Waivers for standardized tests were never a “thing” in MBA applications until the pandemic, which obviously disrupted everything, including in-person testing.
At this point, in most regions of the world, in-person testing has resumed, and at-home testing has also become more widely available for the GRE, the GMAT, and the TOEFL.
However, in the wake of the disruptions from 2020, some schools took the opportunity to re-examine their application requirements and policies. For example, Darden, MIT Sloan, and Michigan Ross, and perhaps a few other schools will allow MBA candidates to apply for a waiver whereby you don’t have to submit a GMAT or GRE score in order to apply. Harvard allows waiver requests this season if you are unable to test safely.
There are a huge range of situations for which a test-waiver could be appealing. This is a question of serious MBA application strategy. Let’s dig into some of these scenarios and see what we find.
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It’s totally possible to get into bschool without going through the rigamarole of the standardized test. You can find posts on this deep down in the dark ‘snarchives including this 2011 post on No GMAT Required. It just depends on which school and how you go about it.
(Oh hey look! Shameless plug! We wrote about the waiver request process at UVA Darden in our 2021 SnarkStrategies MBA Application Guide! In case you want to hear more about it and figure out if this strategy is the right for you to try.
Tell us what you think.