified as essential to success in advanced study. The six attributes are: Knowledge and Creativity; Communication Skills; Teamwork; Resilience; Planning and Organization; and Ethics and Integrity. Beginning in July, ETS PPI will be available for GRE General Test registrants at no additional cost, and to other individuals at a cost of $20 per report.

To learn more about use of the GRE test for admission into business schools, visit www.ets.org/gre/business or e-mail grebusiness@ets.org.

About ETS

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® test and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

GMAT is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council.