With record numbers of GMAT tests taken and record numbers of GMAT scores sent in the testing year ending June 30, 2009, GMAC’s new World Geographic Trend Report 2005 to 2009 shows that schools outside the United States have become increasingly attractive to prospective business school students. Several key facts tell the story:

• GMAT examinees sent 801,504 score reports to business schools around the world in TY 2009, an increase of more than 225,000 score reports—or some 40 percent—over TY 2005. Significant increases in global testing and a slight increase in the average number of scores sent by examinees (from 2.8 to 3.0) explain the significant uptick.
• The number of GMAT score reports received by business schools located outside the United States has increased more than 90 percent since TY 2005. Scores going to US programs increased 32 percent over the same period.
• Although the majority of score reports are still sent to programs in the United States, the overall proportion sent to the country fell to 78 percent in TY 2009, down from 84 percent in TY 2005 and 88 percent in TY 2000.
• A record 265,613 GMAT exams were taken around the world in TY 2009. For the first time, the majority of exams were taken by non-US citizens. Much of the global growth has occurred since 2006, when GMAC switched to test administrator Pearson VUE, which improved access to the exam worldwide.  

“A key trend in GMAT scores-sending patterns has been the persistent proportion shift away from US programs,” says GMAC senior research analyst Alex Chisholm.

“Nine of the 10 regional citizen groups studied in this year’s World Trend Report sent a lower proportion of their scores to the US in TY2009 compared with TY 2005. And while US examinees still send around 98 percent of their score reports to US schools, the proportion of non-US citizens to do so has fallen from 75 percent in TY2000, to 65 percent in TY2005, to just 59 percent in TY 2009. Because of strong aggregate testing growth over this period, however, the total number of score reports sent to US schools has continued to rise.”

The global destinations to experience the most significant gains in GMAT score reports received over the five-year period were business schools located in India (343%), Singapore (332%), Spain (139%), the United Kingdom (101%), and France (97%), Chisholm reports.

Chisholm says the increases in tests taken and scores sent can largely be attributed to two factors. “First, the increased number schools outside of the US that rely on the GMAT to bring in the best prospective talent,” he says, “and second, the growing international recognition of these schools in the eyes of industry, the media, and ultimately students.”