Monday’s Financial Times reports that the GMAT test is now more popular among students outside the U.S. than it is among American students, according to the latest statistics from GMAC, originator of the test.
The figures are for tests taken between January 1 and June 30, 2009. Non-US test-takers accounted for 51 per cent of the total test-taking population.
Countries with the strongest growth include China, Germany, Canada, Switzerland and the UK, Dave Wilson, president of GMAC, tells FT. “What we are seeing is incredible,” he says, but on the flip side, some countries have seen a decline in applicant number. Test-taking in India dropped 28% and in South Korea, 30%.
Wilson attributes the decline to currency fluctuations that have hit these two countries hard, and the fact that students are looking at local options that are much cheaper than the traditional two-year US MBA program.
Year on year, though, the number of GMAT test-takers has continued to increase, FT reports. In the 12 months to June 30, 2009, the number of GMAT test-takers stood at 265,613, 7 % higher than the previous year.
One of the biggest areas of growth is among younger students, who are either studying for pre-experience masters degrees or at some of the US MBA programs, like Harvard Business School, that are accepting younger students.
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