Graduates from Philadelphia-area liberal arts school Swarthmore College score higher on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) than those from any other school in the world, according to new research released earlier this week by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Bloomberg BW surveyed recent MBA graduates from 114 top business schools as part of its 2012 Best Business Schools ranking, asking both where they earned their undergraduate degrees and what they scored on the GMAT, the entrance exam required for admission to many leading graduate business programs. Swarthmore topped the list, with grads reporting an average GMAT score of 742.5 out of a possible 800. Following closely behind were graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology and Harvard University, with average scores of 740.74 and 740.06, respectively, Bloomberg BW reports.
Swarthmore Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Diane Anderson wasn’t surprised by the results. “Swarthmore is a very rigorous school and we have amazing students,” she told Bloomberg BW. “They can be challenging to teach sometimes because they ask wonderful questions and they don’t duck when you challenge them.”
The top 10 schools in terms of graduates with the highest GMAT averages range the globe, including three in India, one in Canada, one in China, one in the United Kingdom and the remaining in the United States. Here’s the top 10 list, with average GMAT score:
1. Swarthmore College 742.50
2. Indian Institutes of Technology (India) 740.74
3. Harvard University 740.06
4. University of Toronto 737.50
5. University of Delhi (India) 736.25
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 735.68
7. Stanford University 734.33
8. National Institutes of Technology (India) 734.00
9. Fudan University (China) 733.91
10. University of Cambridge (U.K.) 733.75
As many prospective business school applicants may know, Philadelphia-based Clear Admit was founded by two graduates of the MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. It may also be interesting to note that before heading to Wharton, both founders also completed their undergraduate studies at Swarthmore. Several of the other members of the Clear Admit team are also Swarthmore grads.
Read the complete Bloomberg BusinessWeek article, “Liberal Arts College Boasts Best GMAT Scores.”
