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Reach and Recruit Students: Get your name and your message out there. Make sure potential candidates are aware of your programs. Take a deeper dive into GMAC’s recruiting resources to help you reach potential students and build relationships that lead to enrollment. Learn what motivates prospective students, who they are listening to, and how they communicate.
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Watch Recording
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Management Tools for Schools – Connecting GMAT Codes and Intel:
Discover tools for your programs that can help you see the complexion of who is sending their GMAT scores to each of your programs. The Summary Statistics Reports can provide in-depth information about your candidates, the total scores sent to your program with the score ranges also broken down by age, gender, ethnicity, and region. Frequency Ranking Reports will show you the top 15 competitors broken down by score range. Each of these reports will demonstrate the importance of insuring a separate GMAT code for each of your programs. We will also learn how to set up new GMAT codes, edit existing codes, and cleaning out old program codes that need eliminated.
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Women and the GME Market: Get a snapshot of women in graduate management education, from their presence in the pipeline to their experiences in the workplace. Find and attract female candidates to all of your programs.
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Understanding and Preparing for the GMAT: Train-the-Trainer: Learn how to help your prospective students understand the GMAT exam, how it works, proven preparation strategies, and how scores are used in your admissions process. This train-the-trainer session will walk you through a presentation available to you for your information sessions.
- Mini student presentation to encourage schools to use or invite us to present to candidates
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Segmentation Methodology and Website Widget: What is the segmentation study and what are the key learnings? Learn about the two ways you can use the Segmentation Widget with your current class and as a lead generation toll.
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Reach and Recruit Your Undergrads with the On-Campus Presence (OCP) Initiative and Tools:
Join us for this free webinar to learn how you can take advantage of resources to reach and recruit undergrads to pursue a program at your B-school. GMAC has tools that help support your undergrad recruitment efforts. Don’t miss this opportunity to help increase your domestic pipeline!
Full Transcript
Glenda Lucas: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Glenda Lucas, and I will be your host today. I'm a senior manage at the Americas region and at the Graduate Management and Mission Council, which is also known as GMAC. I offer these 20 minute mini webinars every month throughout this year. The purpose of these webinars is to expose you to the resources that are available to you to support your work in graduate management education. These webinars are really at a very high level in nature, so if you wanted to show information on anything that we're about to share today or during any of the GMAC 101 webinars, my email will be listed at the end of this webinar. But it's glucas@gmac.com.
Today's webinar is title Reach and Recruit your Undergrads with GMAC. Our goal is to provide you with information on how to build the talent pipeline on your campus for your programs, or for graduate management education in general. Today, I'm joined by the Director of this initiative, Krista Johnson. I'm going to go ahead and turn over the controls to her, and welcome Christa.
Christa Johnson: Thank you, Glenda, and welcome everyone. I want to give you little information about this program, which is designed to empower schools with tools, resources and best practice to reach their undergraduate population and grow their pipeline for the future. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the program, I'd like to talk to you about why this program is essential to graduate management education and your school. Why many schools in the country are looking to their own back yard to plant the seeds early with their undergrads in order ensure their pipeline continues to grow. We'll take a look, also, at the program components, including ambassadors, digital support and resources. We'll also discuss the overall trends across the US in the 22 and under population, so you can consider how and if your schools reflect these trends, and how you may use the information to craft your own outreach strategy for your school.
So, let's start from the beginning. Every year, we put out a survey to schools to understand market trends, challenges and other industry behavior. One of the questions we ask is, "What is your greatest challenge with regard to recruiting, admitting and enrolling students to your institution?" The most popular responses received were around competition, the domestic pipeline and finding quality student. So, we asked ourselves, "What can we do to increase the domestic pipeline?" The greatest pool we uncovered, undergrads.
So, our thinking as that if we could develop a program to increase the awareness of the value proposition of a graduate business degree for business and non-business majors at the undergrad level, we could increase the number of leads available to our schools via MBA.com and GMASS registrations. We also believed that if we could get these leads to take the GMAT while they were still in the undergrad experience, they would do better on the exam as preparation testing was already a part of their everyday experience. Also, because scores are good for five years, they will be able to ... Schools will be able to recruit undergrads immediately for specialty masters programs, and to schools who wanted to court them after they had acquired two to three years of work experience.
Before we launched our program, we did some research on the undergrad mindset. We wanted to understand where they were coming from so we could address their concerns, goals, even see, undergrads seek advice from friends and parents, they are skeptical of advertising, they seek authenticity. They spend over 14 hours a day with technology and social media, and they are short-term career focused.
We recognized immediately that one of our biggest challenges would be to shift their mindset from being short-term career focused into preparing for the long-term, and getting set up for success early. They needed to know that they would have an 86% greater starting salary with an MBA than a bachelors. Eighty-six percent of alumni agree their MBA prepared them for leadership positions, 85% of alumni said their MBA prepared them for their chosen career, 82% said their MBA increased their earnings potential, 75% of alumni said their MBA accelerated their career advancement, and a further 72% said that business school helped them develop a professional network. The larger story, of course, here is that undergrads need to know the value of graduate management education. The business degree is a positioning tool for them in an increasingly competitive market. While the financial concerns with the upfront investments are not as significant, MBA graduates increase their starting salary by over 85% and will earn almost $1.5 million more than bachelor's degree holders over their entire career. They're thinking about their first job, we, and that's the collective we here, are thinking about the next one. Let me share what we did at GMAC and how we can help you bridge the conversation of graduate management education and plant the seeds early in order to build the pipeline of tomorrow.
In building out our undergraduate program, we wanted to not only message to undergrads but to also target their key influencers, peers, professors and partners. In essence, we wanted to ensure there was an ambassador ecosystem, if you will. We hired ambassadors so they would hear from their peers. Because they are digital natives and social media mavens, we built out campaigns to speak to them often. Because their parents are involved in their financial decision making we created resources on the undergraduate website just for them. The website also included a roadmap to B school, GMATT study resources and career spotlights, featuring successful alumni in a variety of occupations. Finally, we made all these resources available to our schools to partner with them on developing the pipeline on their campuses. Although we partner with a limited number of schools, most of these resources were, and still are available to any school wanting to recruit their undergrads.
A total of 70 or so programs have been a part of GMAC's undergraduate outreach over the past two and a half years. Half of these programs had an ambassador, and the other half were digital support only. The primary objective of the ambassador campuses were to [disseminate 00:06:36] knowledge around GME and the GMATT, in a voice that undergrads would hear. We sought to firmly plant ambassadors in the paths where the conversations were happening, which strongly influenced the tactics that we chose for them while also getting their feedback on the nuances of their campus. They worked on both students and professor targeted initiatives to key influencer populations for undergrads, equipping them with the tools we felt would be most beneficial. On the operational side, we had one to two ambassadors per campus managed by an agency. We trained them up early in the semester, gave them objectives to shoot for, and let them loose. We then had weekly check-ins with reporting so we could get sense of how they were doing, what barriers they ran into, and what upcoming events they had planned so we could coordinate with other campus representatives if needed. Some of the types of events ambassadors typically engage in, class and group presentations, faculty breakfasts, large campus events, flyering, chalking and tangling, and mailbox drops.
Again, ambassadors were tasked with promoting the GMAT and GME to the undergraduate population, and while they had certain objectives, there's also a level of fluidity to ensure they were supporting other campus recruitment initiatives. They had ideas of events they want to participate in, such as those listed here, and evolve their outreach based on campus needs. They were provided a 10-week social media plan across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with proposed messaging from GMAC. Now in the early days of the program, we provide direct messaging, but what we quickly learned was that undergrads really do value authenticity, so we switched to a prescribed schedule of content with suggested messaging, and let the ambassadors add their own flair and personality. When ambassadors spoke on the GMAT, the messaging was around the reasons to test as an undergrad. Test while you have a better chance to get a higher score. You're never smarter than you are right now. Time is on your side, scores are good for five years. Take advantage of special undergrad pricing, and you have easy access to resources as well as test centers.
If you are thinking of hiring an ambassador for your program, whether that is a college work study student or a graduate assistant, or if you simply want to ask one of the leaders of the club sponsored by the business school to serve in this capacity, reach out to me and I'm happy to share any lessons learned, brainstorm ideas with your simply provide you with materials that might be helpful. As I mentioned early, we created digital tool kits to support the undergraduate outreach effort. The current tool kit is very focused on the GMAT itself and the MBA. However, we are in the process of updating the kits to include other types of content in the area of career [inaudible 00:09:15], specialized masters, and the overall value of GME. Today you will find easy to access flyers, brief videos and promotional tips and tricks. Some of the collateral we have today include a roadmap to B school, the GMATT plan, and financing your degree. We also have three to four minute videos of career spotlights, something to potentially integrate into non-business courses. Last, we have videos around why take the GMATT exam and live from a GMAT test center.
We also were hearing that non-business majors weren't getting the message early about the complementing value of a graduate business degree. Those natural conversations that happen in undergrad business classes around GME and the GMATT just weren't happening elsewhere. With that in mind, we created a series of videos and spotlights that highlighted the diversity and undergrad majors, and how careers were advanced as a result of GME. We hoped to show the experience of MBA alumni that did not come from the undergraduate business school.
Now, for over 60 schools, we provide a level of digital support, sending paid search and social ads to a school's geographic location. This includes key words for search engines, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. We chose zip codes that carefully matched to our targeted campuses as well eliminating the audience the audience with age and field of study restrictions. The only difference between our digital campuses and the ambassador campuses was the ambassador.
Then lastly, we built out an undergraduate website that provides resources, articles and tools about careers, the general path to graduate management education, financing a graduate degree, and the GMATT exams. Here students can access a variety of videos highlighting the different educational backgrounds that can lead to a myriad industries and roles, all unlocked with a graduate management degree. Students can also find free GMAT prep as well as exclusive undergrad pricing. There's a growing body of resources for schools and parents as well which will certainly be an area of emphasis in the coming year. We maintain this site with an agency and make it available to all of our ambassador digital schools, as well as to any school who expresses interest.
So, you're probably curious about the results. Now, looking at all of our OCP schools across ambassador and digital schools, 2016-17 was a great year. Seventy campuses, almost 20,000 leads, 1,000 events on campus, and that was just in the spring, and 20,000 unique visitors to the [inaudible 00:11:43] websites. We include GMAT registration as a proxy for success. We have seen registration increases in a variety of segments, including women, URMs, especially Mexican-Americans which grew 10%, accounting and engineering majors, other business majors, and white, non-Hispanic students. Not too bad, but we're still learning. Now, you're probably saying, "Christa Johnson, how do I get started on my campus?"
Now, understand, first things first is to understand the undergrad mindsets. We have a deck that I'd be happy to share regarding the undergrad psychology around business school, so just shoot me an note following this webinar and I'll happily send it out. Understand the influencers. As we shared earlier, professors, students, admissions consultants, career advisors and peers are all strong influencers of undergrads. They are a direct line of sight to them and they understand their interactions and drivers behind them in order to tap into these channels. Find a graduate student or someone in work study to be your own program ambassador. We've got great resources and messaging that has been honed over five semesters, as well as tactics that work, some of which I shared earlier, along with a few more best practices on the next slide. Talk to peer groups where your undergrads are hiding. Clubs like Beta Alpha Si, Golden Key and Beta Gamma Sigma are great avenues to get in front of captive, motivated and ambitious undergrads.
These Honors societies and other social groups are fantastic opportunities to speak to a large group at once, helping them meet their professional development hours, of course, and plant the seeds about your program, giving them a glimpse of the career they could have with a business degree on their resume. Also, get in front of non-business classes to capture those liberal arts candidates, engineering, psychology, economics, English. Let them hear the value proposition around business school that they might not hear otherwise. Everything that I've said today I can provide. Please take advantage of the leg work we've already put in so you can get up and running quickly and confidently.
For those who do go on to recruit your own ambassador, let's touch on just a few of the best practices we have gleaned over the past couple of years. Know your ambassadors and talk to them regularly. What are they involved in? How can you leverage their networks and influence? Where do they think you should market? What organizations do they believe are the best targets? Often ambassadors just don't know their way around the campus politics. Help them navigate this. When possible, connect them with the right people, student leaders, undergrad advisors, career services, student clubs and organizations and so on. Make them responsible for lead and influencer data collection. Some of their deliverables at the end of the semester might include key student organizations and contacts, professor advisor contacts, and recommendations for their campus. Communicate events where they may help amplify your message, and do it early. Some easily implemented events include flyering and clip boarding, as well as classroom presentations. We found from our experience that the most impractical events are large campus events and faculty breakfasts. Help them secure tabling space at key locations around campus or at events, and maintaining the same ambassador over semesters saves on training time and networking.
Lastly, I'd say communicate with your GMAC representatives, share your ideas and needs. You can always reach out to me, Christa Johnson, or certainly your market development manager, like Glenda. Now, be patient. Defining the pipeline of tomorrow won't happen overnight.
So, as we wrap up today please consider your next steps. What will you do to get started with building your undergraduate pipeline? You may contact GMAC for your free digital tool kit. Identify your influencers, clubs, faculty members, student advisors and so on. Secure your own ambassador, and create your outreach calendar with tactics that we discussed today. I hope this has been helpful, and with that, I'll hand it back over to Glenda.
Glenda Lucas: Great, thank you so much, Christa. This concludes our 20 minute webinar for this month on campus present OCP, focusing on reaching and recruiting your undergrads. Next month, the GMAC 101 webinar will focus on connecting corporate recruiters and the alumni perspective survey report. This brief webinar focuses on the top takeaways from these insightful reports, and how to use this information in your recruiting strategies. So, thanks again for attending today. Christa and I are going to hang out a little while to answer any of your questions that you might have, and if I miss you, please send a message to either Christa or myself at cjohnson@gmac.com, or of course lucas@gmac.com. Thanks again, have a great day.
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Connecting Corporate Recruiters and Alumni Survey Report: Let us share the top take a-ways from these insightful reports and how to use this information in your recruiting strategies.
Full Transcript
So, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Glenda Lucas and I'm gonna be your host today. I'm a senior manager in the America's region at the Graduate Management Admission Council, also known as GMAC. I'm gonna be offering these 20 minute mini webinars every month throughout 2017, and the purpose of these webinars is to expose you to the resources that are available to you to help support your work in graduate management education.
These webinars are high-level in nature, and thus if you want additional information on anything that I'm about to share with you, just please let me know. My email will be listed at the end of this webinar, but it's lucas@gmac.com.
Today we're gonna be focusing on some key findings for the corporate recruiter survey, and also the alumni survey reports. My goal is to give you some valuable information to help you connect these two reports, and points to keep in mind when making admissions decisions, and also when marketing your programs to prospective candidates. The full reports will be extremely important to you, and I want to remind you that they are located on GMAC.com under the Market Intelligence tab GMAC Surveys.
Before we dive into some high-level information, I just want to spend a few minutes to let you know who we are as an organization, and what we do. I do see some seasoned folks that have joined us, but there's also some new names, so I wanted to give you just a quick overview of GMAC.
Who is GMAC? We open doors for you, your programs, and prospective students all over the world. We've been around since 1953 when nine business school deans got together to develop an assessment to help them better predict success in their programs. We're actually based right outside of Washington D.C., and we also have offices in London, New Delhi, and Hong Kong. We're well-respected and very well-known for all of our information and data we have on the industry. GMAC's vision is to connect talent and aspiration with opportunity.
That's a little bit on who we are as an organization, and now I want to just briefly touch on what our focus is. Grow the candidate pipeline. As we hear from all of you, over and over we hear, "What is GMAC doing to grow the candidate pipeline?" This is a huge focus for us, and we're piloting some different undergrad initiatives on campus with different pricing structures, on-campus testing, and ambassadors on campus. We offer on-campus GMAT presentations, understanding and preparing for the GMAT, which really helps eliminate anxiety for candidates in taking the GMAT.
To extend our value to schools, some of you might be aware of our extensive research, our conferences, bringing you and your peers together to learn the latest trends and take advantage of the networking opportunities, and our products and services for admissions and marketing staff.
To grow and diversify testing. Of course we have the GMAT, but we are also customizing testing for markets like the executive MBA. We purchased a local Indian exam, the NMAT, which has been very successful in India with more and more local Indian schools accepting the NMAT, and we're working with emerging markets such as Africa to listen to their needs from schools and students in Africa.
Then, of course, we manage the GMAC enterprise, is certainly an area of focus for us. Making sure that we have the best people, that we're sound financially, and we protect our intellectual property.
Our purpose is really to ensure talent never goes undiscovered. We try to make clear to all candidates that there is a school for everyone interested in a graduate degree, and that we help connect the talent with inspiration.
Here is a representation of all of our surveys that are available to you to participate in, and I'm gonna be focusing on just two of these today. Our market intelligence is produced by our fantastic research team based here in the Reston office outside of D.C.. Collectively, GMAC research is the premier provider of market intelligence for our industry. We provide data and analysis across the student lifecycle, from prospective student survey, to the citizen survey, and so on. Then, we have survey reports, white papers, and research insights.
We can only do this through partnership with you. School participation is essential for the app trends, corporate recruiters, and alumni perspective survey, but don't do it just for us. You get exclusive benefits. If you participate, you have access to the interactive data reports, the benchmarking reports, and advanced copy of summary reports. If you do participate, I can help you access those reports. If you haven't in the past, just let me know.
We're recruiting schools to participate, and corporate recruiters will begin in December of this year with the survey in the field February and the results available next June. Recruiting for the alumni perspective is going on now, actually, and the survey will be in the field in September, and the results will be out in February.
Okay, so today we're going to focus on corporate recruiters and alumni perspective. The corporate recruiters survey provides an overview of the current employer hiring demand for MBA and other business master's graduates, and examines hire practices and trends by industry and across world regions. Analysis in the 2017 corporate recruiter survey report is based on the response from 959 employers who represent more than 628 companies in 51 countries worldwide who work directly with participating business schools, including 22% in the Fortune Global 500. This research was conducted in February and March of this year.
Some of the key findings: corporate hiring plans for 2017 point to a robust employment opportunities for graduates of MBA and business master's programs. Though MBA hiring projections are stable compared to last year, 2016, nearly nine in ten respondents, 86%, report that their company plans to hire MBA graduates this year. Signs also point to increased hiring demands for graduates in business master's programs such as master's in management, master's in accounting, and salary remains a strong indicator of value.
The median starting salary projected for a new MBA graduate hired in this year, in 2017, by a US company, is around $110,000, which is an increase of $5000 compared to last year, 2016. This signifies both the value these programs create for students, and potentially greater awareness and brand recognition among employers.
That being said, continued engagement between business schools and employers remains vital to the value proposition for candidates. More than half of employers, 52%, report that they will increase starting salaries for new MBA hires at or above the inflation rate.
Nearly all Fortune 100, 500, Global 100, and Global 500 companies in the survey sample claimed to hire MBA graduates. These companies also are the most likely to hire recent graduates, again, in the masters of management, master's in accounting, and master's in finance programs.
The majority of employers will place new hires into mid-level, 75%, positions. Seven in ten employers will hire recent business graduates to fill positions in marketing, business development, and finance. For the first time, survey respondents differentiated workplace roles for the new MBA hires along two spectrums: generalist versus specialists, and tactical versus strategic. Based on the strengths of these skillsets, employers will seek MBA's to help strategize for the future, or to implement company goals.
Communication skills rank highest among the skills employers considered the most important, so four of the top five skills employers seek in new hires include oral and written communication, listening skills and presentation skills, teamwork skills, such as adaptability, valuing other's opinions, ability to follow a leader, and cross-cultural sensitivity were among the top 10 most-sought-after skills for new graduate business hires.
Employers more likely to offer internship opportunities to MBA students, 65% of employers globally and 74% of US employers claim to offer internships to MBA students. Does 27% of the employers globally expect to offer internships to business master's students for the year. Among US employers 56% hired more than half of their MBA and business master's interns to full time positions.
International hiring plans remain steady, despite the political uncertainty. Globally, three in five companies plan to hire or are open to hiring an international MBA or business master's candidate.
The findings in the alumni perspectives survey report detail the educational and career outcomes of nearly 15,000 alumni located around the globe who chose to embark upon the graduate management education as a path to a new career opportunity.
Business school alumni give a graduate management education high marks for the value. 95% of the alumni rate their graduate education as good to outstanding. The value proposition of graduate business degree is high regardless of the graduation year, or even the program type. Likelihood to recommend their programs to others yields high customer loyalty. Most alumni are very likely to recommend their program to colleagues and friends. In fact, nine in ten alumni would still have pursued their education knowing what they know now.
Majority of alumni say business schools expanded their career horizons. More than half of the alumni, 52%, are currently employed in an industry or job function they did not have prior to entering business school.
Interpersonal skills was ranked the most important skill in the workplace, regardless of job function. Among the top five skills important to their job, the ones related to people skills or emotional intelligence are among the most important. Alumni in higher level positions indicated managing human capital and managing strategy in innovation were also predominant.
Connecting the corporate recruiter survey and the alumni perspective survey can be important marketing tool for you to use, so these two research snapshots that you're seeing right now are available on GMAC.com under the Market Intelligence tab surveys, and I really think they can give you some great stats for you to use in your messaging to prospective candidates on the value of the graduate education.
This recording will be available for you to download for future use. The detailed survey results are available on GMAC.com under Market Intelligence tab, and I'd also be happy to send you these snapshots you're seeing, these one-pagers, via email. If you're interested in receiving these copies, just let me know at lucas@gmac.com.
In conclusion, the results of the 2017 corporate recruiter survey demonstrate the value that business graduates bring to the workplace, exemplified by robust employment opportunities that lie ahead in 2017 for recent grads, as well as those who've earned master's degree in management, accounting, and finance. In spite of certain uncertainties about work visa programs, companies in Asia, Europe, and the United States are staying the course with plans to hire international candidates. From future Global 100 companies to startups and family-owned businesses, more companies will target recent business school graduates to help strategize for the future, and implement company plans.
Median-based salaries for recent MBA and business master's grads continue to increase for all candidate types. Employers see graduates who can adapt to technological and global change through communication skills continue to dominate company needs.
for the alumni perspective survey, alumni agree their graduate management education yield personal, and professional, and financial value, and most say they'd do it again. Not only would these alumni go back to school knowing what they know now, but they would recommend their program to colleagues and friends.
Connecting some very top-level findings, corporations see the value of hiring your grads, and your grads see the value of your school and their education. When you add some of the stats I mentioned during this webinar, you have crafted a powerful message for your candidates.
Recruiting schools to participate in corporate recruiters, again, will begin in December, with the survey in the field in February, and results available in June. Recruiting for the alumni perspective is going on right now, with the survey in the field in September, and the results will be out in February.
This concludes our 20 minute webinar for this month connecting corporate recruiters and the alumni survey reports. Next month I'm gonna be focusing on the GMAC 101 webinar to help you learn more about ways to reach and recruit students, and what tools are available to you to help you on GMAC.com.
Thank you all for attending. I'm gonna hang around a little while to answer any questions you may have, and if I miss you, or miss your question, please send me a message at lucas@gmac.com. Thanks again.
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Reach and Recruit Students: Get your name and your message out there. Make sure potential candidates are aware of your programs. Take a deeper dive into GMAC’s recruiting resources to help you reach potential students and build relationships that lead to enrollment. Learn what motivates prospective students, who they are listening to, and how they communicate.
Full Transcript
Good afternoon everyone. I am Glenda Lucas, and I will be your host today. I'm a Senior Manager in the Americas region at GMAC. I will be offering these 20 minute mini-webinars every month throughout this year. The purpose of these webinars is to expose you to the resources that are available to you to help support your work within graduate management education.
These webinars are really high level in nature. So if you want additional information on anything that I share, please let me know. My email will be listed at the end of this webinar, but it is lucas@GMAC.com. That's L-U-C-A-S at G-M-A-C dot com.
Today I want to show you four recruiting strategies: School Finder, Calendar of Events, GMASS, and mba.com Prospective Students Survey. These four tools take you through marketing your program, advertising your events, recruiting, finding students that meet your criteria, and communicate, crafting the right message to attract students. Before we dive into some very high level information, I want to spend just a few minutes to let you know who we are as an organization.
GMAC opens doors for you, your programs, and prospective students all over the world. We've been around since 1953, when nine business schools actually got together to develop an assessment, the GMAT, to help them better predict success in their programs. We're based in Washington D.C., right outside of Washington D.C., with offices in London, New Delhi, and Hong Kong. We are very well represented and very well known for all of the information and data that we have on the industry. GMAC's vision is to connect talent and aspiration with opportunity.
That's a little bit on who we are as an organization. I want to share with you our focus is. Certainly, as I travel around to schools, I hear time and time again, "What is GMAC doing to grow the pipeline?" This is a huge focus for us. We are piloting some different undergrad initiatives on campus with different pricing structures, test pricing structures, some on-campus testing, ambassadors on-campus, things like that. We offer on-campus GMAT presentations understanding and preparing for the GMAT. We extend our value to schools. Some of you might be aware of our extensive research, our conferences that bring you together and your peers to learn the latest trends and to take advantage of the networking opportunities, and our products and services for admissions and marketing staff.
Let's get started by connecting the dots through marketing, market your program on School Finder, advertising, list your events on the Calendar of Events, recruiting, find the candidates that for your criteria with GMASS, and communicate, craft your message to those students with mba.com's Prospective Students Survey.
The first tool we're going to take a look at is School Finder. School Finder, it really is a great marketing tool, and it's the first stop in connecting the dots today through marketing your program. School Finder is a school search and compare tool that's available to candidates on mba.com with more than 600,000 prospective students each month visiting mba.com. I just want to make sure that you're all very well represented with this tool.
The School Finder lets candidates search, view, compare, and connect with you through the tool. We actually do all the work for you. We create and maintain your program profiles, and you simply review, update, and approve using just one simple form. Please take advantage of this free tool to increase the potential for connecting with the right students with your programs. I would recommend at least a yearly refresh of all of your programs that are listed in School Finder, probably every fall. Remember, as you add new programs or retire programs, make sure you make those changes when that happens. It's also a good idea to go to mba.com like a prospective student would and search for your school, making sure what students find on your programs is conveying the message that you want. Not only search for your school, but you could search for other schools to see how their programs appear to candidates.
School Finder is located on gmac.com under the marketing and recruiting tab. When you select School Finder, you'll be taken to this page where you can select "Get Started". Based on your login on this site on the system, we'll bring up all of the programs where you can make edits, additions, or deletions. Then they're published on mba.com. Please make sure your programs are listed correctly. Again, if you are interested in a report to see what students ... who they're comparing you to, just shoot me a line, and I'll be glad to supply that report to you. I think it's a pretty intuitive tool, and I hope that you'll take advantage of it.
That completes my really high level quick demo of School Finder, which is our first stop in connecting the dots today by marketing your program. Again, if you would like me to give you a deeper dive into this or any of the other tools I'm about to show you, just make sure you let me know through lucas@gmac.com.
Our second step today in connecting the dots is Calendar of Events, which is advertising. You can boost attendance at your recruiting events by promoting them on mba.com. Remember, over 600,000 prospective candidates visit mba.com every single month. I would encourage you to make sure that your events are listed in the Calendar of Events. You can post recruiting events online so potential candidates can find you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is a free tool to you. For Calendar of Events, my advice would be to keep your posted events up to date on a regular basis. Set up a reminder that works for you so every time you add a new event at your school that you remember to add that event to the Calendar of Events tool on gmac.com.
The Calendar helps boost attendance at your recruiting events by promoting them of course. It also has an automatic posting and archiving of your events. There's a direct link to your school's website. You can post your deadlines for applications, your financial aid and scholarships. It also has a feature that lists multi-school events and recurring fairs. Candidates can forward the event to their friends, and they can also add the event to their calendars. It's really easy to set up an event and copy and paste into a new event. Then, just change the dates. The events that are listed on School Finder search page for each school and each program are actually listed at the bottom of your School Finder page.
Please check your school out on School Finder on mba.com, and scroll down to the bottom of that page to your upcoming events. See what you have listed on the calendar, if anything.
To edit, add, or delete events, you'll need to go to gmac.com. Calendar is also found under the Reach and Recruit Students tab. That completes my quick little demo on Calendar of Events, which is our second stop in connecting the dots by advertising.
GMASS is our Student Search Service that's available to you. This is a massive database with over 500,000 GMAT and mba.com registrants. This is a very intuitive tool, and if any of you would like me to actually give you a one-on-one demo, I'd be more than happy to help you with this. You can tailor your search. The Graduate Management Admission Search Service, known as GMASS, is a marketing tool that could help you recruit just the right mix of candidates for your program. With over 2,000 unique combinations of search parameters using more than 30 categories, you can target your audience to fit your recruiting and marketing needs. You can connect with prospects at specific stages of the recruitment cycle before and after they take the GMAT. You can increase the diversity of your classroom by searching on robust demographic information. You can create targeted, multi-channel marketing campaigns. Reach out to candidates specifically interested in graduate management education.
The cost per name in GMASS is 90 cents, and I'll be happy to help you with any kind of search criteria that you have questions.
I just wanted to show you a little bit about the search categories and the sub categories. You can certainly search by a variety of demographics, which include gender, citizenship, age, ethnic identification, native language, things like that. Their degree characteristics. Are they looking for a part-time program? Are they looking for a full-time program? Online program? What are their objectives and their concentrations they're interested in? What are their school plans? When are they planning to enroll, and do they have work intentions? Their educational and their work experience. Then their GMAT score range. This can also be broken down by their AWA score, their quant score, et cetera. Then, what is their preferred region of study?
To edit, add, or delete events, you'll need to go to gmac.com. School Finder can be found under the Reach and Recruit Students tab. This is the search engine location. You can see the candidate consists of over 500,000 prospective students who are just actually waiting for you to contact them. You can see where I have a red arrow pointing. I wanted to make sure that you were aware of this report, because often schools miss it. I'm going to select that link. The Candidate Pool Preview Report shows you how many names are actually in each one of the search criteria buckets and can be useful to you before you set your criteria.
Let's start a search. You can see in the top left you can search by pre-test. These are people that are early on in their decision making, and they haven't even taken the GMAT yet, but they might be a great group of people for you to start planting seeds so they consider your programs. You can also search only by those who have taken the GMAT. That's the second choice that you see. For this demo, I have selected both pre-test people and those who have already taken the GMAT.
Under the candidate range in the middle of this slide, this will default to 18 months. You can search back several years. People that have registered on mba.com within several years. I think 18 months is a pretty good timeframe, however, to start with.
Along the left side of this slide are all the criteria you can select for your search to find the students that are attractive to you. One word of warning I would offer is don't add too much criteria, because you could be eliminating a prospect that might be attractive to you. I set, for today, three search criteria. You can see the summary at the bottom of the slide. I have selected those who have taken the test and scored between 530 and 800, who have three to five years of work experience, and then the last criteria I set up using the area map radius button, which actually comes from Google Maps. In this example, I selected a 50 mile radius from West End, Virginia, which is actually where I'm located.
Again, I would love to give you a one-on-one virtual demo of GMASS at your convenience. It only takes about 20 minutes. If you or if others in your office would be interested in a quick little demo, just let me know at lucas@gmac.com.
This is how to set up a search, but I also wanted to show you what's located under the other tabs. This is my personal saved search tab. This lists all the searches that I've developed, and I have the ability to edit these searches. I can duplicate them. I can copy one of the searches and make minor tweaks to target just a slight different group.
Under the Recurring Searches, I set up the frequency that I want the search to run automatically: weekly, monthly, bimonthly. This is also the tab where I can see the count. How many prospects? Also the cost for each of my searches. The purchase history shows exactly that, what you've purchased. This is also where you can print your invoice. I often get calls from schools asking if they can get a copy of their invoice. This is actually where it's located.
I purposely skipped the download tab, because I don't actually purchase names, and there's nothing listed there for me. For you, when you purchase names, your purchases will be listed under the download tabs. They're only actually listed on the download tab for 30 days. The actual lists are sent to you in an Excel format to your e-mail.
That completes my quick little demo on GMASS, which is the third stop in connecting the dots by recruiting the right candidates that meet your criteria.
Let's take a final look at the puzzle and connecting the dots, which is the mba.com Prospective Students Survey. You can use these insights to give you knowledge on the insights of globally diverse candidates. A new profile of 11,000 plus candidates illustrates the extent to which graduate business education has become highly globalized, diverse, and competitive. Our 2017 mba.com Prospective Students Survey report explores the current business school pipeline and various economic, political, and market trends that are influencing candidates' program preferences, their career goals, and their study options. This report shows findings that are based on analysis of survey responses from over 11,600 individuals who have registered on mba.com.
Here's some of the things that you're going to find. Demand for business master's programs continues to rise. International study demand remains strong but is being affected by the United States' election results. The strengthened economy has influenced candidates' career goals and expected outcomes of graduate business education. More candidates are factoring scholarship aid in their future enrollment decisions.
Just to mention a few of the high level standings. Demand for business master's still is continuing to grow. International study demand is still remaining very strong, and as I mentioned, but is being affected by the US election. Then the strengthened economy has influenced candidates' career goals. Candidates considering only non-MBA master's programs has increased from 15% in 2009 to 23% in 2016. Nearly three out of five perspective business school students, 59%, intend to apply to programs outside of their country of residence, which is up from 44% in 2009. In 2016, 47% of the non-US prospective students interested in non-MBA business master's programs expressed a preference for studying in the United States, which is down from 57% in 2009.
Over time, there has been an increase in the candidates considering non-MBA business master's program, certainly in Western Europe, Canada, and East and Southeast Asia.
Let me demo this tool now, because I really think you're going to find it valuable, and I want to make sure you're taking advantage of it. This is a landing page of the survey. It just gives you some details on what is contained in this tool. I'm going to go ahead and show you some of the data and then how to customize your search.
On the left hand side are all the criteria you can search by. By simply selecting any area on the left, you'll see the results. For this slide, I simply selected "Future Enrollment Dates" just to give you an example. Also, please note on the bottom left that you can copy data into a presentation or into an Excel spreadsheet. I selected "Financial Criteria", again, just to show you another type of the display that's available.
Now I want to show you how you can configure your own results. The configure report button is located on the top left where I have the red arrow pointing. I'm going to go ahead and select that. Now I can select my criteria for my first group. I selected citizens from the United States with a self-reported GMAT between 650 and 690 that are looking for a full-time two-year MBA program. I want to compare that to another citizenship group, so I selected "Add a Second Group", which I highlighted here with the red circle. The group I want to compare to will be citizens from India with exactly the same criteria of the 650 through 690 self-reported GMAT and that are looking for the two-year full-time program. I'm comparing US candidates with Indian candidates, with that GMAT range, looking for a full-time two-year program.
After completing what criteria you want to compare, select the update button on the bottom right. Here are the results. You can see the criteria I selected for each of my groups is represented and compared graphically. Every category I select along the left now will show the comparisons between these two groups, the US and India. I think you'll find this very useful when trying to focus your messaging to a particular group and understanding what their motivations are, or if you're traveling to a particular country to recruit, you might want to spend a few minutes discovering what's important to prospective students from that country that you're visiting.
I hope that you've learned a little about the tool, and maybe I've planted some seeds on how you might use it. This is also a free tool to you. I hope you'll take advantage of it. If you'd like to have me give you a deeper dive, just let me know, and I'd be happy to.
We connected the dots. Marketing. Through School Finder, marketing your program on School Finder. Advertising. Listing all of your events on Calendar of Events. Recruiting. Finding the candidates that fit your criteria with GMASS. Then communicating. Crafting your message to those students with mba.com Prospective Students Survey.
Thank you guys so much for attending today's mini-webinar. Next month, I'll be offering a webinar that's titled "Understanding and Preparing for the GMAT: Training the Trainer". It's one of the most popular that I've offered so far this year. This is an overview of the GMAT exam, how admissions officers use it in their admissions process, and suggestions on how to prepare for the test. Today's webinar will be archived under the Professional Development Webinar tab, and the link will also be sent to each of you. I've listed my e-mail here. Actually, it looks like it's fallen out, but my e-mail is lucas@gmac.com. You guys have any questions about what you learned today or any other products and services, just feel free to drop me a note, and I will be happy to help you.
Thank you very much, and have a great afternoon. I am going to stop this recording, but I will remain online to answer any questions that you may have. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.
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GMAT Management Tools for Schools: Do you have a GMAT code for all your programs? Learn how to add and update GMAT codes to better track trends for each of your programs. Access the data available to you on the Score Reporting Website and your individualized Management Reports.
- Add Update a GMAT Program Code
- Score Reporting Website
- Management Reports
Full Transcript
Good afternoon everyone. I am Glenda Lucas and I will be your host today. I'm a senior manager in the Americas region at the Graduate Management Admission Council also known as GMAC. So I'm offering these 20-minute little mini-webinars every month throughout the whole year, and the purpose of these webinars is to help you better navigate gmac.com just to make sure that you're taking full advantage of the tools that are available to you.
Because most of you are new to GMAC, I want to take a few minutes to let you know who we are as an organization. We are a council of leading business schools and our expertise is really in admissions. We have global connections, a breadth of knowledge, and we have a prestigious heritage. We really allow students, give them the means to stand out and be recognized when they're applying to your programs. We provide schools with the voice, insights and a place for collaboration.
So we've been around since about 1953 while when nine business school deans got together to develop an assessment to help them to be able to better predict the success in their programs. GMAC is based just right outside of Washington, DC and we also have offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. We are very well respected and very well known for all of the information and the data that we have on the industry.
GMAC's vision is to connect talent and aspiration with opportunity. So that's a little bit about who we are as an organization. I want to just talk to you a little bit about what our focus is. Our focus is a world where talent and schools are actually connected. We believe there is a school for everyone. As we travel to our schools throughout the United States, actually throughout the world, we hear over and over again or asked, we hear schools asking us what is GMAC doing to help grow a candidate pipeline? So this is a huge focus for us and we are piloting some different undergrad initiatives on campuses with different pricing structures, on-campus testing and the ambassadors on-campus.
We offer a GMAC presentation, understanding and preparing for the GMAT, and what it really does is try to eliminate the anxiety for candidates in taking the GMAT.
Extending our values to schools. Some of you might be aware of our extensive research, our conferences bringing you all together and your peers to hear about the latest trends, and take advantage of the networking opportunities. And our products and services for admissions and marketing staff.
Grow and diversify testing. Of course we have the GMAT. We are also customizing tests for markets like the executive MBA. We purchased a local India exam, the NMAT which has been very successful in India with more and more local schools accepting NMAT, and we are working with some emerging markets such as Africa to listen to their needs from schools and students in that region.
Of course, we manage the GMAC enterprise. It's certainly a focus of ours, making sure we have the best people and that we are sound financially and protecting our intellectual property.
So today I want to connect the importance of each of your programs having its own GMAT code and the management reports that are available to you that correspond with each of your programs. There are two separate management reports: The statistical summary report and the frequency report. These reports are really sort of the best kept secrets that are used by the very best schools in the industry.
The statistical summary report can help you with your marketing campaigns. You will see who your program is attracting, the type of score range, whether you have more males or females, ethnicity, things like that. So when you take a look at the composition of students sending their GMAT scores to your program, do you want to make any changes? Do you want to enhance it? If so, you can then focus your GMAT searches on what you see on a statistical summary report.
For the frequency report, you will see what other programs students are sending their scores to. It's really just your competition. This report can be used not only for competition but it might show you that you're actually competing against other programs within your own university.
So I'll then show you how to open or edit new and existing GMAT codes. It's really important to have a GMAT code for each of your programs so you can get the management reports giving you the information for each of those programs.
And then the last item on the agenda for this month is, as a result of the data of your management reports, do you need to rethink your recruiting strategies with your GMAT and your messaging through the mba.com prospective student survey?
The first management tool I want to make sure that you're taking advantage of is the management reports that are located on the score reporting website. I'll show you how to access these reports and the important data contained on those reports.
Some of you may be familiar with the score reporting website, the place where you can pull the GMAT scores for your prospective students. What often happens is you or someone in your office pulls the score reports and they forget or are just too busy to look at the other information available on that site, which is the management reports. This is the home page for gmac.com and this is where the tab is located which you will need to access for the GMAT, and it's titled The GMAT Exam and Other Assessments.
I've pointed out where to access the GMAT scores and the GMAT management reports. Once you've successful logged into the score reporting website, you will notice the last tab titled Management Reports. This is the tab that's often forgotten or goes unnoticed on the score reporting website, so you want to select that tab.
The first management report is, as I mentioned, is titled the Statistical Summary Report, and they are available in half-year totals or total year. They range back through 2010. So just by clicking the PDF icon for a particular date range you're interested in, the report will download. What information does this report actually contain? It compares the data on all GMAT test-takers during the period with candidates who sent their scores to your score, percentage of female/male test-takers, ethnicity, data by country, and certainly the GMAT score. It's available semi-annually and it's available again on the sore reporting website. It covers periods of six months of scores sent to your programs.
The other report, the frequency ranking reports are also located under the Management Report tab. It's sort of towards the bottom. You'll need to scroll down. The frequency report will show you the top 15 programs that candidates who sent their scores to you also where else they sent their scores, what other programs they sent their scores to. It's available annually on the score reporting website, and it also includes data from the previous years of scores that were sent to your programs.
To get these management reports for each of your programs, you need a GMAT code. You need to make sure you have a code set up for each of your programs. So adding a new program or adding a new program code is really important. It gives you access to the full range of the GMAT tools products and services designed to help you to meet your goals and make your day-to-day work more efficient and effective.
To take the full advantage of the GMAT resources at your disposal, you should make sure you have a GMAT code for each of your graduate programs that you offer. Having a unique GMAT code makes it easier for prospective students to actually find you, for you to identify and benchmark the competition for each of your programs, for you to maximize your marketing by tailoring your messages to your prospects. Help students find you with ease and provide two critical pieces of information when you register your program with the GMAC. Your program name and your program type.
To add or update a GMAT program code, you should go to the home page on gmac.com and select the GMAT Exam and Other Assessments tab. Then you'll select Add GMAT Code and you'll be taken to this form to complete. This is also the same form you will need to change a program code for an existing program. So I would really suggest you review your program lists yearly to make sure individual codes are set up and also any programs you may have discontinued, make sure that those ones are deleted.
Some of you might want to consider casting a wider net for domestic candidates. GMASS is a great tool to help you select your search criteria, helping you focus on the domestic groups for instance. If you would like me to give you a one-on-one GMASS demo demonstration, demonstrating how to focus your searches on domestic candidates, I'd be happy to do so. So simply send me a message at lucas@gmac.com and either I or one of my colleagues will set up a 20-minute virtual demo with you with suggestions on focusing your GMASS searches.
You should also think about your messaging to attract candidates to your program. The mba.com Prospective Students Survey interactive tool is a wonderful way to help you with your messaging. Again, I'd be happy to walk you through the tool and how to get the most of it.
This concludes our little mini webinar for this month, GMAC Management Tools for Schools. What we covered today were the management reports, statistical summary, and the frequency report, how to set up a new GMAT code or edit existing codes, focusing what you've learned from those management reports on your GMASS searches, certainly focusing on domestic candidates, and really paying attention to your messaging, looking at what motivates candidates on the mba.com prospective student survey located on gmac.com. This slide deck will be available to you to help for any other people in your office that may have not attended today. Next month, I'll be focusing the GMAC 101 Webinar on understanding and preparing for the GMAT. It's a train the trainers. So this is a slide deck that is available to you to help your candidates better understand the ins-and-outs of the GMAT, where does the GMAT fit into the application process, sample of GMAT questions, what to expect on testing day, and resources to help them prepare for the assessment.
So thank you all for tuning in. I'm going to hang around a little while, answer any questions you may have. And if I miss you, please just make sure you send me a message at lucas@gmac.com. Thanks a lot.
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Demystifying the GMAT Exam - Train the Trainer: Learn how to help your prospective students understand the GMAT exam, how it works, proven preparation strategies, and how scores are used in your admissions process. This train-the-trainer session will walk you through a presentation available to you for your information sessions.
- Mini student presentation to encourage schools to use or invite us to present to candidates
Full Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. I am Glenda Lucas and I'm going to be your host today. I'm a senior manager in the America's region at the Graduate Management Admissions Council, GMAC. I offer these 20 minute webinars every month throughout the year, and the purpose of the webinar is to really help you better navigate gmac.com and to also make sure that you're taking full advantage of the tools that are available to you.
For today, we're going to focus on the presentation that's available to you, titled Understanding and Preparing For the GMAT, so this presentation can be used by you at your information sessions, at your open houses, or if you're having a special event with a large audience, one of the GMAC market development managers may be able to present this at your event. One thing that I found pretty interesting as I've shown or given this presentation at the request of schools is how little staff really knows about the GMAT, so I think you'll find this useful when answering questions you are getting from candidates.
Let's begin. Some of these slides I'm going to go through quickly because of our time limit today. I promise to get you out of here with a 20 minute webinar, but I'd be more than happy to walk you through the slides individually. Just let me know. My email is lucas, L-U-C-A-S, @gmac.com. I'm going to present the rest of this webinar today as if I was talking to candidates and then I'm going to end the webinar with questions from you.
So welcome, candidates, to the presentation Understanding and Preparing For the GMAT. Just by a show of hands, how many of you are planning on applying to the MBA program and how many of you are interested in a master's program? During our time together today we're going to discuss how the GMAT exam is used in the application process, why the GMAT exam is an accurate predictor of your success, how the GMAT is structured, I'm going to give you some facts about the GMAT, and then I'm going to show you some ideas on how to prepare for the GMAT. Why the GMAT exam? Did you know that 90% of the applicants who are actually admitted to a GME program took the GMAT exam? So we're going to dive into why it's the most trusted exam by admissions officers.
Before we jump in to the presentation, do any of you see an emotion on the screen that may resonate with you? We interact with candidates all the time. You know, a lot of issues, a lot of stress as it relates to taking the exam, it's often looked at as a barrier or an obstacle that may keep you from getting admitted into their desired program, but actually the GMAT open doors you may never have considered, so I'm going to encourage you to take a fresh perspective. Don't look at the exam as a barrier, but look at it as an opportunity, an aid to propel you towards your end goal. The GMAT exam is one of the few aspects of your admissions package that you can actually impact now. What I mean by that is you really can't change your undergrad major, you can't change the number of years' experience, etc. that you have, but you can work to understand both yourself and this exam, and this understanding coupled with proper preparation can help you unlock your future.
The GMAT exam was created by business schools for business schools and was specifically designed to assist with business school admissions. It's accepted by more than 6,000 programs and over 2,000 schools. It has been taken by more than 10 million people. Taking the exam used primarily for GME programs helps communicate to the admissions councils that you are serious about business. Most importantly, the GMAT continues to be the gold standard in business admissions, and nearly nine out of 10 new MBA enrollments were students who were made using a GMAT exam score.
Let's consider the following example. Admissions officers want to that you could handle the academic demands in their programs, and when they open a file they have no idea how you're going to perform academically. By looking at the GMAT score, they are able to narrow down and gain a much better sense of where you might end up. In this case, this person's score indicates that they would fall somewhere between a 3.2 and a 3.8 at the halfway point, but they also factor in other exam sections. They look at undergrad scores, and this helps them get a better and better sense of how you may perform in their program. You know, there's always other factors that impact grades. The GMAT is the best predictor of academic success and that's why admissions officers value it, and you should too since it will help ensure you end up in a program that is a good fit for you.
Here's a myth. "I need a really high score." I just want to say, don't fixate on a single perfect GMAT score. Admissions officers will look at your entire application, not just one or two elements, to ensure that you're a good fit in their program. My tip for you is to make sure that your entire application is strong, that it demonstrates the real you, and includes a well-defined post-MBA career goal.
The admissions process is not all about the GMAT and the GMAT does not measure some very important things admissions officers are looking for in candidates. The intangibles, things like soft skills. This is why you submit your resume, your essays, your extracurricular activities, recommendations, and often times you even have an interview, so the school wants to make sure you're a fit both academically and personally, and they want to know that you will both contribute and benefit from your business school experience. It's a balanced approach to admissions to make sure that they ensure this is accomplished. The entire goal of this process is to paint an accurate and compelling picture of the most important aspect, which is you.
The GMAT is just one aspect of a balanced admissions process, as I mentioned. For candidates, the GMAT can help you by providing you an opportunity to stand out in the applicant pool. It can help you compensate for a part of your application that may not be particularly compelling. It can open doors to a school that you might not otherwise be admitted to, or it might help you secure financial support from the school. It should give you the confidence to that you have the ability to handle the academic demands of the program. Finally, studying for the GMAT helps you prepare for business school. For schools, it helps admissions officers determine your academic potential by using your exam score as a predictor of performance in their programs. It also is a way to evaluate you against other candidates by being able to sort of look at an even playing field and compare apples to apples.
Let's talk a minute about computer adaptive tests, which is what GMAT is. It's different than a standardize test, so it may be kind of new to some of you. This is not the kind of test you took to get into college. You don't really need a number two pencil. A computer adaptive test or a CAT builds the exam around your performance and allows you to end up in a school range that you should be in. When you sit for the GMAT, you start with an item of middle difficulty, and in turn begin with a mid-range score. If you answer a question correctly, you will get a harder question next. If you answer a question incorrectly, the next question will be easier, so this happens one question at a time. You can't skip and you can't go back, and each item counts in the score of the exam. The exam design makes it extremely accurate, efficient, and secure. Ultimately, the GMAT measures your ability to reason, not just your mastery of an academic subject, and we're going to talk a little bit more about this in the next section.
Myth number two. "Only the first 10 answers count" for your final score. This is not true. Each item counts in the scoring, so it would be very important to balance answering items correctly with completing the exam, so here's kind of a hypothetical example that demonstrates how computer adaptive testing works and why all the questions matter. As we've discussed, you start with a middle difficulty question, so maybe you're nervous and you get it wrong, so you get an easier question. You might get that question wrong too, so you get an even easier question, and that one you're going to get right, so you settle down a little bit and you start getting the questions right over and over again, which moves you into a range that you should be getting. You'll continue to teeter around until you reach the end of the exam. The exam allows you to have a sort of a rough start or it may allow you to have a great start because you're lucky, but eventually you're going to end up in the range you're supposed to be in and your score will reflect that.
Myth number three. "If I get an easier question, that must mean that I had a wrong answer." You know, although we've discussed that getting a question wrong means an easier question will follow, there's a few reasons that one may perceive a question as easy. You could be getting all the answers right and then there's a change in content within a question type, or you may have received a research question in which you're going to receive a few throughout the exam, but they don't count toward the score. Given this, trying to guess if a particular GMAT exam question is harder or easier is only going to make you more anxious, so don't worry about it. Just know that your perception of easy could mean a lot of things, so try to just shake it off and move forward with your prep strategy.
Let's dive into the exam. What's all the GMAT and how does it work? The GMAT has four sections. It has the Analytical Writing section which is 30 minute section. It includes one question, analysis of an argument. Like I said, there's only one question, and your score is going to be between zero and six. A new section called Integrated Reasoning, this is a 30 minute section with 12 questions, and then there's a small break after that section. The individual section score is between one and eight. The Quantitative Reasoning section is a 75 minute section with 37 questions, and the section score is between zero and 60, and then there's also a small break after that section. Finally, the Verbal Reasoning, 75 minutes, 41 questions with a score of zero to 60, so the total score is between 200 and 800, and it's going to be comprised of your verbal and quant sections. The entire exam, with breaks, lasts about four hours.
There's no correct recommended order in taking the exam, but we do offer you a couple of sections that you can switch around, so this feature was developed to allow test-takers to choose the order that makes them most comfortable and suits their style. The order options were chosen as a result of the most selected orders during our pilot phase. If you've already begun preparing for the test, though, or feel most comfortable with the original order, that's still available. What's tested is not easier, but this feature may make it easier to take the test.
I've heard admissions professionals suggest that candidates view the GMAT as a pre-MBA boot camp as the exam is truly designed to assess the skills you'll be expected to perform in your program. For instance, if you look at the Analytical Writing section, which is in green on the top, you will see the GMAT question type, which in this case is an analysis of an argument. At the bottom you will see that business school students are expected to analyze arguments, take an informed position, and write clearly and effectively. This slide demonstrates how each section of the exam was designed to assess the skills business school students will need in their programs and beyond.
Another myth. "Advanced math skills are required." This is a question that we hear often from candidates like yourself. If you've completed 10th grade math, you could take the GMAT exam. The SAT and ACT actually test applicants on more advanced skills than the GMAT exam. Again, it is expecting that you already have these skills, the skill knowledge, and it's going to measure your ability to reason using the skills. During the exam, you will need basic algebra, elementary algebra, commonly known geometric concepts, and logic and analysis skills, interact with the material and subjects tested on the exam and determine where you are. It may be necessary for you to take a few steps back and return to or really get a grasp of the fundamentals, so my tip would be review basic math, and focus on using logic and reasoning to answer the questions.
Now let's discuss exam features and how you can make the best use of them. The first thing you need to do is register on mba.com where you're going to create an account and then move on to registering for the exam. Often times there's interest in finding test times and locations. In order to do that, you click on the GMAT exam and go find the test center that you're interested in. There, you can search by zip code and the date to take the exam, to find out the time and location that fits your schedules best. Pearson VUE administers the exam and they have over 600 test centers worldwide.
The GMAT was going to cost $250, and the important thing to note is that this fee applies to each time you take the test. Included in the cost, you're able to send your score to up to five programs. However, you can sit for the test without selecting any schools if you choose. Additional score reports are available at $28 apiece. If you should want to retest because you canceled an exam or want to simply test again to try for a higher score, you have to wait 16 days between tests.
Just for your information, about 20% of the candidates take the exam more than once, generally just one more time, and on average see a 30 point gain. With this, most retesting it's because they didn't finish the first time and feel like they can do significantly better, and most often there's a 30 point jump. As always, candidates can exceed five GMAT exams within a 12 period, and your score is valid for five years. Please note that there is now an eight time testing limit on the GMAT exam. In other words, you can take the GMAT exam no more than eight times, period, and this really only affects a very small percentage of candidates.
A few things to know about testing. If you know what you're walking into, I think you're going to be less anxious about it, so be mindful of a few things. You have to show a valid ID, like your driver's license, a passport, and things like that. You're going to provide an electronic signature. They're going to do a palm vein scan, among other things. The primary point here is that the security is very high, so be sure to be familiar with what is expected on test day to not cause yourself unnecessary anxiety. You're going to stop by the table and grab a GMAT handbook on the way out of this session, which is going to give you more information on what to expect. Since the GMAT is a high stakes test, security is very tight. Taking the GMAT seems to involve more security than boarding an international flight, it seems. As I mentioned, you have to show a valid ID, your signature, your photo is going to be taken, and the palm vein scan. Finally, I just want to say, you don't cheat. Don't bring your cellphone into the testing room, etc.
After you've answered your last question, you're then going to see your unofficial score report, so that score report will include your individual scores for IR, a verbal and quants and also your total score. The AWA, Analytical Writing section is scored by both a person and a computer, and therefore won't be available at this point, but the awesome thing here is that you'll immediately know how you performed and be able to make an informed decision regarding your next steps.
At this point, you'll be able to decide whether you would like to accept your score or cancel it at no additional cost. You're going to have two minutes to make this decision, so we suggest that you come to the test center with an idea on your minimum score threshold. That way, the decision to accept or cancel will be easier for you to make. For some time, the GMAT has allowed you to cancel your score, but we've enhanced this feature to provide you with more control and the control of knowing that you are in charge of what schools see. Given this, if you cancel your score, no one will know this but you. There isn't a C or anything else on the report that indicates that you sat and canceled for the exam.
To really understand that the GMAT is an important and impactful part of the admission process, I want to give you as many options as possible to help you feel confident and comfortable with your decisions. While you have two minutes at the test center to decide to accept or cancel, you can also cancel online within 72 hours of completing the exam, but it's going to cost you $25 to do that, so make sure you know the score that you're expecting or the score range that you're expecting of yourself on testing day. Additionally, you can reinstate a previously canceled score, but that will also cost you. It'll cost you $50.
Here's an example of when you might use this, so say you set yourself for a minimum score of 650 and your score is 640, so you decide to cancel. Then say you get busy, you get really busy or you speak with an admissions person, and between the two of you decide that the 640 will work fine for you. You can reinstate that score. Also, if you leave the test center and choose to cancel when you get home, it may be possible that the option is not available yet. It takes about 24 hours for the link to your scores to become active.
There's something that's called a GMAT Enhanced Score Report that I wanted to talk to you about just quickly to help you improve your results by knowing how you performed. The ESR, Enhanced Score Report, it really is a great tool if you cancel your score or if you just want to test again as it helps you understand how you performed on the exam. What it includes is your overall performance ranking and percentage of correct answers, which allows you to see where you stand to benchmark yourself against others, performance ranking by question type to better understand what types of questions you answered easily and which ones sort of tripped you up, and time management ranking and average response times. It gives you customized summary report by section, assessing your strengths and weaknesses.
GMAC is the only place to get your official GMAT questions and it should always be a part of any of your success prep plan. I'm going to share with you some of our data on how to best to use our products to prep for the exam. We often get asked, "How much time should I prepare?" This really does vary from person to person based on your educational background, your years out of school, etc., but we can provide you some general stats relevant to test-taking outcomes.
If you refer to the chart on the left, those who score 700 or greater report studying for 80 total hours on average. Most of the times, the response to that is, "Wow, that's totally doable," but note the chart on the right. In the US, the medium number of hours spent for preparation is about 40, so that's a big jump from 40 to 80, so generally speaking, the more you prep, the better you're going to do. If your goal is a high score, how will you plan so that you can build in the time you need to get this studying done?
Here's the study aids that are available to you on mba.com, and one thing here I wanted to point out is there are two free GMAT prep tests that you can download for free on mba.com and I really would encourage you to take advantage of that. Each one of these downloads has two full GMAT exams included. They're retired GMAT test questions, and I think the most important thing here is that they're free to you, so please take advantage of them.
Considerations, some things to consider when you're thinking about your prep. What is your learning style? Do you need to study in a group? Do you need to study individually? How disciplined are you? Can you set aside a certain length of time to study per day, per week? How comfortable are you with the subject matter and the question types? And important to simulate your test center conditions and have learning objectives, so make sure that you think about where are you going to study and what fits your style better.
As I mentioned before, mba.com is not only where you're going to register for the exam, but there's a wealth of knowledge there on the admissions process. We have blogs and insights from current students and admissions officers, and we do hold a variety of events like Facebook live showing the inside of a test center, and Google Hangouts featuring tips and tricks from the test center or the test prep company, so just be sure to bookmark it and use this site throughout your journey.
I'm going to kind of put a hold here now for today's presentation, going back to talking to you school people that are in attendance. I'm not going to include this appendix that you're seeing now, which is examples of actual GMAT retired questions. I'm just going to go through this quickly just so you'll see what it is. If you would like me to walk you through these example questions one-on-one, just let me know and I can do that, but we don't really have enough time to do that today. I'm already over my time limit, but there's samples of analytical writing questions, integrated reasoning questions, and these are actual screen prints so the candidate will know what the questions look like. Quantitative reasoning, data sufficiency, verbal, reading comprehension, critical reasoning, sentence correction, and then in the presentation certainly from questions from all the candidates.
This concludes our 20 minute webinar for this month, Understanding and Preparing For the GMAT. I've trained the trainer session. My email is lucas, L-U-C-A-S @gmac.com, and if any of you are interest in me walking you through this presentation more thoroughly, I'd be more than happy to. I love giving this presentation, and I think it gives all of you a lot of information about the exam itself to help you answer candidates' questions and also as a tool that's available to you to offer at your information sessions or open houses. Thanks a lot, you guys. I'm going to hang around a little while to answer any questions you may have, and if I miss you, just please send me a message at lucas@gmac.com. Thank you. Talk to you later.
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