My S2, who’s never been on CC, just graduated from tufts summa cum laude with a BA majoring in English and minoring in Economics. He’ll be working at one of the top 5 management consulting firms for the next couple of years and would like to attend a leading business school for his MBA.
He’s planning to begin studying for the GMAT soon since he has the summer off. He’s wondering if it matters whether he takes the GRE (he’d do really well on the CR section and the math is supposedly easier than the GMAT) or the GMAT. Is there more pressure on him as an English major to prove proficiency in math by taking the GMAT? Would it help his candidacy for highly selective programs?
Thanks a bunch for your advice.
Look at what programs accept which exams. Not all may accept GRE, although this is changing. If all the targeted programs accept both, it’s really a personal choice. GRE math is easier, english is fairly similar.
I guess I’m wondering if taking the GRE puts him at a disadvantage because he was an English major and it won’t prove his computational mettle as much as the GMAT would, even if the programs accept the GRE.
Also, I wonder if the top business schools have a bias, preferring the GMAT even if they accept the GRE. It’s my understanding that they began accepting the GRE because they wanted to attract more STEM ppl, many of whom took/take the GRE for stem phd programs.
Does he need the GMAT to make him a more competitive candidate for a leading program?
Not clear to me. My son took the GREs. He felt he could do well on the GREs and the two business schools he applied to accepted it. He did very well and got into an incredibly good business school. So, he wasn’t harmed by taking the GREs.
However, he was a math/econ/psych triple major (behavioral econ) and was also applying to Data Science/Computational & Mathematical Engineering or Stats programs, so there was probably less of a concern about STEM capabilities.