Plunge In Interest In Two-Year MBAs

GMAT testInterest among GMAT test takers in applying to two-year MBA programs took a precipitous nose dive last year to one of the lowest levels in many years, according to newly acquired data from the Graduate Management Admission Council.

In 2013, the number of GMAT test takers who sent their score reports to two-year MBA programs plunged 29.1% to 69,465 from a peak of 97,674 candidates in the recession-plagued year of 2009. Even worse, last year’s year-over-year fall was simply staggering: a 21.7% drop from 88,700 in 2012.

DROP IN INTEREST STEEPEST AMONG U.S. GMAT TEST TAKERS

The fall in interest, moreover, has occurred among both U.S. and non-U.S. test takers of the GMAT, though the decline is much steeper for U.S. candidates. Last year, only 35,953 of the prospective students who took the GMAT exam wanted their scores sent to a two-year program, a whopping 33.7% decline from 2009 and a 24.4% drop from the previous year.

Among non-U.S. test takers, last year numbers—33,512—were 20.1% off 2009, when 41,940 asked GMAT to send their reports to two-year programs. Most of the decline occurred last year when the numbers plummeted by 18.5% from 2012 when 41,119 students sent their scores to two-year MBA programs.

Admission directors at many of the most highly selective business schools are not seeing the kind of falloff in applications suggested by the overall data. A case in point is Harvard Business School where applications to its MBA program last year increased by 3.9% to 9,315 candidates and by 7.6% from 2008. In fact, eight of the Top 10 schools had lower acceptance rates last year than in 2012 largely because of application increases.

‘IT’S AN ALARMING TREND’

As a result, many admission officials believe that the decline is being disproportionately felt by second- and third-tier MBA programs. Even so, the overall decline in interest is worrying some administrators and reinforces a strategic decision by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management to put greater focus on its one-year MBA program and to slightly shrink enrollment in its two-year offering.

“It’s an alarming trend,” says Dawna Clarke, admissions director for Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. She attributes the falloff to “the proliferation of so many other programs. Since the financial collapse, many schools have begun to offer specialized master’s programs in business. Those programs have really mushroomed.”

GMAT two-year data

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