Corona COVID-19 Impact on GMAT/MBA [Master Topic]

The traffic has been 10-15% up this week from week before. What would make you seem that it reduced?
However, I don't think you can base your decisions on rash traffic spikes or declines. Even if anyone wanted to apply, the applications are only open for a handful of schools for R3 and the rest are not available now. Moreover, with people stuck at home they have a variety of other things on their minds such as how to stay safe and make sure they have the money to survive this period. However, any time there is a downturn or increase in unemployment, BSchool applications go up so it will likely be inevitable that if economy slows down (not sure if there are still questions about it), there will be an increase in applications.

First Post Has Been Updated:

• Updated: Test centers have been suspended/closed initially 22 countries on 3/13 until the end of March. Cancellations likely to get extended through end of April. Most testing locations have now been closed and GMAT tests have been canceled.
  
• Pearson Vue is providing refunds as of 3/16 for tests during the test center closure times through April 16th (refunds seem to be automated). Some folks on reddit even thought it was a scam but it seems legit (however, as usual, do not be duped into entering your payment details on suspicious websites)
  
• GMAC is waiving all change fees as of 3/18
  
• Many leading MBA programs have postponed their GMAT Score deadlines into May. (Kellogg, Stanford, INSEAD, and others). Please check your program's admissions page for the latest information on the COVID-19; it s likely there as the school is likely closed.
  
• ETS/GRE and GMAC/GMAT have announced the launch of GRE at Home and GMAT at Home. More details about taking GMAT and GRE at Home
  
• Tepper has offered deferral of admission to 2021 for those who are not able to secure visas due to Corona virus. They will also provide deposit refunds for the affected.
  
• New! 3/25 GMAC announced that they are allowing to reinstate canceled scores without a charge
  
• [color=#9e0b0f]New! Some MBA programs are removing GMAT from their R3 application requirements. Thank you Leadership https://gmatclub.com/forum/b-schools-of ... 18498.html
  
• No News so far in terms of impact or changes to the R1 2020-2021 Admissions Process

Coronavirus Admissions Video added to the first post.
Thank you

bb, since the 2 year mba tenure at most business schools is between 20 and 22 months and it's likely that many don't prefer to attend the classes online, what are your thoughts on the possibility that bschools can defer the start date by a month or two to prevent a mass exodus of admit deferrals? Also, will it be feasible for business schools to do it or will it create a conflict with the class schedule of the next incoming batch?

Vyshak - I don't know if they'll defer starts; or if they do they'd have to move into a later quarter system like Foster or Booth. We start late August, which is considered "late." That being said, if they worry about students coming in on time - they'll probably send ahead the study materials online and tell students to do it from home and catch up as soon as they reach. Another option is to start late, as you mentioned, and reduce academic requirements (like assignments or cases), but career prep will always remain rigorous and will be drastically affected if they start too late...


It's - unfortunately - way too early to think about what schools will do. They're too busy with their current students and getting them back into routine. They've never seen a scenario like this before - if all goes well, we start as per usual. If the curve doesn't flatten, there are bigger things to worry about than MBA programs ?‍♀️

Posted from my mobile device

Just got to know that Fuqua has deferred the session start date by a month from July 28th, 2020 to August 31st, 2020. I would be happy to see this trend pick up among the business schools if the current situation doesn't improve. Taking classes online across geographies doesn't work well in my opinion because of fundamental issues such as bandwidth, network and timezone.

Posted from my mobile device

Can you share a link please to the announcement by Fuqua?

Thanks!

PM'ed you bb. Looks like admitted students are receiving the communication via email.

I got rejections from almost all the B-Schools I was waitlisted in except Simon, I had to decline the Georgetown offer.

Corona has not supported my case either
This is the most unprecedented event of our lives.

My neighbour is quarantined
My state has the least number of cases in the developed states category but the worst part is none of the ones tested positive survived

100 new cases per day in India, and we still have not tested all the people that we have isolated. Chandigarh saw 500,000 immigrants vanish from the airport to dodge the quarantine situation.

India is still in the testing phase and we don't know how many new cases will emerge

If I am to apply an interpolation, Prime Minister launched a 3 month plan for poor people to prevent famine.
Now it only implies that the lock down in India is supposed to go up than stop. If the lock down extends, there will be no visa or international travel involved for at least next 9 months given that everything is pending.

What does remain is the fact that India is a large Business School feeder, especially for Canadian B-schools, where almost half the population is Indian. So if the Lock down extends, what impact will it have on the Business schools that see this tremendous decline in international applications. As far as I can see they extended the deadlines to accommodate more local students and fill the seats at least.

No one knows what will happen, these are desperate times. Stranger times lie ahead

The way I said it I believe that I should end it with
This is Moderator BusinessConquerer, giving you all the creeps

Any international students having second thoughts about accepting b-school admission offer due to concern about travel/visa/covid-19? I don't know if I'm going to be able to make the move to Europe from U.S. and they want my decision in 3 hours. I asked for an extension on my decision and they refused. Any perspective/advice would be very helpful. My intended program starts end of September/early October.

I think that’s a wise decision! There is a good chance next app year will be difficult and odd.

Congrats! What did you end up selecting as your choice?

bb

Please share more thoughts on this!

I agree with your analysis. Next year’s application cycles will be very competitive... less so in a sense of better candidates, and more so with the volume of candidates and the number of seats up for grabs.

Hi, can someone guide on the way to check GMAT score(forgotten) before reinstating(since once reinstated, cannot be cancelled)

I have my GMAT exam on April 17th, is there a possibility it might get canceled then ? I want to take the exam in a testing center as it will be hard to take it at home as I don't live alone. Would testing possibly reopen in May/June?

Just tried to see when GMAT can be next taken in Shanghai, and the first available date shown is 5/30. Yikes.

Pretty drastic date change from original availability on 4/6 to all the way on 5/30. This is significantly disrupting my prep momentum unfortunately.

chencchris

If you don't mind me asking:

Why?

You have a 740 already

TheNightKing

I won't lie, I have flirted with the idea of retaking it myself. That elusive Q50/51 is a big prize in itself.