GRE and GMAT: Which One to Take?
As you begin to explore an MBA education, the question of whether to take the GRE or GMAT may soon arise. While the GMAT has traditionally been the test that MBA applicants take, more and more top graduate business programs are starting to accept the GRE as well. Ultimately, accepting both tests gives the schools a larger pool of applicants, allowing them to be more selective in terms of which students they accept into their programs.
A good first step in deciding which test or tests to take is to determine which scores your target schools accept. Some schools will only accept the GMAT, in which case your choice is made for you.
To help you make an informed decision, we’ve provided a breakdown of the different tests’ various sections and consulted with an admissions professional for some industry insights.
If you feel completely lost, a good place to start is to take a both a GRE and GMAT practice test to see which one you prefer. Both practice tests are freely available and easy to find online. (GMAC offers free software that includes two practice GMAT tests; ETS has a similar offer for the GRE.) While the tests measure similar knowledge and skill sets, there are significant differences between the two.
HOW THE GRE and GMAT STACK UP
In terms of general structure, the GRE consists of a 60-minute Analytical Writing section, which includes two essays that applicants have 30 minutes each to complete. An additional Verbal Reasoning section also features two 30-minute sections. Another two sections are devoted to Quantitative Reasoning, each with a 35-minute time allotment for completion. Finally, there is a 30- to 35-minute experimental section that can be either math or verbal.
The GMAT, meanwhile, consists of one 30-minute Analytic section with one essay, a 30-minute Integrated Reasoning section, a 75-minute Quantitative section and a 75-minute Verbal section.
Where quantitative skills are concerned, both tests contain questions involving arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis. Pretty much anything you learned before trigonometry is fair game. That said, the ways in which these concepts are presented to test takers varies from one test to the other.
The GRE questions involve “number sense”—looking at two figures, manipulating them and comparing their values.
The GMAT, in contrast, features mostly step-by-step word problems. Some test takers will be tempted to choose between the tests based on the math section alone, since one format may be more comfortable and familiar than the other. Most agree that the GRE’s math portion tends to be a little bit easier, so you should keep this in mind when comparing scores.
As far as the verbal section goes, the GRE places a much higher emphasis on recalling vocabulary words than the GMAT does. In turn, the GMAT prioritizes grammar, logic and reasoning in its verbal section. Both tests feature reading comprehension questions where you read a passage and answer questions about it afterwards.
The GRE also has text completion questions, where you choose a word to fill in the blank, as well as sentence equivalence questions, where you choose two words to fill in the blank space in a sentence so that the sentence has the same meaning no matter which word you use.
The GMAT, for its part, requires test takers to correct the grammar of a sentence as well as analyze the logic of an argument. This is another difference between the tests that may make one more appealing than the other to an individual test taker. (Students who excel at grammar may not have the best vocabulary and vice versa.)
The GRE gives you a score based on your essay (0-6), your verbal section (130-170) and your math section (130-170). The GMAT gives you a score based on your essay (0-6), an Integrated Reasoning subscore (1-8), a math subscore (0-60), a verbal subscore (0-60), and a total score (200-800) based on your verbal and math subscores. Because the metrics vary considerably, the best way to find out the score you should be aiming for is to simply call the admissions office at the schools of your choice and ask.
AN ADMISSIONS EXPERT WEIGHS IN
Graham is a co-founder of Clear Admit. He holds an MBA from Wharton, where he also served as an admissions officer. He has over 18 years of experience in the field of MBA admissions.
We consulted Graham Richmond, who worked in admissions for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, for his insights when it comes to choosing between the tests. Here are some of the points he had to share:
- Business schools are most familiar with the GMAT exam. They have decades of data on how an applicant’s results on that test translate to in-class performance. Therefore, taking the GRE means giving the school a data point that they are still getting used to judging.
- The GRE is generally regarded as having a less rigorous quantitative section, and given the importance of quantitative skills in an MBA program, this can be problematic.
- Business schools that accept the GRE typically expect to see it from less traditional applicants—those who might be looking at other options for graduate education or those who are younger and perhaps took the test as seniors in college to keep their options open. As such, if you are a ‘mainstream’ MBA applicant (a banker, consultant or corporate type), then it may look odd to submit a GRE result. Based on point #2 above, it might even look like the applicant is trying to take an easier quantitative test. For instance, the investment banker who takes the GRE could raise eyebrows in the admissions office, causing some to question whether there might be an issue with the candidate’s quantitative skills.
Richmond now heads Southwark Consulting, which provides strategic advice to business school admissions offices worldwide. In the course of this work, he regularly hears directly from admission officers on all stages of the MBA admissions process, including entrance exams.
Many admissions officers have confided to Richmond that very few applicants submit the GRE (less than 5 percent of the applicant pool, in some cases). Also, even though ETS has provided schools with a conversion chart intended to allow admissions teams to convert GRE scores to approximate GMAT scores, the schools Richmond has spoken with report finding the tool somewhat unreliable, making them hesitant to trust the converted scores completely.
Richmond acknowledges that the GRE does present a reasonable option for the candidate who is considering applying to multiple degree programs (choosing between an MBA, Master of Public Policy [MPP] and Master of International Relations [MIR], for example) and would prefer not to take two exams.
But there is also another reason the exam has made its way into the MBA universe, he points out. “ETS lost the contract it once held with the Graduate Management Admissions Council to administer the GMAT exam, and so it is pushing the GRE as an alternative in order to recoup some of the lost revenue.”
We hope that this breakdown has helped demystify which test makes the most sense for you to take. But don’t waste too much time deciding… As we previously mentioned, accepting both the GRE and GMAT has enabled business schools be even more selective, so you should spend the bulk of your time devoted to studying for whichever test you choose. Good luck!
—
For more information regarding the GRE and GMAT make sure to check out the following articles: