Five of the top 10 global MBA programs are now accepting GRE scores in addition to the GMAT from prospective students, and there are now over 190 business schools around the world who accept the GRE, including Harvard Business School.

With the job market still waiting to see the light of day, the class of 2009 is eyeing graduate school as the next logical step in their career progression as their graduation date approaches. And along with these soon to be graduates, many recent grads who are either out of work or looking to get a leg up on their competition are also signing up to take the GRE.

In order to apply into an MBA program, most schools require the GMAT, not the GRE. The GMAT is specific in scoring a student based on their management skills that are learned both through work experience and school, while the GRE covers a range of subjects that are learned at the undergraduate level. It looks as if these programs could be accepting the GRE in anticipation of more students applying right out of college or with little work experience.

This leads us to wonder, between the economy and more programs accepting the GRE, what will this do to the value of an MBA degree?

Tara Nordstrom, a marketing professional, has been in the work force for nearly three years and is looking to take the GRE in hopes of getting into a management program. While Tara agrees that more and more students are looking to further their education, she doesn’t believe it will devalue her degree.

“There is still a lot of work in order to get an MBA- that doesn’t change,” said Tara.

She believes that even if the new acceptance of GRE gives more undergrads a chance to continue their education, the lack of real world experience will hurt them in the long run. Internships help, but a few years on the job can make a world of a difference in the rough job market.

“Once they’re out of school with an MBA in hand, they’re still where they started after their undergraduate,” said Tara.

It is true that an MBA is usually sought after by those with some real world experience, whether or not it includes business or management. But the economy and job market can close a lot of doors for people. Professionals, who are looking to get an MBA after beefing up their resume for a few years, should expect younger classmates to be alongside them as graduate school is seen as a more promising post-graduation path.

Personally, I have told many undergrads to think about graduate school before spending months searching CareerBuilder for their big break. The rise of graduate school applicants was going to happen with or without the downfall of the economy. For our parents, going to college was a privilege. For our generation, it’s a necessity.  And there’s a good chance that soon graduate school will become a necessity as well.

What will make someone an ideal hire in the future is not only a degree, but a diverse resume that includes graduate level education and a few years of work experience. After all, the reason for more management schools accepting GRE scores is to gain more diverse students, not to make it easier to slide into just any program.

As for Tara, her own reasons for going back to school are to “develop an edge”, not because “everyone and their mother is [now going back, too].”

What’s most important, though, is that an education is only worth something if there is real world experience to back it up.  “When you become a bookworm and all you do is study, you aren’t street smart,” said Tara.

**To check out MBA programs that are accepting GRE scores, click here.

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