Top B-schools not insisting on GMAT

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced various universities globally to suspend their standardized testing requirements for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 admissions. Students with no GMAT score can now apply to top universities in the world like Wharton, Imperial College London, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon, INSEAD, and London Business School. Management schools around the world have pushed deadlines for late-round MBA applications and are not insisting on GMAT score for giving admission.

Universities abroad are taking several measures to help students get into their dream colleges. Some universities like Wharton, Ross (online MBA), HEC Paris, Charlotte Belk (North Carolina), Harbert College, Tippie (University of IOWA), ESMT Berlin, Davis Graduate School, University of Maryland Smith, IMD Switzerland Cox, and Kellogg have even suspended admission tests.

London Business School and Oxford have announced that admission would be contingent on the submission of the missing test scores at a later date. Universities are going out of the way to help students apply by extending their deadlines for receiving applications in round four, some have even introduced fifth round, thus, more students can apply. Various universities have announced the acceptance of applications on a rolling basis and some have decided to waive off the application fee.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many aspirants are not able to take standardized tests required to get admission abroad. Because of the Coronavirus crisis, GMAC has suspended test-center based GMAT exam and launched the GMAT Online exam, which is designed to support the student's need to meet B-school deadlines.

B-schools are delaying deadlines for rounds three and four and reviewing applications without GMAT score and in some cases even cancelling application fee completely. Admission to B-schools has never been so easy.

Know all about the GMAT Online Exam from registration to test dates to score reporting to retesting here.

Carey Business School announced, ‘Johns Hopkins Carey Business School has made changes to its MBA admissions process to reflect the impact of Covid-19. Carey will accept incomplete applications for our Round 3 deadline and will work with applications individually to complete their applications.carey has added a Round 4 with a deadline of June 1. Following Round 4, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through July 15. Carey if offering GMAT/GRE waivers moving forward.’

UC Berkeley is also admitting last year's undergraduate students from its own university into MBA programmes without asking for GMAT or GRE or even without work experience. This is an unusual scenario for a top university.

Apart from this, Harvard Business School is holding discussions about increasing the class of 2021 as many students will defer their admission and seek enrolment next year. Also, Penn State Smeal College of Business is waiving off the exam requirement for aspirants having strong quantitative educational backgrounds even without work experience. Those with active GME or GMAT scores are also eligible for an application fee waiver.