Top 50 With Biggest Five-Year Decreases In GMAT Scores

Top 50 With Biggest Five-Year Decreases In GMAT Scores

School	Five-Year Change	2015 Average GMAT	2011 Average GMAT
Pittsburgh (Katz)	-15	607	622*
Temple (Fox)	-14	632	646*
Penn State (Smeal)	-14	636	650
Wisconsin-Madison	-11	669	680
Ohio State (Fisher)	-10	664	6674
Notre Dame (Mendoza)	-10	682	692
Southern California (Marshall)	-8	679	687
Rochester (Simon)	-8	667	675

Business school admission officials are weighing GMAT scores more heavily than ever. The general view is that GMATs are the single most important factor in MBA admissions.

The consultants singled out three schools in particular where they believe the GMAT assumes increased importance in admission decisions: The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Yale University’s School of Management, and Columbia Business School. Slightly more than half the respondents named Wharton for putting greater weight on GMATs in the past five years; a little more than a third named Yale while just a tad over 25% pointed to Columbia.

While the scores show they were right on the button with Wharton, they may very well have misjudged Yale and Columbia. 

But over the past five years, Yale has reported only a two-point rise in average GMATS to a record 721 last fall, though that average is up seven points since 2013. 

Columbia, meantime, is actually down a point in the past five years to 715, most likely due to the fact that the school offers less scholarship support than many of its peers.

Higher GMAT scores are perceived to create a virtuous circle of school selectivity and positive impact in the U.S. News ranking. Word from the corner office can set a trend in motion–15 years ago the dean at Columbia wanted GMAT scores of admits to all start with a 7. 

In the past three years, the biggest GMAT score declines among the Top 50 are

1.  University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business  saw a 15-point decline to 607 last year from 622 in 2013 (five-year numbers were not available for analysis). 

2. Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia saw a 14-point drop over the same period to 632 from 646. 

3. Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business lost 14 points off its average GMAT scores in the past five years, falling to a 636 average for the full-time MBA entering class last fall from 650 in 2011 (see below).

4. Wisconsin Business School in Madison showed an 11-point fall to 669 from 680 in the past five years

5.  Notre Dame University’s Mendoza School and Ohio State University’s Fisher School each had 10-point declines, to 682 and 664, respectively

In all, 21 of the Top 50 schools reported GMAT declines, though 14 of them were at MBA programs ranked 26th through 50th. 

For more information, please see Poets&Quants