Applicants to the Olin Business School submitted GRE scores more than peers vying for acceptance to seven other top business schools that now accept the test, according to a recent study.

Business schools typically accept the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is often used for general graduate school admission.

Although many business schools have started accepting the GRE, most applicants still submit GMAT scores.

A recent study conducted by Bloomberg Business Week concluded that 7 percent of applicants to Olin submitted GRE scores.

Other institutions in the survey included Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and New York universities, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The change reflects the fact that business schools are also looking to accept applicants with more diverse backgrounds.

Olin offers collaborative graduate programs, including one with the engineering school and another in public health through the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

Applicants who are not specifically aiming at MBA programs, but also other graduate schools, generally choose to take the GRE test.

“We have a lot of students who have experiences in art and sciences, engineering and social work,” said Joe Fox, associate dean and director of Olin’s MBA programs. “If the students have already taken the GRE, there is no real value for us to make them take another test.”

Still, most applicants to MBA programs choose to take the GMAT over the GRE.

At Harvard, 5 percent of the applicants submitted GRE scores. At the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, only 1 percent of applicants submitted GRE scores.

Olin began accepting GRE scores last year. According to Fox, it is likely that MBA programs will become more comfortable with viewing the GRE and GMAT as equivalent and will move toward accepting the GRE in lieu of the GMAT.

Testing is not the only important factor in the admissions process, however.

“We view the applicant’s four-year academic record, extra-curricular as well as his or her experience outside school. We also have interviews for each applicant to see their communicating skills and team work ability,” Fox said.

Amy Heath-Carpentier, a pre-graduate-school adviser at the Washington University Career Center, encourages applicants to take the test that they feel most comfortable with.

“I would suggest applicants go through the practice tests for both [the] GRE and GMAT and see which one they score better at and feel more comfortable with,” Heath-Carpentier said.