The following is an excerpt from an interview with Antony James (AJ), a former member of the Admission Office at Harvard.
Question: In the GMAT, what is the actual purpose of the essay section or the section on Analytical Writing Assessment?
AJ: Look, business schools in general need a specific method in which they can test the candidate's natural writing skills, and this particular test would give them a clear idea of the capabilities of the candidate. This happens despite the fact that the candidate may have provided an essay with his admission forms to indicate his writing abilities, but it is widely known that a candidate does not write the essay without outside help from friends and family. When the candidate writes his GMAT, however, it is obvious that he has to do it without help, and this is a real test of his writing skills.
Do not forget also that this may not be the final deciding factor in your admission application, although most schools would prefer a score of 4 or more on your essays. As a matter of fact, most schools do not even bother to read your essays; all they do is take a good look at your scores on the Analytical Writing Assessment section, and make their decision.
Question: Is the GMAT score verified by the admissions committee, and if so, how do they do it?
AJ: At Harvard, what we did in the very beginning was to go through the self-reported scores as stated on the application forms. Next, we made a favorable or unfavorable decision on the candidate. The third step was to appoint an intern to check the reported scores with the official score report, to make sure that they matched perfectly.
Most candidates fail to make sure that they report taking the GMAT after they have submitted the admission forms, and this means that we will only take the old scores into account, and not the latest and newer scores. As a candidate, it is completely your responsibility to inform the schools about the new GMAT, and that the new scores must be used rather than the old; after all, we do not know about the new test or the new scores.
As a candidate, you can also explain to the school committee that you would be willing to take the GMAT again, if it was found that your scores were too low for the purpose.
Question: Could you tell us about some of the latest trends being followed in business school applications today?
AJ: Strangely enough, during the years from 1999 to 2001, business schools received a record number of applications form GMAT students, but during the years from 2003 to 2004, there was a sharp decline in the number of applications. However, according to GMAC, there has been an increase in applications again in 2005, which would mean that there would be a greater number of applications, which translates in stiffer competition for seats.
In the same way, there has been a sharp increase in the average GMAT scores of all the top schools: from the years 1997 to 2005 the average scores have increased dramatically from 680 to 716, at both Harvard and at Harvard. One cannot be sure of the true reason behind the phenomenon, especially as scores started to rise immediately after the introduction of the CAT format during the late 1900's. Perhaps, today, students spend more time and expend more efforts on studying and preparing for their GMATs.
Question: How do you rate the progress of international students as far as admissions are concerned?
AJ: Today, there is an increase in the number of international students applying to the top American business schools; today's statistics point at about 40% of international students forming the application pool at American business schools.
It is a fact that the GMAT can be more important for international students, because most admissions officers are more likely to be quite unfamiliar with foreign universities, and therefore very likely to be unfamiliar with foreign transcripts. This means that they are much more difficult to evaluate and appraise. The GMAT can therefore serve as a useful toll to compare international students with each other, and also with American students.
Question: Is it true that international business schools require the GMAT?
AJ: Although most international business schools today prefer to use their own entrance tests and exams for the potential candidates, many prefer to use the GMAT scores as well. The reason is that the GMAT scores offer the schools a reliable measure with which to assess the candidate, and also a quantifiable one. The GMAT offers a method by which the student body could be compared to those of other business schools, and this may be the reason why there are so many international aspirants to some of the good business schools today.
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