How to Convert GRE to GMAT Score
There are three ways to convert your GRE score to a GMAT score: First, you can use the GMAT-GRE comparison tool. Second, you can compare your GRE percentile scores to GMAT percentile scores. And third, you can use a combination of round numbers, human nature, and the “GRE 160 sniff-test.”
Let’s take an in-depth look at each.
Option #1: the GMAT-GRE comparison tool
The GRE published a handy little GMAT-GRE comparison tool, so that you can take any GRE score and turn it into an “equivalent” GMAT score. Sounds great, right?
Trouble is, conversion charts that compare two different tests are on shaky scientific ground. In theory, the GRE and GMAT are designed to measure subtly different skills, and they’re on completely different score scales. Few, if any, independent psychometricians (experts in the statistical science underneath standardized testing) would suggest that these conversion charts should ever be used. They simply aren’t very accurate, even under the best of conditions.
When the GRE published its comparison tool, the GMAT responded with an anti-conversion-chart article. Here’s the essence of the GMAT’s argument: GRE and GMAT scores are correlated, but they aren’t perfectly correlated. If you’re trying to convert GRE scores into GMAT scores, the standard error of prediction is 67.4 points, according to GMAC.
In other words: if you try to use your GRE score to predict what you would have gotten if you’d taken the GMAT instead, the results won’t be great: the comparison tool is likely to be off by an average of 67.4 points in one direction or another.
Option #2: GRE percentiles
GRE percentile scores would, on the surface, appear to be a fairer way to evaluate MBA applicants who have taken the GRE. But there’s a huge problem here, too: percentile rankings compare you with other people who took the same test.
GRE percentile rankings are based on the scores of the 700,000+ GRE test-takers – only a small percentage of whom are applying to MBA programs. So, your percentile ranking is based on a completely different horde of competitors for the GRE than for the GMAT.
Consider this example: if you want to score in the 80th percentile on the quant section of the GMAT, you’ll need a 50 – which requires some serious skill. On the GRE, all you’ll need to hit the 80th percentile on quant is a 162 – and that’s nowhere near as difficult as getting a 50 on the GMAT.
In other words, GRE percentiles absolutely cannot be compared fairly to GMAT percentiles.
Option #3: Round numbers, human nature, and the GRE 160 sniff-test
Here’s where we get into the interesting stuff. Our hunch is that most MBA admissions committees probably just use a “sniff test” for GRE scores – and we’re guessing that a 160 on both GRE sections is probably enough to make MBA admissions committees move on to other aspects of your MBA application.
Let’s face it: people are naturally drawn to nice, round numbers. If 150 is the average GRE score, then what's our instinctual dividing line between “very good” and “elite”? We suspect that MBA admissions officers struggle to understand the difference between, say, a 157 and a 159, but a 160 sounds nice and round, right?
So our guess is that MBA admissions officers often tend to feel OK about an applicant's ability once they're above the 160 mark on both the quant and verbal sections. No other implicit “cut score” would seem to make much sense.
For whatever it's worth, the few GRE averages that have leaked out might support the idea that a 160 could be enough to make your test score a non-issue at top-tier MBA programs.
For example, in a recent data release, Michigan, Cornell, and UCLA’s MBA cohorts all had average GRE verbal scores of 162 and average quant scores of 159; Duke’s averages were 160 on both the quant and verbal GRE sections. That’s certainly not conclusive, but it suggests that MBA admissions committees might be using 160 as a loose GRE benchmark score -- even though the GMAT-GRE score conversion chart says that a pair of 160s on the GRE is equivalent to a not-terribly-competitive GMAT composite score of 640.
Unless you have an unusual set of strengths and weaknesses, it’s much, much easier to get a pair of 160s on the GRE than it is to get, say, a 700 on the GMAT. But if you’re OK with a test score that makes your MBA application “GMAT-neutral”, then the latest GRE data offers some interesting food for thought.
Which GRE-GMAT conversion method should you use?
So, which of these three methods is the most useful for you? It entirely depends on where you are applying. The best path forward is to:
Ask the admissions office at your preferred MBA program how they compare GMAT scores to GRE scores. Some programs do use the comparison tool, while others don’t. The easiest way to find out is to ask!
Take a look at the median test scores at your target MBA programs to compare who actually gets in. That should give you a sense of how your GRE or GMAT scores stack up against those of your fellow MBA applicants.
Learn more about the GMAT and GRE: