????60年前的1954年2月6日，1,000多名考生坐在全世界100個(gè)不同的地方，首次參加一項(xiàng)考試。它正是GMAT（管理學(xué)研究生入學(xué)考試）的前身，也就是全球頂級(jí)商學(xué)院事實(shí)上的入學(xué)考試。

????當(dāng)時(shí)，1,291名潛在學(xué)生只需支付10美元的筆試費(fèi)。考試只在5個(gè)國家進(jìn)行，每年只考3次，考生必須等待3至4個(gè)星期，才能拿到成績。那時(shí)候，只有54家商學(xué)院接受GMAT成績。

????今天，計(jì)算機(jī)自適應(yīng)GMAT考試的費(fèi)用已經(jīng)漲到了250美元，如果考生希望考試成績被遞送給5所以上的院校，他或她就需要為每份成績單額外支付28美元。113個(gè)國家的600多個(gè)考點(diǎn)全年無休地進(jìn)行這項(xiàng)考試。焦慮不安的考生在5到7天內(nèi)就能收到成績單，全球超過2,100所院校現(xiàn)在把GMAT成績作為入學(xué)條件之一。

????這項(xiàng)考試爆炸式增長本身映射出了 MBA學(xué)位一路看漲、蔚為壯觀的受歡迎程度。MBA學(xué)位可以說是戰(zhàn)后最成功的教育產(chǎn)品。這頂文憑的繁榮使得GMAT考試成為一款熱門“產(chǎn)品”。

????對(duì)于GMAT考試的監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)研究生入學(xué)管理委員會(huì)( Graduate Management Admission Council，下文簡稱GMAC)而言，這項(xiàng)考試的利潤率甚至超過了蘋果公司(Apple)的iPad平板電腦和iPhone手機(jī)。GMAC表示，它在2012年收取了8,770萬美元的考試費(fèi)，但美國國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)的文件顯示，GMAC管理這項(xiàng)考試的成本開支僅為4,570萬美元。GMAT考試的實(shí)際毛利率大約為47.9%，比蘋果公司目前的毛利率高出近11個(gè)百分點(diǎn)。

????總收入方面，GMAC報(bào)告稱，它2012年的“項(xiàng)目服務(wù)收入”為9,270萬美元，較一年前的8,850萬美元有所增長。另外，僅“投資收益”一項(xiàng)就達(dá)到了3,070萬美元。加入其它收入項(xiàng)，GMAC在2012年的總收入為1.251億美元，較一年前的9,270萬美元大幅增長。盡管GMAC是一家沒有納稅義務(wù)的非營利性組織，但在支付了全年的所有費(fèi)用后，它的賬面還剩余高達(dá)2,240萬美元的現(xiàn)金。

????GMAC表示，管理這項(xiàng)考試的費(fèi)用不包括考試設(shè)計(jì)、成績報(bào)告、考生住宿和運(yùn)營考生報(bào)名網(wǎng)站的成本。“這些都是交付考試所固有的活動(dòng)，并不在經(jīng)營費(fèi)用的核算范圍內(nèi)，”GMAC企業(yè)傳播事務(wù)副總裁里奇?達(dá)馬托說。“此外，還有一項(xiàng)小開支與履行我們作為一家非營利性組織的責(zé)任有關(guān)，即推動(dòng)作為一個(gè)研究領(lǐng)域的管理學(xué)研究生教育。”

????考試的管理費(fèi)用也不包括這個(gè)組織預(yù)算的另一項(xiàng)大開支：GMAC員工的薪金和福利。2012年，GMAC發(fā)放的總薪酬高達(dá)2,590萬美元，而它的員工團(tuán)隊(duì)其實(shí)僅有141人。

????這家非營利性組織給予其最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者非常豐厚的薪酬。去年12月31日卸任的GMAC總裁大衛(wèi)?威爾遜2012年獲得的工資、福利和遞延報(bào)酬合計(jì)1,914,845美元，是哈佛商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)院長尼廷?諾里亞2011年薪酬（66.2萬美元）的3倍以上。事實(shí)上，威爾遜的薪酬遠(yuǎn)高于教育考試服務(wù)中心(Educational Testing Service，下文簡稱ETS)總裁庫爾特?德格拉夫在同一年的收入（130萬美元），而ETS的總收入要比GMAC多8倍。

????此外，至少還有15位官員獲得了25萬美元以上的年薪。GMAC提交給政府的文件顯示，執(zhí)行副總裁瑪格麗特?約布斯特掙了539,058美元。負(fù)責(zé)全球市場開發(fā)的執(zhí)行副總裁朱莉婭?泰勒拿到了562,378美元。首席信息官羅伯特?羅斯克蘭斯賺了465,327美元。共有9位GMAC官員獲得了6位數(shù)的獎(jiǎng)金，其中包括獲得44.8萬美元獎(jiǎng)金的威爾遜，因745,485美元延付薪酬的緣故，他的2012年度薪酬上漲得尤為厲害。

????GMAC辯稱，這些高薪并沒有脫離類似組織支付給最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的薪資水平。“我們是一家懷抱非營利性使命、渴望創(chuàng)造收入的全球性企業(yè)，”達(dá)馬托說。“如今的招聘市場競爭激烈，我們希望招募而來的高管‘構(gòu)建’一家公司，而不僅僅是為一家現(xiàn)有的組織招募員工。”

????Sixty years ago on Feb. 6, 1954, slightly more than 1,000 people sat down in 100 different places around the world to take a test for the very first time. It was the precursor to the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), the de facto entry exam to the best business schools in the world.

????Back then, the 1,291 prospective students paid just $10 each to take the paper-and-pencil exam. It was offered only three times a year in five countries, and candidates had to wait three to four weeks to get their results. Only 54 business schools accepted GMAT scores at the time.

????Today, the computer-adaptive GMAT costs $250 a pop and if a test taker wants the results sent to more than five schools, there's an additional $28 charge for each score report. The test is offered year round at more than 600 sites in 113 countries. Anxiety-ridden test takers receive their scores within five to seven days, and more than 2,100 schools all over the globe now require the GMAT for admission.

????The growth of the test itself mirrors the spectacular rise in popularity of the MBA degree, arguably the most successful educational product of the post-war period. The credential's prosperity has made the GMAT a hot "product."

????For the organization that oversees the test, the Graduate Management Admission Council, profit margins on the exam are even better than the margins Apple (AAPL) makes on the iPad and the iPhone. GMAC says it collected $87.7 million in fees in 2012, yet it cost the organization only $45.7 million to administer the test, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The effective gross profit on the actual exam is roughly 47.9%, nearly 11 points higher than Apple's current gross profit margins.

????All told, GMAC reported that its "program service revenue" came to $92.7 million in 2012, up from $88.5 million a year earlier. The organization's "investment income" alone amounted to another $30.7 million. When you kick in other revenue, GMAC recorded total revenue in 2012 of $125.1 million, up from $92.7 million a year earlier. Though it is a non-profit and does not have to pay taxes, the organization reported a tidy $22.4 million in cash after paying all its expenses for the year.

????GMAC says the expenses to administer its test do not include such things as test design, score reporting, test taker accommodations, and the cost of running its website, where test takers register for the exam. "These are all activities that are intrinsic to the delivery of the test and are not covered in those operating expenses," says Rich D'Amato, vice president of corporate communications at GMAC. "In addition, there's [a] smaller expense group around fulfilling our responsibility -- part of our being a nonprofit -- to invest in [the] promotion of graduate management education as a field of study."

????The reported expenses on the test do not include another very big line item in the organization's budget: its salaries and benefits to GMAC staffers. In 2012, GMAC's total compensation amounted to $25.9 million for a staff that numbered only 141 people.

????At the very top of the non-profit are some very generously paid people. David Wilson, who until Dec. 31 of last year was president of the GMAC, was paid $1,914,845 in salary, benefits, and deferred compensation in 2012, more than three times the $662,000 that Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria made in 2011. Indeed, Wilson made substantially more than Educational Testing Service President Kurt Landgraf, who was paid $1.3 million in the same year for leading an organization with total revenues that are eight times greater.

????What's more, at least 15 other officials at GMAC make at least a quarter of a million dollars a year in pay. Margaret Jobst, an executive vice president, made $539,058, according to GMAC's government filing. Julia Tyler, an executive vice president for global market development, pulled down $562,378. Robert Rosecrans, chief information officer, made $465,327. In all, six-figure bonuses were paid to nine GMAC officers, including a $448,000 bonus for Wilson, whose 2012 annual compensation was especially inflated due to $745,485 in deferred pay.

????GMAC defends those salaries, saying that they are not out of line with what peer organizations pay their top leaders. "We are a global revenue generating enterprise with a not-for-profit mission," says D'Amato. "We were recruiting to 'build' a company, not just staff an existing organization in a very competitive recruitment market."