With more than 1,000 business schools around the world now accepting GRE scores, students taking a GRE gain advantage

With the recruitment season heating up at business schools around the world, Educational Testing Service (ETS) recently announced that more than 1,000 business schools worldwide now accept GRE revised General Test scores for their MBA programmes.

David Payne, vice-president and chief operating officer for the Higher Education division at ETS, says, “Schools want great candidates for their MBA and specialised Master’s programmes and they recognise that GRE test takers are a highly qualified, highly diverse population.”

This information is good news for students around the world since taking the GRE revised General Test provides many advantages. In addition to a lower test fee compared to other admissions test options, GRE test takers benefit from the test-taker friendly features of the exam, such as the preview / review functionality and the quantitative reasoning section onscreen calculator.

GRE officials also announced the introduction of the new ScoreSelect option earlier this year, which allows test takers to decide which GRE scores, from their reportable history, to send to their designated schools. Students also appreciate the fact that GRE scores are welcome at both graduate and business schools, which means they need to take only one test as they explore their various academic and career options.

Among the 1,000 plus business schools now accepting GRE scores have most of the world’s top-ranked MBA programmes, including seven of the top 10 on the Financial Times 2012 Global MBA rankings. In addition, the business schools at Duke University, the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison join the 85% of US News & World Report Top 100 business schools in the United States that accept GRE scores. Around the world, some other recent additions to the rapidly growing worldwide network of schools accepting GRE scores include the triple-accredited EMLYON Business School, Fudan University, HEC Paris, IMD, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and University of Cambridge.

When asked about her school’s recent decision to accept GRE scores, Jenni Denniston, director of MBA recruiting and admissions at the Ivey School of Business at Western University in Canada, explains that “Accepting GRE scores opens up a new and diverse applicant pool for our full-time MBA programme to seek applications from.”

Pejay Belland, director, marketing, admissions and financial aid at INSEAD in France, says, “By accepting GRE scores for admissions we now have access to an even wider pool of candidates with highly unique profiles. This continued diversity results in developing skills in and outside of the classroom, which are crucial for tomorrow’s business leaders and entrepreneurs.”