Graduate business school admission variables and student success

Students who graduate with the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree gain three specific, sought-after benefits: increased salary potential, opportunity for advancement within executive leadership and membership into an elite community of corporate power (Bond, Hildebrandt & Miller, 1984; Judge, Cable, Boudreau & Bretz, 1995; Dichev, 1999; Baruch & Peiperl, 2000). According to Baruch & Peiperl (2000), the goal of MBA programs is to add value to graduates and to make them better managers. In return, a graduate degree in business administration can strongly influence the path to a successful and lucrative career.; Prospective MBA candidates must compete to gain entry into these prestigious graduate business programs. At the same time, educational institutions that grant MBA degrees must determine what selection criteria should be used in determining the competitive admission process.; Admissions committees within graduate business educational institutions try to identify future business leaders. The key purpose of the MBA recruiting, admission, and selection policies is to try to distinguish between those candidates with and those candidates without the potential for success, both inside and beyond the classroom.; To add to existing research and to help identify which criteria are the most effective predictors in the graduate business school admission process, this study described the relationship between graduate business school admission variables and student success.