The MBA application process is starting to change, with the GRE gaining ground on the GMAT, earlier deadlines, and some schools experimenting with audio and video.

Change is a dominant feature of business schools. Curricula change, new courses are added or dropped every year, professors come and go, and entire programs are born, evolve, or die. But until recently one thing that hasn’t changed much in many years is the application process: A paper application, set deadlines, interviews, and recommendations are still its component parts. Today, though, that process is beginning to undergo a transformation.

Some applications have become more inclusive by accepting GRE and IELTS scores, in addition to the more traditional GMAT and TOEFL scores. Some schools have made their first-round deadlines earlier, so they could provide decisions to applicants in mid-December and keep up with a quicker-paced world. The most compelling change, however, is the inclusion of video or audio components as a way to see the real applicant and his or her creativity.

This evolution is a solution to two problems facing admissions committees: an antiquated admissions process that is out of touch with the lives of applicants and overly packaged applications that lack substance, the result of coaching and consulting run amok, say business school admissions committee directors.

At the Anderson School, the most recent applicants had the option of answering one essay question in audio form, and more than 70% did. The school is now giving students the choice of responding to one of the essay questions with an audio or video clip in the hope that such responses will be more revealing than written answers.

The possibilities of what the future MBA application will look like are endless. Perhaps there will come a day when admissions committee members and applicants see each other via satellite and talk through the essay questions, says Shores. Martinelli says she hopes for an application process that is closer to what the real world of business is like. She would like to see, for example, applicants working on a case as part of a team. Thinking about what it will be like to receive applications on an iPad or e-reader is interesting, Granada says.

Whatever the future holds for MBA applications, technology will play a part. “We think this is where the market is headed,” says Leila Pirnia, founder of MBA Podcaster in Los Angeles. “[These other media] make an applicant three-dimensional and could allow admissions committees to see if the applicant is a true leader.” If executed well, a video can give an applicant the edge. “A video brings the applicant to life,” she adds. “You don’t feel like you’re telling the full story when you write something on paper.”

Source: Business Week, by Francesca Di Meglio.