Due to covid-19 pandemic, the world is seeing things which we would have never imagined. In the management world, GMAT is the key for the students to unlock doors to the best Business schools across the world. Now, due to the uncertainty which has arise due to the pandemic the world is facing, many students were unable to give the GMAT exam because of many factors like Lockdown in many parts of the world, Recession, Loss of learning time and many more. So, It forced many top B-Schools to push their deadlines further for applications for their MBA programs and many are now considering students without the GMAT exam also. But in this article, we will try to understand on whether it is worth it to apply to colleges without a GMAT or should you focus on giving a GMAT exam.
So, firstly , After the pandemic happened and GMAC(Which conducts the GMAT exam) observed that many B-Schools were short of the applications of students to enroll because they were unable to give GMAT because of the restrictions or safety issues, so they rolled out the idea of conducting the GMAT online. Yes. GMAT is now conducting the exam online till 15th June 2020 i.e. students can enroll for the GMAT exam and give the exam sitting at home to facilitate the students and moreover to help the students to meet the deadline of the B-Schools to secure their career. For all information about the GMAT online, refer to this blog.
Moreover, because of the locations also, as many B-Schools are in US or UK or France which were badly hit by the pandemic, the students were not applying to the top B-Schools . So to counter that, many B-Schools rolled out the notification that they will not force on the GMAT scores for a candidate to get the admission. The candidate would be selected based on the profile. And some colleges even waved off the application fee. For proper notifications of all colleges, refer to this link.
So,Whether a candidate should give a GMAT now in 2020?
Now what we truly need to understand here is whether a student should consider giving a GMAT or not. So the answer is Yes. They should consider giving a GMAT. Because the main idea of providing this waiver is not to discard the importance of GMAT, but to control the recession which is going to hit everyone and even the universities. GMAT was basically designed to test certain abilities of a student which could prove that the student is interested and moreover have a particular set of abilities that is generally required by the universities. Moreover, as GMAC is giving the facility to the students in giving the GMAT sitting at home, those who do not appear for the test could prove to be a disadvantage. Moreover, no one should ignore the fact that the GMAT score is valid for 5 years, So the students who gave the exam 3-4 years back also would be applying to the B-Schools. So the selection rate of the students with GMAT rather than a profile without GMAT would definitely be higher. So the students should definitely consider giving a GMAT exam because maybe it could happen that the average cutoff scores could be lowered or a student with a low GMAT score could get into a top B-School, but giving a GMAT and attaining a good score is what is needed right now.
In this coming time of recession, where jobs are becoming less and the degree of uncertaintity has gradually increased, we feel that doing an MBA from a top B-school and having an expertise will open doors to many successful jobs for the candidates. The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley this week extended the school’s R3 deadlineby more than three months to July 15th from April 6th with the explicit reason to enlarge this year’s MBA applicant pool. “We have just come off one of the most robust job markets of the post-World War II era and now there is a greater degree of uncertainty for some people,” he says. “Maybe now is a good time to go back to school. I think an MBA will be a very strong option for many people who are unsure of what will happen in the next few years. For some people, the opportunity costs of attending school have just dropped. So we want to be able to be here for some of those outstanding people.”
So choose wisely and prepare well.