GMAT scores
Entry level
The ten highest GMAT scores at business schools
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JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES (pictured) described inflation as an illusion of wealth. In other words, we tend to think of our assets in their absolute terms, not in terms of what they can buy. What would Keynes have made of GMAT scores? At the turn of the millennium, the average GMAT score at an MBA programme ranked in The Economist's top ten was 688. In 2014 it was 727. Admittedly, the Indian Institute of Management, a newcomer on the GMAT list is an anomoly—it has by some margin the highest numberof applicants per places of any school on our ranking, so can choose only those studsents with the very highest GMAT scores. However, at more familiar schools such as Stanford, Harvard and Chicago average scores have been rising for years.
So are MBA students getting brighter? It is unlikely. More probable is that compeition is getting fiercer. Schools often claim not to require a minimum GMAT score from applicants. But the reality is different. Every year a handful of high-calibre students might be admitted with sub-standard scores, but they are exceptional in both senses of the world. There will be some aspect of their working or personal lives that truly sets them apart. For the rest, keeping up with rising expectations means ever more GMAT preparation. One hundred hours of groundwork before sitting the test is now common. Companies offering tutorials (including The Economist) ensure that the applicant arms race continues unabated.
Another factor is the competition between schools themselves. One reason they have become more likely to select students on the basis of their GMAT scores, before thinking about their other attributes, is that it affects their ranking. (By making GMAT such an important part of its assessment, The Economist must take its fair share of the rap for this too.)
All in all, as Keynes would point out, a score of 727 buys you no more today than a score of 688 would have 14 years ago. But having said that, GMAT is a useful indicator of likely success on a course. Students will struggle without the quantitative skills it measures. And while foreign students may grumble that they are at a disadvantage with the verbal reasoning and writing aspects of the test, the fact is that most top MBAs are taught in English, and students without sufficient language skills will be at a disadvantage here too. In this sense, the GMAT is a necessary inconvenience.
Rank | Business school | Average GMAT score | Top 100 rank | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad | 763 | 48 | India |
2 | Stanford University – Graduate School of Business | 732 | 9 | United States |
3 | University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School | 730 | 11 | United States |
4 | University of Chicago – Booth School of Business | 726 | 1 | United States |
5 | Harvard Business School | 725 | 6 | United States |
6 | New York University – Leonard N Stern School of Business | 723 | 8 | United States |
7 | Columbia Business School | 718 | 10 | United States |
8 | Dartmouth College – Tuck School of Business | 718 | 2 | United States |
9 | Yale School of Management | 717 | 19 | United States |
10 | University of California at Berkeley – Haas School of Business | 715 | 7 | United States |
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IIMA stands at top due to Indian talent but when accounted at other attributes like infrastructure, faculty, ambience, opportunities and many other things, Indian institutes fail to find their way in top lists. first reason of this failure is obviously the lack of above attributes to a certain extent but the second reason is that they are being judged and evaluated on the standards set and formed by other countries who don't share the same educational system,culture and circumstances. Indians have always performed well and better than others, when subjected to limited resources and they have proved it at all different levels of myriad organizations. so, I think when someone is performing out of the box, they should be evaluated likewise. Thanks.
Though IIM got 48th rank in Top 100 b-schools. Still it managed to rank 1 for avg gmat score. In India there are lots of resources for GMAT, even i helped few students through www.collegetag.in for GMAT preparation. Happy to see IIM at no 1
Missing in this 'analysis' is the heavier weight given to the verbal end of the GMAT. A high verbal/average math is worth more than a high math/average verbal. Why? Take 100 GMAT takers. Ask those with 500/500 verbal/math to step forward and 50 will. Ask those with 600/600 from that group, and only 15 will. 700/700? Only 5 will, the 95th percentile. Why? Math stops at Algebra II on the GMAT so lots of 700s. Few of those math folks have also parsed Shakespeare. Hooray for India for mastering the language of its former colonizer.
this article is obviously written by an English native speaker (which I am not). There is a great difference between working, studying and taking a multiple choice test in an English language. Working and studying often is conversational (self-written answers) while taking a multiple choice test is a one-way communication. I doubt that MBA exams consist of those kind of tests (or hope for the greater good). There is a clear disadvantage especially regarding the time management as well: as an ESL speaker you have to be way more careful reading those MCQs to be sure.
A little-known fact about the GMAT is that there is a close correlation of scores with IQ, and GMAT scores are accepted by some High-IQ societies as a qualification for entry (e.g. Mensa America, Triple Nine Society).
http://www.polymath-systems.com/intel/hiqsocs/hiqsocs2.html
(This page is out-of-date, but mostly accurate)