reporting schools on GMAT

Question

I just found this on BW:

"...Such exposure (campus visit) can help you better decide which school is right for you. Remember, the GMAT report that's sent to admissions committees will show which other B-schools are getting your scores. A selection of drastically different institutions raises questions about how well you know the schools--and for that matter, your own goals, says Rosemarie Martinelli, admissions director at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School."

This is so unfair. When I took my GMATs I did not know for sure which schols I'll end up applying or if I will apply at all. Some of the schools I selected, I ended up not applying to and some of the schols I applied to, I had to request additional score reports later on. I can't believe that admission directors would jump at such conclusions.

rhyme · Answer

Thats interesting, and I'd wonder if the quote's made up. Do you have a primary source? I didnt pick any schools on my GMAT exams, because I didn't know where I'd be applying.

lepium · Answer

Some comments: 

1) Hmm, I'd say they shouldn't judge by the portfolio per se, but probably judge ballpark issues. Eg: a person repording a score to both Wharton and University of Phoenix Online (do they even require GMAT?) may raise questions about self-confidence, maturity, motivation, etc. I think that as far as you report the score to reasonably similar schools from which the adcom can discern a pattern of: stretch, reach, backup, it should be fine. Even if you end up not applying to them, it may make reasonable sense.

2) Rosemarie is now at the GSB, so the quote must be from at least 2 or 3 years back.

johnnyx9 · Answer

Why would they possibly let schools see the other schools an applicant is reporting to?? That really p*sses me off, if I had known this at the time I took the GMAT, I would have done things differently. 

I wonder if it's really true though. I've never heard this before and I would think that GMAC would tell you this.

lepium · Answer

I wonder whether it's the same case for TOEFL. People normally take TOEFL after GMAT, TOEFL lets you see your score before reporting to schools and it's much easier. Since most applicants take TOEFL after GMAT, an adcom may assume you have a better idea of which school you'll be applying to by checking those. I remember reporting TOEFL to a bunch of schools I did not apply to (NYU, UCLA, etc.) and wonder how would that look.

dukes · Answer

So you're saying that after asking me in the interview what other schools I'm applying to, they'll be able to cross-reference that with the list of other schools that i sent my scores to in late December? Thats f-ing fantastic. Being exposed as a liar will surely not hurt my application chances.

kidderek · Answer

I find it hard to believe that this is true. Moreover, I find it harder to believe that a school would hold what you report at the time of the gmat against which schools you apply to. I picked 5 schools during my gmat, I will probably apply to one, no more than two of them.

johnnyx9 · Answer

Yeah, even if it is true, it's such a minor data point when you consider all the other things ad-com's consider, it would be pretty stupid to try to extrapolate things like a person's confidence or judgement based on the school's they selected.

rustmonster · Answer

I remember reading that other schools would not see where you sent your GMAT scores. Perhaps I'm wrong. I see no reason for them to be entitled to know.

PS A very cursory glance at mba.com does not seem to answer the Q. Perhaps all schools do see. That is kinda lame.

johnnyx9 · Answer

I don't know if this is some false deja-vu or something, but now that Rustmonster metions is, yeah I thought I remember reading that other schools don't see where you apply either.

rhyme · Answer

Yea, you know I think you are right....

rk4g63 · Answer

Guys,
I don't know about the GMAT, but I know for sure that when reporting GRE scores, all colleges on that list see the whole list. 

I know this for a fact - I was part of the admissions committee at one time, in one of the top 5 engineering schools - I graduated from there. By the way, when I appeared for the GRE, they allowed 4 free colleges.

3underscore · Answer

I wouldn't be surprised if they did see them.

I got rejected by LSE on return of post when applying to University (you have to go through UCAS for all applications at once). This was the case for several other people as well.

The linking factor? We all had Oxbridge on there. Envy of the highest order.

EconGirl · Answer

I found this quote in an article on Business Week (see the link below), and considering both the source and the person whose statement I quoted, I think it is true. Perhaps the reporting rules changed since 2002 but I doubt it. I know that other forms (FAFSA for example) also report all the schools to every school you specify.

I think these rules are unfair to the applicants, especially considering that many interviewers have a nerve to ask where else we are applying (I always thought it was very rude of them to ask us that, and frankly none of their business). I am not saying that this information would have any effect on the decision, probably not. But still, we here stress about mispeling a word or two in our essays that AdCom will probably never even notice, so it is hard not to wonder how will AdCom look at this list of schools...

https://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 783114.htm

rk4g63 · Answer

It could be envy, but it could work for you.
It's the system - if you can't beat it - work it.
Let's say you apply to Harvard. So if the GMAT score list shows both Stanford as well as Harvard, it might prompt Harvard to admit you faster - keep in mind that the only school Harvard loses students to, is Stanford.

Of course, if you have a GPA of 2.9 and a GMAT of 550, all bets are off.

3underscore · Answer

Oh sure, it has its benefits, but it also has its problems. Some schools immediately reject as they have a spell of envy at knowing they are second choice. LSE for one are clearly bad for this, or were.

Otherwise you get schools like Nottingham. They held someone I knows situation as "applied" until they knew their oxbridge result had completed. As it did, and they were accepted, Nottingham posted the future oxford student a letter of "ding". That would catagorise as "embarassing".

the problem is schools can get wound up in their own importance about your application, which it has nothing to do with. The candidate who applies to a whole host of ultra-elite and elite schools may actually have since decided they wanted to go to school X. But, because they got a big problem that the person had a shot at Harvard, they ding them.

As for interviews, I would quite happily tell them where else I have applied. I am pretty sure they will have a good idea anyway.

aaudetat · Answer

You UNC applicants may recall that Part 1 of the application asks for which other schools you're applying to. Well, I made up my mind at the absolute last minute, so the schools I listed were totally off. (And much fancier looking than my final portfolio.) I thought it wise to make it seem like UNC was not a total back-up school, so I wanted to change the list. I asked Barbara in admissions, and she was completely blase about it -- apparently UNC only uses this info for market research, and nothing else.

Don't know if that's totally true, but that's what she said.

Phooey · Answer

The list of schools that you have sent the official score to are definately on the report. I recently requested a report to be sent to a school from the MBA website and I also checked the option to be able to view my report online. On the last sheet, all of the schools I had sent a copy to were listed. Very sneaky and irritating.

dukes · Answer

In my paranoia I just called the GMAT folks. What they said was this: The document you receive lists the different schools you sent your scores to. The score report that the schools receive does not include the names of the other schools who received your score. Whew!

Phooey · Answer

Whew indeed! I certainly feel better now.

reporting schools on GMAT

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