BOOM: Applications Skyrocket At The World’s MBA Programs

Apps are booming to graduate business programs in a way that makes even the Covid-19 surge pale in comparison.

According to data released today (October 23) by the Graduate Management Admission Council, total applications to graduate B-school programs in 2024 increased an impressive 12% from 2023 to 2024 — a sharp reversal from two straight years of declines that followed the pandemic-fueled boom of 2020-2021.

And it was the flagship programs that led the way, with 80% of schools reporting growth in their two-year MBA programs and 64% reporting growth in one-year MBAs.

BIG TURNAROUNDS AT THE TOP U.S. MBA PROGRAMS

GMAC CEO Joy Jones credits the boom in B-school interest to the schools’ “efforts to continue innovating with new technologies, new delivery tactics, and new ways of operating that satisfy the latest interests and needs of students and their future employers”

“This year’s record growth in applications hints at a pendulum swing toward graduate business education, especially staple programs like full-time MBAs and accounting and management master’s degrees,” says Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC. “While the phenomenon could give proof to the countercyclical trend long observed between interest in graduate business school and the strength of the economy, I would give much credit to global business schools and their tremendous efforts to continue innovating with new technologies, new delivery tactics, and new ways of operating that satisfy the latest interests and needs of students and their future employers.”

Poets&Quants has been reporting this fall that major U.S. and global schools are giddy with the flood of MBA apps. Among M7 schools, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania’s 2023-2024 MBA app total of 7,322 missed being a school record by just 16 apps while representing an 18% bounce-back from the previous cycle, and Harvard Business School saw a 21% increase in apps. Stanford Graduate School of Business reports an 18% jump in apps, and MIT Sloan School of Management saw a 16% increase that allowed the M7 school to enroll a school record 49% women and a class that set a new school record for undergraduate GPA (3.7). Northwestern Kellogg School of Management saw a 23% jump in applications to the full-time MBA program, which amounts to a nearly 1,000-app increase given the school’s 4,316 apps in 2022-2023. Though Kellogg does not disclose its app total, based on the 23% figure that means it received in the neighborhood of 5,300 apps in 2023-2024, which would make it the school’s most successful cycle on record.

Other top B-schools that have reported their class profile data include:

• Yale School of Management apps were up 21.5%
• Dartmouth Tuck School of Business was up 36%
• NYU Stern School of Business saw an amazing 48% jump in apps
• Duke Fuqua School of Business was up nearly 16% to an all-time app record, enabling the school to enroll 53% women this fall
• The Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis doubled its apps
• Michigan Ross School of Business, one of the leading public B-schools in the country, was up more than 35%.

Nor was the phenomenon restricted to the U.S.: In Spain, IESE Business School reported record apps, allowing the school to enroll its biggest-ever class and highest-ever percentage of women.

MORE THAN HALF OF PROGRAMS REPORT GROWTH IN APPS FROM WOMEN

GMAC’s latest Applications Trends Survey collected data between June and August 2024 on applications for the 2024-2025 academic year received by 1,090 graduate management programs at nearly 300 business schools across 40 countries around the world. Among its other key findings: Programs with more flexibility are in high demand, with 58% of online programs and 52% of hybrid programs reporting application growth. Roughly two-thirds of online and flexible MBA programs reported growth, too.

Geographically, the U.S. remains among the most-desired study destinations, despite the looming U.S. presidential election and the prospect of a return to power of a historically unpopular Donald Trump; however, GMAC also found that “domestic applications also drove up demand for graduate business education in the U.S., Asia, and Europe — except for the United Kingdom, which witnessed a 45% drop in domestic applications and a 12-point dip in international applications.”

“There is no doubt that high-quality educational offerings are increasing in major markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, giving candidates historically inclined to studying abroad more options and opportunities at home,” says François Ortalo-Magné, professor of management practice and executive dean (external relations) at London Business School. “In this context it is critical for business schools to encourage regional and international mobility and build diverse, multicultural cohorts on campus, knowing that it brings tremendous educational benefits in our classroom, future boardroom, and beyond.”

Women, meanwhile, are flooding B-schools with applications: 55% of programs reported growth in applications from women, a 10-percentage-point jump from last year and the second-largest share of programs reporting increasing applications from women over the past decade.

“I’m excited to see this kind of growth in applications from women,” says Elissa Sangster, CEO of Forté, a long-time GMAC partner organization aiming to build women leadership in business. “I believe in the value of business education and the doors it opens for people, particularly women. As more women invest in themselves through business education, the healthier the pipeline becomes for business leadership, and the more likely we are to close the gender gap.”

Read GMAC’s report on its 2024 Application Trends Survey here.

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