No GMAT, No Problem: How These Schools Help MBA Applicants
There’s little joy in agonizing over less-than-stellar GMAT scores, wringing your sweaty hands over a looming GMAT appointment, and/or simply trying to sidestep the standardized nightmare, full stop. Slow down! Go easy on yourself!
For starters, there are plenty of schools that offer GMAT/GRE waivers or weigh other parts of your application more heavily than what you were able to half-remember one random Saturday morning.
Many schools acquiesce that it’s difficult parse out the ideal applicant from a test score and they eliminate many worthwhile candidates in the process. So, are there students who might do just fine in the application process skipping the GMAT rigmarole altogether?
If you have 5-7 years of high-quality work experience, it will certainly carry a lot of weight for applicants without GMAT scores, as will exceptionally high undergraduate GPAs. Applicants who can demonstrate aptitude in a related field can likely get away without GMATs. Candidates with post-graduate degrees in an unrelated field can also have the GMAT waived—let us know your secret for avoiding standardized tests all across the board, by the way.
On the flip side, if you don’t have significant work experience, didn’t graduate cum laude, and can’t demonstrated related (or unrelated) aptitude, you may have to claw tooth and nail to pass that GMAT with flying colors.
For those applicants with the right stuff, let’s take a deeper dive into five Metro-covered schools that don’t require GMAT for admissions:
Suffolk’s Sawyer School of Business
Sawyer School of Business applicants sans GMAT need not fret. Full-time MBA candidates with three years’ work experience and part-time MBA candidates with 5-7 years of experience can apply for waivers. Here are the other potential credentials that can take the place of a GMAT. In all cases documentation is required:
- If you’ve passed the CPA; CFA, Level 1; or the FRM, Level 1 exams
- If you’re a second-semester senior business or economics major or Berklee College of Music music management undergrad with a cumulative GPA of 3.3.
- If you have 2 years of relevant full-time professional work experience and a 3.4 undergraduate GPA; a 3.3 GPA and four years of experience; or 3.2 and six years of experience.
- If you have a MSA, MSF, MSBA, or MST from an AACSB-accredited b-school.
- If you are an ABA-approved law school graduate.
- If you’ve completed any SBS graduate certificate programs with a cumulative 3.3 GPA.
DePaul’s Kellstadt School of Business
If you apply to the Kellstadt School of Business in Chicago without GMAT scores, here are some alternatives that will help you make the cut. Along with an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution, Kellstadt applicants that do not take the GMAT need:
- Five years’ consecutive work experience that demonstrates management and quantitative aptitude.
- JD, MD, Ph.D., MSF degrees.
- 160 LSAT Score.
- Pass the CPA and/or PE exams.
- Any alumni from DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business with 3.2 GPA or higher and two years’ work experience.
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Rutgers Business School
Holders of a Ph.D., MD, JD, and PharmD, as well as applicants with 3.0-plus undergraduate GPAs are not required to present GMAT scores. Rutgers Business School part-time MBA and Professional Accounting MBA applicants with 10 years’ full-time experience (or 8 if they have a Master’s degree) can apply for GMAT waivers. Other related degree paths that do not require GMAT or GRE scores: The MA in Taxation, the MA in Governmental Accounting, and the MS in Supply Chain.
Pace’s Lubin School of Business
Prospective Pace Lubin School of Business MBAs with a 3.50-plus cumulative undergraduate GPAs or those already in possession of business-related post-graduate degrees can request GMAT waivers. CPAs, CMAs, or practicing lawyers can request GMAT waivers if they apply for the MS in Taxation. Applicants with three years of managerial human resources experience can request GMAT waivers for the MS in Human Resources Management.
Golden Gate University’s Ageno School of Business
The following Ageno School of Business candidates may apply for a GMAT waiver:
- Master’s degrees in unrelated fields.
- Applicants with professional licenses earned by passing a nationally recognized US exam e.g. CPA, CMA, CIA.
- Applicants with cumulative 3.50-plus undergraduate GPAs.
- Applicants with five years’ managerial experience.
- Practicing CFAs, physicians, or attorneys
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
