Applications to Business School on the Rise

According to a recent report from the Graduate Management Admission Council, 57 per cent of business schools said applications to full time programs increased from last year. Additionally, compared with ten years ago 60 per cent of full time schools report receiving more applications.
For those paying attention to the improvement in the US economy since the recession shouldn’t be surprised. Gregg Shoenfeld, the director of management education research at GMAC noted, “There is a cyclical trend in US application volumes that mirrors the economy. For example, application volumes grew tremendously until the recession, and then we saw a drop.” This may run counter to some common theories that as the economy worsens students head to school since their career may hit a roadblock and feel like it is the right time to escape from the job market for two years and tune up their resume, then hit the job market hopefully as it rebounds.
What does this mean for applicants? Well obviously as the number of applications goes up, the more competitive the process becomes. Schools will have far more choice when it comes to who it admits and who it turns down. Students that felt they were shoo-ins for a top ten program might have to make sure they have a good set of “safety” schools where they can also apply. Also, scholarships will become scarcer as schools have more opportunities to invest their dollars amongst more students. Additionally, schools might look to increase the cost of tuition as demand increases and expect students to shoulder a heavier debt after graduation.
There was plenty of other interesting news from the 2015 Application Trends Survey:
• Programs in the Northeast are actually seeing declining applications, more so than any region in the US. 52 per cent of programs in the area reported a decrease in application volume compared to only 44 per cent of schools reporting an increase in applications.
• Flexible and online MBA programs applications grew this year and remained flat for executive and part-time MBA programs compared with 2014.
• There is increased demand for specialized Masters programs in Finance, Marketing, Communications and Accounting.
• Demand for schools in the South is growing the fastest out of all regions in the US. This group of schools had the largest percentage of schools reporting an increase in applications (68 per cent of programs).
• Application volume is up in the West. More full-time MBA programs report increases (64 per cent) rather than decreases (32 per cent) in application volume.
• 50 per cent of online MBA programs in the United States report increased application volume in 2015 compared with 43 per cent last year.
The Application Trends Survey is the 16th annual survey by the GMAC. The survey looks at data from 641 graduate business programs at 306 universities around the world. Included in the survey are 426 MBA programs, 196 specialized business master’s programs and 18 doctoral programs. Schools are located in 42 states in the US and 35 countries.