Last Updated on April 26, 2023
For many years, business schools favored the GMAT over the GRE because, whereas the GRE is a test created for admission to a wide range of graduate school programs, the GMAT was created specifically for MBA admissions. However, today, most MBA programs allow applicants to submit either GMAT or GRE scores as a part of their applications.
With an increased number of individuals taking the GRE (or taking both the GMAT and the GRE), it has become useful for test-takers to know the GMAT score equivalent to their GRE score. In fact, a greater number of MBA applicants are seeking a tool to help them to convert their GRE scores to GMAT scores.
A greater number of MBA applicants are seeking a tool to help them to convert their GRE scores to GMAT scores.
Because there are many differences between the GMAT and the GRE, including the population of people taking each test, the question types, and the scoring systems, it’s difficult to make a perfect conversion from a GRE score to its corresponding GMAT score. However, ETS, the company that administers the GRE, has created a GRE to GMAT score conversion tool for you to use.
In this article we’ll show you how to use the ETS GRE to GMAT conversion tool to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score, discuss why you may want to convert your GRE to a GMAT, talk a bit about how accurate the GRE to GMAT conversion may be, explore whether admissions committees convert GRE scores to GMAT scores, and more.
- Why You Might Wish to Convert Your GRE Score to a GMAT Score
- GRE to GMAT Score Conversion Chart
- How Accurate is the GRE to GMAT Score Conversion Tool?
- Do MBA Admissions Committees Convert GRE Scores to GMAT Scores?
- Should MBA Applicants Convert Their GRE Scores to GMAT Scores?
Let’s begin by discussing why you might wish to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score.
Why You Might Wish to Convert Your GRE Score to a GMAT Score
Let’s discuss the two main reasons why you might want to convert your GRE score to its equivalent GMAT score.
(1) You took the GMAT and the GRE and wish to determine which score is better
If you’ve taken both the GMAT and the GRE, it would be helpful to know which score would help you enhance your candidacy for MBA programs. One way to determine which score, your GMAT or your GRE, is higher is to convert your GRE score to its corresponding GMAT score.
For example, let’s say that you scored 164 on the GRE Quantitative Reasoning section and 166 on the GRE Verbal Reasoning section. Let’s say you also took the GMAT, scoring 730. All else being equal, which score, your GMAT score or your GRE, would most likely maximize your selection potential for business school programs?
As we’ll soon see, we can easily convert the 164Q/166V GRE score to a GMAT score of 720. Thus, all else being equal, the GMAT score of 730 is higher than the 164Q/166V GRE score. So (again, all else equal), you would likely choose to submit the 730 GMAT score.
TTP PRO TIP:
All else equal, if you took both the GMAT and the GRE, if your GMAT score is higher than the GMAT score your GRE score converts to, consider submitting your GMAT score.
(2) You took only the GRE and wish to see how that GRE score compares to the GMAT scores of students accepted to a certain MBA program
Some MBA applicants take only the GRE. If the MBA programs to which you’re applying publish GRE score statistics of accepted MBA applicants, then there is probably much less of a need to convert your GRE scores to GMAT scores to better understand how competitive your GRE scores are for those business school programs.
For example, if you’re applying to the MBA program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), you may not need to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score, because Stanford GSB makes its GRE score statistics public. For the class of 2023, the average GRE verbal score at Stanford Business School is 165, and the average GRE verbal score is 165. Thus, if you scored, for example, 166Q/167V on the GRE, you would probably not need to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score to see that your GRE scores are competitive for the MBA program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
On the other hand, the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, which accepts both the GMAT and the GRE, lists on its website the average GMAT score of accepted students (679 for the class of 2023) but does not list the GRE statistics. Thus, if you’re applying to the MBA program at Kelley, it may be helpful to know your GRE to GMAT converted score.
So, let’s take a look at a GRE to GMAT score conversion chart.
GRE to GMAT Score Conversion Chart
Using the GRE to GMAT score conversion information provided by ETS, we constructed the following charts, which you can use to convert a GRE score to its corresponding GMAT score.
For example, using the GRE to GMAT score conversion charts, we can see that a 164Q/164V GRE score converts to a GMAT score of 710.
Let’s now discuss the accuracy of the GRE to GMAT score conversion tool.
How Accurate is the GRE to GMAT Score Conversion Tool?
ETS states that the conversion is accurate but with some margin or error. ETS says, “The predicted GMAT scores based on an applicant’s GRE scores may not be perfectly equivalent to an applicant’s actual performance on the GMAT exam due to the measurement error inherent in both tests. The predicted score range is approximately +/- 50 points for the total GMAT score and +/- 6 points on the Verbal and Quantitative scores.”
For example, the ETS GRE to GMAT score conversion tool converts a GRE score of 164 in Quantitative Reasoning and 164 in Verbal Reasoning to a GMAT score of 710. However, based on a margin of error of +/- 50 points, that GRE score of 164Q/164V could reflect a GMAT score as low as 660 or as high as 760.
GMAC, the company that owns and administers the GMAT, states that the score conversion tool is not completely accurate. If you would like to read more about the position maintained by GMAC regarding the GRE to GMAT score conversion tool, Chris Han, head of test development and psychometrics at GMAC, makes the case in this article that it’s not possible to directly convert GRE scores to GMAT scores.
What does this mean for you? The GRE to GMAT score conversion tool will give you a rough approximation of how your GRE score corresponds to a GMAT score. As is the case with all other tools that make estimates, this tool probably won’t provide you with a perfect conversion. After all, the GMAT and the GRE are two very different tests, so attempting to equate a GRE score with a GMAT score is difficult. However, the conversion tool can be used to get a reasonable estimate of how your GRE score might convert to a GMAT score.
The GRE to GMAT score conversion tool will probably give you a rough approximation of how your GRE score corresponds to a GMAT score.
Let’s now discuss whether MBA admissions committees convert GRE scores to GMAT scores.
Do MBA Admissions Committees Convert GRE Scores to GMAT Scores?
It’s hard to know for sure which MBA admissions committees convert GRE scores to GMAT scores when evaluating MBA applicants for their business schools. Some clearly do.
For example, Diane Eytcheson, assistant director of admissions at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, has made it clear that the Fuqua MBA admissions committee does convert GRE scores to GMAT scores. Similarly, Christie St. John, former director of MBA recruiting and admissions at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management states that Vanderbilt converts applicants’ GRE scores to GMAT scores.
All the same, converting GRE scores to GMAT scores is typically done to allow adcoms to make “apples to apples” comparisons among applicants. Since many business schools have been accepting the GRE for some years, schools likely already have a sufficient amount of data on the GRE. Therefore, it may be the case that fewer MBA admissions committees are making the conversion between GRE scores and GMAT scores today than did in the past. Instead, they may simply be evaluating candidates’ GRE scores against their own historical GRE data.
Let’s now discuss whether MBA applicants should convert their GRE scores to GMAT scores.
Should MBA Applicants Convert Their GRE Scores to GMAT Scores?
MBA applicants often ask whether they should convert their GRE scores to GMAT scores in order to determine whether their GRE scores are competitive relative to the GMAT scores of admitted applicants.
As we’ve discussed, it can be helpful to know how your GRE scores might be interpreted on the GMAT score scale. So, there is probably no harm in making the conversion in an attempt to better understand your strength as a candidate at the MBA programs to which you’ll apply.
At the same time, what probably matters a bit more than how your GRE score converts to a GMAT score is a holistic view of your application, including GRE and/or GMAT scores, taken in light of the business schools to which you’re applying.
For example, 71% of the applications to Harvard Business School’s class of 2023 included GMAT scores, with a GMAT score range of 590 to 730 and a median GMAT score of 730. The remaining 29% of applicants submitted GRE scores, with a GRE verbal score range of 147 to 170 and a GRE quant score range of 146 to 170, and median GRE scores of 163 in verbal and 164 in quant. So, all else being equal, if you are planning to apply to HBS, a competitive GRE score would be around 164Q/163V, and a competitive GMAT score would be around 730.
In other words, if you scored 164Q/163V on the GRE, you most likely would not need to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score to see that, all else equal, you’re a strong candidate for HBS.
Again, as a general guideline, the longer a business school has been accepting both GMAT and GRE scores, the more likely it is that the school has its own internally formulated rubrics for the interpretation and utilization of a candidate’s GRE scores.
As a general guideline, the longer a business school has been accepting both GMAT and GRE scores, the more likely it is that the school has its own internally formulated rubrics for the interpretation and utilization of a candidate’s GRE scores.
