A Meta-Analysis of the Predictive Validity of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and Undergraduate Grade Point Average (UGPA) for Graduate Student Academic Performance.

Abstract

Considerable debate both within and outside of academic circles surrounds the validity of standardized tests for predicting student performance in graduate business schools. This meta-analysis aggregates the existing literature on the validity of the two most heavily used predictors in business school admissions: the GMAT and undergraduate grade point average. Results based on over 402 independent samples across 64,583 students indicate that the GMAT is a superior predictor to UGPA and that the two combined yield a high level of validity for predicting student performance.