MIT Sloan’s MBA Goes Test Optional for the Year 2020-21

MIT’s Sloan School of Management has joined a number of prominent business schools in announcing a test-optional policy for admission to its prestigious MBA programs for the current year, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. MIT Sloan’s MBA goes test-optional for the year 2020-2021 as Rod Garcia, Assistant Dean of Admissions at Sloan announced that the requirement of the standardised tests will be continued, but only for the current year candidates will be allowed to submit their applications for evaluation without it. 

“We did something similar in R3 during the last admission cycle and, in fact, interviewed and admitted candidates without the test but required them to take it before matriculation.  We made this decision because of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.  Several candidates were not able to take the test earlier this year because of test disruption and test centers especially in regions where we draw a lot of applications are operating at less than 50% capacity. We’re afraid that if and when a second wave hits, the test centers will be closed again,” Garcia stated. 

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As per the statement, candidates are not required to provide GMAT or GRE scores and the evaluation for MBA applications will be carried out without these standardized testing measures. This policy change by MIT Sloan’s MBA going test optional will very likely result in a huge increase in the number of candidates applying to the school. Moreover, it will also encourage other schools to adopt such a policy for their admissions for the present year as the world is still tackling with the ongoing pandemic.

While MIT Sloan’s MBA is test optional for the year, the school encourages students to submit their scores if available (including expired scores), along with other certifications or non-degree coursework that they may have in order to assist the evaluation process.

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Sloan’s adoption of the test-optional policy comes in the wake of a movement towards this direction by various business schools including Maryland’s Smith School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, amongst others which have taken the decision to go test-optional as the standardized testing procedures have been hampered in the wake the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision to make the submission of test scores optional has made MIT the first M7 school to opt for this policy for a whole academic year apart from the Harvard Business School which followed the policy for 11 years in 1985.

As MIT Sloan’s MBA goes test optional, many other business schools around the globe have also taken this step to eliminate standardized testing. Keep watching this space as we at Leverage Edu bring you the latest higher education updates from universities and colleges around the world! Until then, check out our exclusive blogs on emerging careers, courses and more!