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22 Jul 2024, 12:12
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IshtarthUmesh
Similar Question. It's already stressful to prepare for the other sections and now this
22 Jul 2024, 21:19
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Praveen_Murugesh
Hi Praveen_Murugesh,
If you've been preparing for the GMAT, don't change your plans now. The impact of this essay issue is currently extremely limited, and shouldn't affect your decision (or IshtarthUmesh's decision) to go ahead with a scheduled GMAT appointment.
25 Jul 2024, 16:50
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Totally agree—ignore this development for now. It's only these two schools and only a minority of applicants are invited to interview. You may decide not to apply to either HBS or Sloan in the end. You may apply and not be invited to interview—it's so competitive.
If you do apply and you are invited to interview, then that's amazing news. You'll have to prep for your interview, so this is just another step in that preparation. It really doesn't take long to prep for the essay—less than 10 hours and probably less than 5 for many people. You don't need to ace it—you're just aiming for a 5+ score.
I don't work for GMAC, so obviously I don't know what happened behind the scenes. But given the lateness of this announcement from HBS, I would bet that, last year, all of the schools (or the major ones) were on board with the plans—including HBS—and then HBS changed their minds at some point in the past few months.
If Harvard had told GMAC last year that they were still going to want this, then GMAC wouldn't have completely retired the product and now have to be putting it back up again. Even if they still removed it from the exam, they would have had it ready as a standalone product by the time HBS made its announcement. The fact that it isn't already launched implies that HBS is kind of "going rogue" here.
Also, GMAC is charging $30 for the BWA with no score reporting fees. But it's still a proctored exam, and proctored services are quite costly. We talked to some proctoring companies back in 2021 about possibly offering a proctored practice exam experience for our students...but it cost way too much. $30 for a half-hour live-human proctored exam...I would bet GMAC is barely breaking even. I'd guess the proctoring company alone is getting at least 2/3 of that fee.
This whole situation would make a really good case study, actually. Or MSR problem.
If you do apply and you are invited to interview, then that's amazing news. You'll have to prep for your interview, so this is just another step in that preparation. It really doesn't take long to prep for the essay—less than 10 hours and probably less than 5 for many people. You don't need to ace it—you're just aiming for a 5+ score.
I don't work for GMAC, so obviously I don't know what happened behind the scenes. But given the lateness of this announcement from HBS, I would bet that, last year, all of the schools (or the major ones) were on board with the plans—including HBS—and then HBS changed their minds at some point in the past few months.
If Harvard had told GMAC last year that they were still going to want this, then GMAC wouldn't have completely retired the product and now have to be putting it back up again. Even if they still removed it from the exam, they would have had it ready as a standalone product by the time HBS made its announcement. The fact that it isn't already launched implies that HBS is kind of "going rogue" here.
Also, GMAC is charging $30 for the BWA with no score reporting fees. But it's still a proctored exam, and proctored services are quite costly. We talked to some proctoring companies back in 2021 about possibly offering a proctored practice exam experience for our students...but it cost way too much. $30 for a half-hour live-human proctored exam...I would bet GMAC is barely breaking even. I'd guess the proctoring company alone is getting at least 2/3 of that fee.
This whole situation would make a really good case study, actually. Or MSR problem.
27 Jul 2024, 08:49
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I TOTALLY get why, at first glance, this might seem like a need to be concerned (the "SURPRISE!" aspect of it is probably making it FEEL far worse than it is, I think?), but just to mirror what many experts have said here already, there is NO REASON to, e.g., make a last-minute (and thus probably ill-advised) switch to the GRE JUST because of this.
Sure, it's "annoying", but I don't think it's a big deal -- I elaborate a little on this in my post below -- and also I asked myself: "Just HOW many people might this even affect, anyway?!" I took the ROUGHEST of STABS at trying to estimate roughly how many people in R1 from the HBS applicant pool will, in fact, be asked to take the BWA... CAVEAT that I did this on a FRIDAY evening at the end of a loooong week, so PLEASE BE NICE if my calculation was wrong, but... my "back of the envelope" calculation is that maybe fewer than 200 people (?) in the Round 1 HBS pool will be affected by this? Or am I way off and should have done this post-coffee instead, ha ha?
(I think the biggest question-mark in trying to guess this # is, "What percent of GMAT scores submitted in R1 will be the GFE vs. Old GMAT?" Since I don't work on the test-prep side, I have absolutely zero idea / intuition around: "Ok, so...between Nov - Feb, which % took the GFE? And since Feb, are test volumes about the same as they'd be for the old GMAT, or has it been a bit lower, as folks need more time to study / "wait and see"... or has it been higher, b/c test takers really do prefer the test?" I can easily conjure either scenario in my head, ha ha) Test prep experts: any intuition around which % of "folks submitting in R1" might be submitting the GFE? I'd love your expertise and insights on this!!
https://www.applicantlab.com/blog/reasons-to-not-freak-out-over-the-new-gmac-business-writing-assessment-b-w-a/
p.s.
One possible wrinkle for the folks who aren't submitting an "old" GMAT score that might have a "good" AWA (but presumably be too low otherwise)... definitely heed BB's advice and DO NOT submit it WITH your application... I wonder if, however, it could be sent in AFTER you are INVITED to interview? The language in the FAQ says: "You can satisfy this with a valid GRE, GMAT (10th Edition), or English language test score."
Sooo... theoretically, if I HAVE a "valid" score ("within the past 5 years"), but simply didn't submit it at the time of applying because I had done better, percentile-wise, on the GFE... I wonder if I can send the GRE / GMAT with the old AWA score, explaining that "Well, since the overall score wasn't as competitive as my GRE/GFE, I didn't submit it THEN, but... re: my writing skills, here's a 'valid' score!" (of course, if that score is "SUPER TERRIBLE LOW", then OF COURSE this does more harm than good, but if it was, say "lower than you'd like but not horrifying"... maybe???)
Put another way: if you make it to the interview stage at HBS, it's about MORE than just your test score ...so if at THAT point they find out that, ooops, actually I took a GRE last year and didn't do as well as I did on the GFE... well, who cares?
I'll be attending a webinar with them in a couple of weeks -- I will try to ask!!!
Sure, it's "annoying", but I don't think it's a big deal -- I elaborate a little on this in my post below -- and also I asked myself: "Just HOW many people might this even affect, anyway?!" I took the ROUGHEST of STABS at trying to estimate roughly how many people in R1 from the HBS applicant pool will, in fact, be asked to take the BWA... CAVEAT that I did this on a FRIDAY evening at the end of a loooong week, so PLEASE BE NICE if my calculation was wrong, but... my "back of the envelope" calculation is that maybe fewer than 200 people (?) in the Round 1 HBS pool will be affected by this? Or am I way off and should have done this post-coffee instead, ha ha?
(I think the biggest question-mark in trying to guess this # is, "What percent of GMAT scores submitted in R1 will be the GFE vs. Old GMAT?" Since I don't work on the test-prep side, I have absolutely zero idea / intuition around: "Ok, so...between Nov - Feb, which % took the GFE? And since Feb, are test volumes about the same as they'd be for the old GMAT, or has it been a bit lower, as folks need more time to study / "wait and see"... or has it been higher, b/c test takers really do prefer the test?" I can easily conjure either scenario in my head, ha ha) Test prep experts: any intuition around which % of "folks submitting in R1" might be submitting the GFE? I'd love your expertise and insights on this!!
https://www.applicantlab.com/blog/reasons-to-not-freak-out-over-the-new-gmac-business-writing-assessment-b-w-a/
p.s.
One possible wrinkle for the folks who aren't submitting an "old" GMAT score that might have a "good" AWA (but presumably be too low otherwise)... definitely heed BB's advice and DO NOT submit it WITH your application... I wonder if, however, it could be sent in AFTER you are INVITED to interview? The language in the FAQ says: "You can satisfy this with a valid GRE, GMAT (10th Edition), or English language test score."
Sooo... theoretically, if I HAVE a "valid" score ("within the past 5 years"), but simply didn't submit it at the time of applying because I had done better, percentile-wise, on the GFE... I wonder if I can send the GRE / GMAT with the old AWA score, explaining that "Well, since the overall score wasn't as competitive as my GRE/GFE, I didn't submit it THEN, but... re: my writing skills, here's a 'valid' score!" (of course, if that score is "SUPER TERRIBLE LOW", then OF COURSE this does more harm than good, but if it was, say "lower than you'd like but not horrifying"... maybe???)
Put another way: if you make it to the interview stage at HBS, it's about MORE than just your test score ...so if at THAT point they find out that, ooops, actually I took a GRE last year and didn't do as well as I did on the GFE... well, who cares?
I'll be attending a webinar with them in a couple of weeks -- I will try to ask!!!
