GMAC Paints Vivid Picture Of The Changing Face Of Biz Ed

GMAC

Work Experience

“The more experience a candidate has, the more likely they are to apply to a professional MBA program type and less likely to apply to a full-time MBA program,” GMAC reports. More than 7 in 10 GMAT score reports that are sent by examinees with more than one year of professional experience go to MBA program types; among examinees with less than four years’ experience, most score reports — 58.5% — are sent to full-time MBA programs. As years of experience increase, fewer score reports are sent to full-time MBA programs, and more go to professional MBA program types.

Candidates with more professional experience tend to have made the decision to pursue GME later in their professional journeys,” GMAC reports, adding that 45% of candidates with seven or more years’ experience say they first considered B-school after more than five years of working. “Candidates with more experience are more likely to consider cost-effective alternatives to GME, like professional certifications or MOOCs. Experienced candidates are more likely to seek flexible program options, like online coursework and weekend or evening scheduling. Overall, the top curricular subjects experienced business school candidates say are a “must- have” in their ideal curriculum are strategy, leadership/change management, and business analytics/data science. Candidates’ interest in co-curricular activities tends to decrease with more years of work experience.”

“Experienced professionals,” GMAC reports, “pursue GME to earn more money and gain more responsibility. Those with seven or more years’ experience tend to be aiming to break into senior- or executive-level positions, while those with less than four years’ experience tend to be focused on gaining responsibilities like managing people and projects.” Since 2013, graduates’ view of the value of their master’s degree has changed little (see table above); however, their rating of the overall ROI has dropped considerably. Those rating as “extremely positive” their GME experience has dropped from 38% to 29%, while “slightly positive” has increased from 21% to 25% and both “slightly negative” and “moderately negative” have gone up.

DON’T MISS AVERAGE GMAT SCORES AT THE TOP 50 B-SCHOOLS and MINORITIES AT THE TOP 25 U.S. MBA PROGRAMS