More MBA Programs Abandon Test Waiver Policies

A recent analysis by Poets & Quants found that many MBA programs will bring back standardized testing requirements for this year’s admissions cycle. Among the U.S. News Top 25 ranked schools, 18 are requiring applicants to submit test scores, two are not, and just five will offer test-waivers. In the last year, NYU Stern, Virginia Darden, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Emory Goizueta, USC Marshall, and Indiana Kelley have reversed their test-waiver policies in lieu of a standardized testing requirement. 

USN Rank & School Name % GMAT 2023          % GRE 2023          Tests Required?

1 Stanford GSB 61% 39% Yes

1 Pennsylvania (Wharton) 67% 37% Yes

3 Chicago (Booth) 63% 32% Yes

3 Northwestern (Kellogg) 67% 29% Yes

5 MIT (Sloan) 54% 34% Waiver option

6 Harvard 69% 34% Yes

7 Yale SOM 62% 37% Yes

7 New York (Stern) 45% 22% Yes

7 UC-Berkeley (Haas) 46% 53% Yes

10 Dartmouth (Tuck) 61% 42% Yes

10 Virginia (Darden) 35% 34% Yes

12 Columbia 53% 26% Yes

12 Duke (Fuqua) 34% 37% Yes

12 Michigan (Ross) 38% 36% Waiver option

15 Cornell (Johnson) 42% 16% Waiver option

16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) 40% 24% Yes

16 Texas-Austin (McCombs) 34% 30% Waiver option

18 USC (Marshall) 36% 33% Yes

18 Emory (Goizueta) 28% 24% Yes

20 UCLA (Anderson) 65% 32% No

20 UNC (Kenan-Flagler) 28% 23% Yes

20 Vanderbilt (Owen) 36% 23% Waiver option

20 Indiana (Kelley) 42% 13% Yes

24 Georgetown (McDonough) 34% 37% Yes

25 Georgia Tech (Scheller) 30% 30% No

Data compiled by P&Q from U.S. News & World Report 2024 MBA Rankings dataset

In addition to many schools bringing back testing requirements, it is important to note that the GRE continues to gain momentum. Below, we show the schools within the Top 25 with the highest proportions of GRE and GMAT submissions. Find the full P&Q analysis, including a view of the GRE’s seven-year trend by school here. 

Schools with the Highest Proportion of GRE Submissions (Top 25 USN Ranking) 

USN Rank & School Name % GRE 2023 % GRE 2022

7 UC-Berkeley (Haas) 53% 45%

10 Dartmouth (Tuck) 42% 38%

1 Stanford GSB 39% 33%

7 Yale SOM 37% 39%

12 Duke (Fuqua) 37% 36%

24 Georgetown (McDonough) 37% 49%

1 Pennsylvania (Wharton) 37% 30%

12 Michigan (Ross) 36% 30%

Schools with the Highest Proportion of GMAT Submissions (Top 25 USN Ranking) 

USN Rank & School Name % GMAT 2023 % GMAT 2022

6 Harvard Business School 69% 74%

3 Northwestern (Kellogg) 67% 76%

1 Pennsylvania (Wharton) 67% 71%

20 UCLA (Anderson) 65% 77%

3 Chicago (Booth) 63% 73%

7 Yale SOM 62% 58%

1 Stanford GSB 61% 67%

10 Dartmouth (Tuck) 61% 68%

Data compiled by P&Q from U.S. News & World Report 2024 MBA Rankings dataset

American Bar Association Rejects Test Optional Admissions

Yesterday, the American Bar Association’s (ABA) policy making body rejected a bid to remove the law school admissions test requirement from the law school accreditation standards. The vote marks the second defeat of the proposal in six years. 

Potentially allowing law schools to go “test optional” for admissions starting in 2025 created a unique controversy, as both proponents and opponents of the policy argued that it would be harmful to law school diversity. 

“As the debate showed, we all care deeply about diversity, we just have different views on the best way to pursue it. The LSAT is an important tool for advancing diversity. The incoming class of 2022 is by far the most diverse class in history, and more than 98 percent of those students used the LSAT. And this year’s applicants are even more diverse than last year, which bodes well for continued progress. The House vote will ensure that we have additional time for research into the actual impact of test-optional policies on students and diversity, so that any policy changes are based on evidence and data,” said Kellye Testy, the President of LSAC, in a statement after the vote.

Testy’s statement echoed a sentiment shared previously in an open letter penned by 60 law school deans urging the ABA to reject the proposal. The letter called out the potential harm that removing the test could do for diversity in admissions, as it would require schools to depend more heavily on other, potentially more biased, metrics like GPA, recommendations, and the reputation of an applicant’s undergraduate institution.