Full-time MBA Programs that Don’t Require the GMAT/GRE Test

Updated March 13, 2021 Updated March 13, 2021

The GMAT/GRE exam is an integral part of the application process to land a spot on an MBA program. It’s stressful, requires a lot of studying, and you of course need to pay for the exam.

Participants are well aware that scoring highly on the GMAT/GRE will greatly enhance their chance of getting into business school. But what if we told you some MBA programs don’t require you to take a GMAT/GRE exam at all?

This may come as a surprise, considering the GMAT and GRE has played an integral part in assessing business school candidates for over 60 years.

An average of 250,000 candidates take the GMAT every year, and GRE participant numbers are significantly higher – with over 580,000 applicants – as many non-business programs with a strong focus in math and science require the test as part of the application process.

Since 2009, the number of b-schools allowing GRE score submissions increased by 61 percent, as more and more students choose this cheaper and more flexible option.

A number of business schools offer different entry tracks onto their programs – take IE Business School for example. The institution allows MBA hopefuls to take the IE Global Admissions Test. Whereas candidates hoping to land a spot on Columbia Business School and NYU Stern’s full-time MBA programs can apply by taking the Executive Assessment test, instead of a GMAT/GRE exam.

In contrast, The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management trialed a pilot in 2018 for the Broad MBA program to accept domestic candidates with strong work experience and other admission criteria in lieu of the standardized test. Similarly, Colorado State University – College of Business will waive the GMAT requirement for candidates with 8+ years’ experience.

Let’s take a full look at the list of business schools taking on candidates without a GMAT/GRE test score.

Full-time MBA Programs that Don’t Require a GMAT/GRE
2020 MBA Rank	Business School	Location
11	Columbia Business School	NYC
14	IE Business School	NYC
22	NYU Stern	Madrid, Spain
51=	The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management	East Lansing, MI
57	Kenan-Flagler Business School	Chapel Hill, NC
63	Babson College, F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business	Babson Park, MA
67=	Mays Business School	College Station, TX
87	Colorado State University - College of Business	Fort Collins, CO
101-110	Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick	Piscataway Township, NJ
111-120	Chapman Graduate School of Business – FIU	Miami, FL
151-200	Howard University	Washington, DC
201+	Suffolk Sawyer School – USA	Boston, MA
N/A	Edward S. Ageno School of Business – Golden Gate University	San Francisco, CA
N/A	Henley Business School, University of Reading	Reading, UK
N/A	HULT International Business School	Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai
N/A	Kellstadt Graduate School of Business	New York, NY
N/A	La Salle University	Philadelphia, PA
N/A	Pace University’s Lubin School of Business
N/A	Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, The University of Delaware	Newark, DE
N/A	University of St Thomas	Houston, TX

Get more advice on the GMAT/GRE here

This article was originally published in February 2020 . It was last updated in March 2021

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Written by

Niamh Ollerton

Niamh was Deputy Head of Content at QS (TopMBA.com; topuniversities.com), creating and editing content for an international student audience. Having gained her journalism qualification at the Press Association, London and since written for different international publications, she's now enjoying telling the stories of students, alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs and organizations from across the globe.