60% of Admissions Officers say GMAT Integrated Reasoning Section Scores Unimportant

The majority of admissions officers from more than 200 U.S. business schools say an applicant’s score on the GMAT’s Integrated Reasoning section is not so important.

In a recent survey, Kaplan found that 60% of admissions officers said that performance on the IR section was not important.

But Kaplan reports that 50% of business schools surveyed point to a low overall GMAT score as “the biggest application killer.” 

For its 2014 survey, Kaplan polled admissions officers from 204 business schools from across the United States, including 11 of the top 30 MBA programs as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. 

The IR section is scored separately from the Qualitative, Verbal and Analytical Writing Assessment sections of the GMAT exam, which means that poor performance on this new section can’t be masked by stronger performance on the other sections. 

For more details see the 2014 Kaplan survey of admissions officers

Fewer Women MBA Candidates for 2015

The Graduate Management Admission Council said Sept. 29 that the number of women applicants in 2014 fell slightly for full-time, two-year MBA programs to 37% this year vs. 39% in 2013.

Wharton reported a slight fall in the percentage of women enrolled in its full-time MBA Class of 2016 to 40%, from 42% a year ago. The school had set a record in 2011 among the world’s elite business schools for having a 44.7% female ratio. Harvard Business School maintained its 41% level of representation in its just-entered class of MBAs.

GMAC’s just published Application Trends Survey counted 106,877 applications from women, 38% of the 2014–2015 applicant pool.

Women represent 43% of all GMAT exams taken worldwide. GMAC said that women make up a majority of students in master’s programs in marketing and communications (65%), accounting (62%), and management (54%). In master’s of accounting programs, there was a year-over-year increase of three full percentage points from 59% in 2013.

GMAC said that women also represent 40% or more of the applicants in part-time lockstep MBA programs (41%), part-time self-paced MBA programs (40%), flexible MBA programs (43%), and master of finance programs (46%).

GMAC said that testing year 2013 marked the fifth year in a row that women broke the 100,000 mark in the number of GMAT exams taken.

For more information see the 2014 GMAC Application Trends Survey

MBA Applications Up for 2015: GMAC 2014 Application Trends Survey

According to the GMAC 2014 Application Trends Survey, 61% of global full-time two-year MBA programs participating in the survey reported application growth – up from 50% of programs in 2013 and only 43% in 2012. It is the first time in five years when a majority of schools reported an increase.

Here are the key points:

• 35% of the 314 responding business schools told GMAC their applications were down this past year. As recently as 2011, 67% of the surveyed schools reported declines in two-year MBA applications.
• The last time a majority of schools reported rising applications in two-year, full-time MBA programs was 2009. At that time, 64% of the respondents reported an uptick.
• 60% business schools with one-year MBA programs reported a decline in applications this past year.
• 65% of U.S. full-time two-year MBA programs report receiving more applications from foreign candidates, up from 56% in 2013, and 41% in 2012. U.S. schools report  that India and China are their largest sources of foreign students.
• The percentage of professional MBA programs (part-time, flexible, online, and executive MBA) reporting increased application volume was higher this year than in 2013, however, the majority of programs is not yet experiencing growth.
• Growth in application volume is seen among Master in Marketing and Communications, Master in Information Technology, Master in Management, and Master of Accounting programs. Master of Finance programs are experiencing declining volume for the third year in a row.

In the United States, 65 percent of full-time two-year MBA programs report receiving more applications from foreign candidates, while demand also continues to improve among domestic candidates (up for 48% of programs in 2014 compared with 22% in 2012). The following programs reported a majority of foreign candidates in their applicant pools:

1. Master of Finance (82% of applicants)
2. Master in Management (73%)
3. Master in Marketing and Communications (69%)
4. Full-time one-year MBA (56%)
5. Full-time two-year MBA (52%)
6. Citizens of countries in East and Southeast Asia and Central and South Asia make up the majority of foreign candidates applying to programs in Asia-Pacific, Canada, India, and the United States.
7. Programs located in Europe received their largest share of foreign candidates from East and Southeast Asia and from other European countries.

For more information please see GMAC 2014 Application Trends Survey