The Top MBA Admissions Trends

business school admissions trends: declining applications?

B-Schools Are Using This Approach To Make Up For Declining Applications

With MBA applications in decline, b-schools have focused their efforts with a unique approach: getting classified as STEM-designated programs.

The approach, according to Quartz, is an effort to attract more international students.

“International students enrolled in STEM-designated programs, in acknowledgment of a focus on science, technology, engineering or math, can remain in the US for up to three years under an optional practical training (OPT) extension, whereas F-1 students in non-STEM programs are legally bound to leave the country a year after graduating,” Michelle Cheng, a reporter at Quartz, writes. “Ultimately, the extra time in the US gives students multiple chances to apply for the H-1B employment visa lottery.”

FIGHT FOR STEM DESIGNATION

Back in 2016, the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Madison was the first b-school to get STEM designation from the Department of Homeland Security.

“It’s a reflection of how important we think it is for our Wisconsin MBA students to develop skills in information technology and analytics as we prepare them for supply chain leadership roles,” Wisconsin professor Greg DeCroix said in 2016.

Since then, schools like Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management have joined the trend of trying to get STEM designation, according to Quartz.

WHY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?

There are a few reasons that may explain why b-schools are fighting hard to attract international students.

Perhaps the biggest reason? International students pay—often times at full price.

“[Business] schools are scrambling trying to find a way to patch that hole in the revenue because the foreign students make up a substantial amount of the money,” Jonathan Wasden, a Washington, DC-based lawyer whose practice focuses on business immigration issues, tells Quartz.

Sources: Quartz, Poets & Quants

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