The GMAT™ Exam Can Fill Gaps in Your MBA Application

Nobody’s perfect, and the business schools you’re interested in don’t expect you to be. If you’re thinking of applying for a business master’s or MBA but are nervous about your past undergraduate performance or non-business background, rest assured that you can make up significant ground and fill gaps in your applications with a strong performance on the GMAT™ exam.

For decades, leading business schools around the world have trusted the GMAT exam because it’s the only assessment specifically validated to predict performance in the first year of a graduate business program. Earning your best score can make admissions committees more comfortable admitting you if your undergraduate record isn’t as strong as they would otherwise like to see.

Recently, the mba.com team caught up with Imran Kanga, the Director of Recruitment at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He shared his thoughts on why Rotman uses admissions assessments, how a test score can fill a gap in your MBA or business master’s application, and what a GMAT score can tell admissions committees that the other parts of your application cannot.

Why does Rotman use assessments as a part of the admissions process?

At Rotman, we use assessments to determine an applicant’s quantitative and analytical abilities.

All sections of the GMAT test are assessed carefully as part of our admissions process and play an important role in how we select candidates for admission. Based on historical data of students that have been admitted and have completed the MBA program at Rotman over the past decade, there continues to be a strong positive correlation between a student’s GMAT score and their performance in the program.

In turn, a candidate’s performance during the MBA program also strongly correlates to positive employment outcomes, and therefore the applicant’s GMAT test score is an important predictor how an applicant will perform both in a rigorous and quantitative program and beyond.

This is why we have continued to include the GMAT as an important component in our application process.

How might an applicant leverage their assessment results to fill gaps in their application?

Our ‘Intellectual Horsepower’ section of the application is really asking applicants to demonstrate their proven academic ability with their performance at the undergraduate level and their GMAT scores.

There are several ways candidates can leverage their test score to fill gaps in their application. Consider an applicant who did not perform as well as they hoped during undergrad, for a myriad of reasons. The GMAT is the perfect opportunity for this applicant to compensate for a lower GPA by providing us with a strong GMAT score, which signals to the admissions team that the candidate does in fact have the ability to manage the rigor of the MBA program.

Another case could be an applicant who does not have a quant background applying to the MBA program. We see so many wonderful applications from students who come from the Arts, Humanities, Social sciences and other non “quant heavy” backgrounds. These students enrich the classroom experience with diverse perspectives they bring to the classroom. Often these applicants would not have taken any quant courses in during undergrad, so a strong GMAT score again proves to us in admissions that the applicant has the ability to make it through an intensive MBA program.

What can a GMAT score tell you that other parts of the application cannot?

I believe that the Integrated Reasoning Section of the GMAT gives us insight into an applicant’s analytical and reasoning skills, and this is not easily found elsewhere in the application.

The ability to analyze a set of data, pick out relevant information and draw conclusions from that data, inferring trends from graphs or diagrams and come up with solutions to complex problems is not often tested as part of the MBA application but it is an important skillset to have in the MBA program.

Imran Kanga is the Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management.