Due to Covid-19 pandemic, a demand for MBA programs have greatly increased, leading to soaring GMAT -Graduate Management Admission Test- scores. For example, for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the average score of applicants reached 738 this year, compared to 733 from last year. Also, application to Indiana University Kelley School of Business’s MBA course in 2021 has increased 61% compared to application numbers in 2020. This movement is quite different from what was happening in 2020. Due to the continuous drop of GMAT scores annually till 2020, colleges had to come up with diverse requirements of MBA entrances. Even though Covid-19 increased GMAT scores dramatically this year, there still exists movement to diversify MBA requirements. The first example is that of Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Kelley School has been using both GMAT and GRE -Graduate Record Exam- as entrance examinations. Jim Holmen, a director of admissions said that the soaring GMAT scores does not mean that GMAT is gaining back its suitability as an entrance requirement. He also said, “We value both exams....... MBA candidates should choose the test they are most comfortable with — the test where they believe they can achieve the most competitive scores.” NYU Stern School of Business also adopted new admission test options — LSAT, MCAT and DAT — this year. Furthermore, Stern School accepts Executive Assessment along with GMAT and GRE. This movement of abandoning standardized test requirement - GMAT - was also affected by 2020 Covid-19 crisis, which precluded application tests from being held as it has done before. This favored many applicants with comparatively low GMAT scores. According to Stacy Blackman, an admission consultant in Los Angeles, “Applicants would be wise to consider alternative test options unless they have GMAT scores that are at or above average, unless their profile has true differentiating qualities.” Georgetown McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC admits that although the average score of GMAT soared dramatically, 48% of the admitted students to 2021 MBA course had taken a GRE instead. The trend of GMAT waiver can be seen at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business as well. Robinson College decided to eliminate every test requirement this year. Brian Jennings, an associate dean for graduate programs, said that “GMAT or GRE scores are not necessary to predict classroom success; the tests are a barrier to entry and perpetuate systemic inequities; and test performance is immaterial to the ultimate measure — career outcomes and market demand for our students.” A GMAT waiver is foreseen to diversify the pool of MBA applicants in terms of demographic, industry, function, nationality, etc. With this aim, many colleges are adopting diverse options for MBA entrance requirement. However, not every college is jumping into this movement, some of them still relying on GMAT purely.   Read More: No More SAT/ACT for CSU Admissions    

Due to the border shutdown and other preventive measures of Covid-19, many harbors and airlines have frequently been closed. Freight handling delays combined with people trying to buy up products had caused a shortage of necessities. In order to gain the supply chain’s resilience back, many companies are trying to remake Supply Chain Management (SCM) strategies.

Apple used to adopt the Just-In-Time inventory management tactic, which aims to minimize the amount of inventory on hand to meet demand. Now, however, they are diversifying supplying countries rather than focusing only on China. IBM is also adopting a new strategy, called Rapid Supplier Contact (RSC), to combine new supply companies with ordering companies.

As an increasing number of companies care and focus more on SCM, the demand for SCM consultants is rapidly growing internationally. According to SCM Map Europe, 53 percent of SCM consultant firms in Europe have been hired in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

MBA schools are also focusing on the importance of SCM. Srikant Datar, the dean of Harvard Business School, acknowledged how companies had taken the logistics for granted before the pandemic started. Smeal College of Business in Pennsylvania now offers a new SCM course to its master’s level students.

Following the trend in the market and academia, an increasing number of people are looking for MBA degrees in SCM. According to Rudolf Leuschner, an associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers Business School, about 10-20 percent more Rutgers MBA students enrolled in SCM courses than they had done before the pandemic started. He also believes that the demand by corporations will continue. “The lack of suitable literature has been a known topic for decades, but it wasn’t yet bad enough to cause large-scale delays as they do now,” he says.

Growing of the SCM market is expected to continue after Covid-19. According to Marketsandmarkets, a market research company, SCM market size is expected to grow almost twice by 2026.

Read More: Business Schools Prepare Students To Fight Financial Crimes. Yet, Challenges Remain

Business schools originally had deep concerns about the irreversible damage the pandemic could bring to their academic field. However, the latest data tells otherwise. MBAs saw a sharp increase in application numbers, as well as higher average GMAT scores. Numerous schools have also reported that they now have a more diverse student pool with higher enrollment rates from women and minority populations. This indicates that the competition for MBA admissions has become fiercer, pushing students to go beyond what schools used to seek in an applicant. Shelly Heinrich, associate dean of MBA admissions at Georgetown McDonough School of Business, said that a higher number of deferrals from the previous year has also contributed to the exceptionally competitive admission cycle. For example, at Georgetown, the overall average GMAT score increased by 17 points, and their admission rate decreased by nine percent. “We were simultaneously more selective […] and were more attractive, increasing yield by seven percent,” Heinrich noted. Yet, she also points out that the higher competition would also bring benefits to the prospective students as they will be part of a more diverse student pool with various work experiences in different sectors. She said, “When you’re analyzing a case study about Fortune 100 company, you want someone in your class that has worked there.”

Increasing diversity in business schools

Many MBA programs across the U.S. reported increased diversity in their entering class. At the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, 46 percent of its Class of 2023 will be women, up from 43 percent last year. Soojin Kwon, managing director of MBA admissions at Michigan Ross, said, “This is a record percentage of women in our full-time MBA class. It was achieved by continuing to execute our strategy of focused recruiting efforts and in particular, leveraging our students and alumni from different affinity groups.” The managing director also mentioned that the school set its own record for many other parts — all-time high GMAT average, record selectivity at 20 percent, and highest number of applications from underrepresented minorities. NYU Stern School of Business had a similar experience in the recent admission cycle. It reported its historic high GMAT average of 729, along with an eight percent increase in enrollment from 317 last year to 360 students. Lisa Rios, assistant dean of MBA admissions at Stern, believes that a more applicant-friendly admission process and continuously growing demand for MBA degrees were two main contributors to the recent trend of stronger class profile. She noted, “For the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, NYU Stern continued to adopt an applicant-centric approach, including adding three new standardized test options — LSAT, MCAT, and DAT — to the existing GMAT, GRE, and Executive Assessment.”

Growing emphasis on emotional intelligence in MBAs

However, a high GMAT score and a fascinating résumé are not the only factors that MBA admissions look for. For instance, admissions at Stern closely evaluates applicants’ emotional intelligence in its admissions process. Rios commented that the emotional intelligence is especially important for MBA students as “[t]he students’ classmates are the people they will learn from, be in clubs with, work on experiential learning projects with, and in many cases work with after graduation.” [caption id="attachment_1721" align="alignnone" width="2560"] The University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management works to build a more diverse student body from various backgrounds and experiences. Photo: Maksim Sokolov / Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption] Joseph Milner, the vice-dean of MBA programs at Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, said that the school tries its best to build a diverse student body with applicants from various backgrounds and past experiences, which would help its students to further develop emotional intelligence. He noted, “We build our diverse class taking into account the experiences and backgrounds of our applicants. We then mindfully divide the students into sections, paying attention to the multiple dimensions of how students define themselves.” Rotman’s effort to bring more diversity on campus seems to be working; it welcomed 25 percent more black applicants last admission cycle. Furthermore, the school has brought changes to its career services in order to better align them with the job market. As a result, 97 percent of the Class of 2021 were successfully employed within three months of graduation. Referring to the recent surge in MBA applications and the consequent high competition, Milner advised future applicants, “We look for intellectual horsepower, experience, impact, communications, presence, and a ‘spike factor’ – something that the applicant sees as defining themselves uniquely. All of these are looked at and weigh in the admissions decision.”   Read More: Applications for MBAs Are Increasing With the Economy