Numbers may open the door, but stories are what let you in.
There’s a peculiar kind of loneliness that comes with standardised testing. The hours spent watching the clock tick down in sterile rooms. The mechanical recalculations of target scores. The haunting certainty that a three-digit number is the oracle of your future.
For those navigating the gauntlet of MBA admissions—particularly international students—this question looms like a border guard with a clipboard: GMAT or GRE?
But the truth is both simpler and more radical.
It doesn’t matter as much as you think.
The real test—unspoken, often invisible—is how well you can sell your story.
The Great Score Obsession
Let’s begin with the obvious. The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are two of the most common standardised tests accepted by top MBA programs, including Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Wharton, MIT Sloan, and INSEAD. The GMAT, long considered the gold standard for business schools, is designed specifically for MBA aspirants. The GRE, originally tailored for a wider range of graduate programs, is increasingly accepted by B-schools worldwide.
So, which is better?
Online forums are filled with agony-laced threads comparing quant difficulty, verbal nuances, and the abstract geometry questions that haunt test-takers in their sleep. Consultants peddle “proprietary” methods for hacking the integrated reasoning section. Students spend months preparing for the “right” test—often taking both, just to keep their options open.
And yet, when you speak to actual admissions officers, a different narrative emerges. One that has less to do with equations and more to do with emotion. Less about percentile rankings, and more about fit.
What the Admissions Committee is Really Reading
Imagine an admissions officer at Columbia Business School or London Business School, scanning through hundreds of files in a single week. All of them blur into a blur of 720 GMATs, 165 GRE quants, and bullet points that begin with “led,” “managed,” “executed.”
And then one file catches their eye.
Not because the test score is exceptional. But because the essay begins with a childhood memory of selling second-hand books on a train station platform in Chennai, and ends with the applicant negotiating a clean energy deal in Lagos.
The story sings. It lingers.
Because admissions officers—like all of us—are drawn not to data points, but to human arcs.
In fact, in a 2022 GMAC survey of admissions officers from top B-schools, more than 70% cited personal essays and letters of recommendation as equal to or more important than test scores. They know scores can reflect test-taking ability, tutoring access, and privilege. What they want is self-awareness, clarity, resilience—and something they call “voice.”
The Trap of Global South Perfectionism
International applicants, particularly from the Global South—India, China, Nigeria, Brazil—often fall into a specific trap: believing that test scores will compensate for everything.
This belief is not irrational. In countries where education is a zero-sum game, where a single exam can determine your life’s trajectory (think: IIT-JEE, NEET, Gaokao), it’s understandable that numbers feel like the only reliable currency.
But the MBA world runs on a different economy.
Admissions committees at Kellogg, Tuck, or HEC Paris aren’t just filling classrooms with 750 scorers. They’re building ecosystems—of personalities, perspectives, and potential. A 680 GMAT with a compelling essay about building a business in a refugee camp may outshine a 770 with a generic story about being a corporate analyst in a Tier 1 city.
The key isn’t to erase your numbers. It’s to contextualise them.
The Myth of the Ideal Candidate
There is no such thing as the perfect MBA candidate.
There are, however, well-packaged imperfections.
Admissions officers at NYU Stern or Rotman are not looking for superhero résumés. They’re looking for growth. For honesty. For vulnerability.
One applicant might discuss being laid off during the pandemic and starting a local co-op in her hometown. Another might write about failing out of their first year in university and returning stronger, only to later lead an NGO in Eastern Europe.
Both of these stories tell the same truth: this person has lived. They have fallen. And more importantly, they’ve reflected.
This is what top programs mean when they talk about authenticity. It’s not some fluffy buzzword. It’s an antidote to the robotic language that plagues too many applications.
Reframing the “Safe” Path
Many international students apply to business school with a checklist: 700+ GMAT? Check. Three years at a Big Four? Check. Recommendations from a senior VP? Check.
But here’s the twist: the very things that feel like strengths often blur you into sameness.
One former Stanford GSB admissions officer noted that “too many candidates from consulting or finance have indistinguishable stories. It’s the ones who show why they chose those paths—and how they want to grow—that stand out.”
Your story doesn’t need to be dramatic. It needs to be intentional.
Did you choose the GRE because it played to your verbal strength, and you wanted to highlight your communication skills? Say that.
Did you overcome a test anxiety disorder to get a 650 on the GMAT? That’s worth more than silence.
Even how you talk about your choice of test reveals your mindset—and mindset is everything.
The MBA as a Storytelling Test
Let’s flip the lens.
What is an MBA, if not one long storytelling exercise?
In class, you analyse case studies—stories of companies facing dilemmas. You debate leadership styles, craft marketing narratives, present business plans. You pitch yourself at career fairs. You learn how to negotiate not just deals, but impressions.
And it all begins with the application—your first story, your first pitch, your first boardroom.
Harvard Business School asks: “What more would you like us to know?” Wharton gives you space to discuss “who you are.” These are not trick questions. They are mirrors. And how you fill that reflection may matter more than any percentile ranking ever could.
Practical Advice, But Make It Soulful
Does this mean test scores don’t matter? Of course not.
Top schools still value intellectual rigour. If you’re aiming for MIT Sloan or Booth, a strong quant score helps. If you’re pivoting to finance or analytics, showing numerical fluency matters. And yes, there are thresholds below which some schools may hesitate.
But don’t obsess at the cost of forgetting your voice.
Instead:
- Pick the test that suits your thinking: GRE for verbal thinkers and non-traditional backgrounds, GMAT for business-specific quant.
- Don’t retake endlessly. One or two attempts are fine. But use the rest of your time to refine your essays and goals.
- Contextualise your score. Use optional essays or interviews to explain low scores if needed, but don’t lead with apologies.
- Craft your narrative. Your story is not your CV. It’s your why. Why now? Why you? Why this school?
Remember: every MBA essay is just a question in disguise—Do we want to sit next to this person in class?
The Real Test
The real test is not verbal or quant. It is how well you’ve metabolised your life. How honestly you can distil chaos into clarity. How clearly you can say: This is who I am. This is who I am becoming. And this is the table I want to sit at.
Because that’s what an MBA is: a table.
And long after your GMAT or GRE score fades into archived PDFs, what will matter is how you showed up—human, whole, and ready.