At the same time, 71% of traditional full-time MBA programs received applications from candidates who were better qualified academically than last year.

Analysts at GMAC believe that application growth may not yet have reached its peak. Economic changes and patterns in GMAT test taking suggest that the highest growth in application volume may occur next year, after which a slowdown may be likely. The number of GMAT tests taken from July 2007 to July 2008 increased by 12 percent.

In early August, GMAC President David A. Wilson told The Economist that “we’re predicting a very strong applications market through 2010.”

Demand in 2008 was slightly less robust for part-time and executive MBA programs. In 2008, 60 percent of part-time programs reported an increase in application volume, down from 69 percent the previous year. Among EMBA programs, the average number of applications declined by 4 percent.

Following a strong year in 2007, application volume for full-time MBA programs this year reached near-record levels. Data just released in the GMAC 2008 Application Trends Survey show that 77 percent of full-time MBA programs saw application volume rise in 2008, up from 64 percent last year—the highest proportion of increases in the past five years and the second highest since the inception of the survey eight years ago.

Applications from women tell a mixed story. While overall the average number of applications to full-time MBA programs rose by 10 percent in 2008, the average number of applications to full-time programs from women grew by just 8.5 percent. Applications from women to full-time programs constituted 30 percent of the total, up from 27 percent in 2007.

Women showed a stronger interest in part-time programs. While the average number of applications to part-time MBA programs as a whole was essentially unchanged in 2008, for example, the average number of applications from women grew more than 13 percent. Interviewed about these data in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Wilson observed that business schools now offer more flexible part-time, evening, morning, and weekend graduate management programs, in part in response to increased demand from women.

In the survey, 60 percent of full-time MBA programs said they made a particular effort to attract women in 2008, up from 56 percent in 2007. Among part-time programs, 46 percent said they conducted special outreach programs aimed at women in 2008, a significant increase from the 29 percent who said they did so in 2007.

In terms of recruiting among underrepresented groups to U.S. schools, only 10 percent of applicants to full-time MBA and 8 percent of those who applied to specialized master’s programs were Hispanic, Latino, African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaska Native. Part-time MBA programs in the United States reported the greatest proportion of applications from ethnic minority groups (18 percent), closely followed by EMBA programs (17 percent).

Where are students coming from? Applications to master’s in finance programs showed the most international diversity among candidates, both in terms of applicant citizenship and location. Part-time MBA programs, closely followed by EMBA programs, received the greatest proportion of applications from home-country candidates.

Business schools use a variety of financial incentives to attract and enroll the right candidates. Estimating the availability of scholarship funding for the first time, the survey found that the average amount of money available for MBA scholarships in 2008 was more than half a million U.S. dollars ($668,635) per program. The study also found that a great majority of scholarships offered to full-time MBA candidates and to specialized master’s program candidates were merit-based (84 percent and 99 percent, respectively).

Social and economic factors that play into the rise in applications for full-time MBA programs include the global economic slowdown and the continuous process of globalization, the report states. The report says that while interest in full-time graduate management programs tends to grow during times of economic turmoil, downturns in the economy can dampen interest in part-time programs because employers are likely to cut funding for education assistance programs. “This means that candidates may need to bear all expenses pursuing education part time,” the report says, “which is becoming increasingly difficult as the cost of living continues to elevate.”

Conducted annually since 2000, the GMAC Application Trends Survey gauges the demand for graduate management education and provides information on the composition of the applicant pool, special outreach programs, acceptance and enrollment rates, enrollment structure, and incoming class size.

The ninth Application Trends Survey was conducted from May 28 to July 2, 2008. Two hundred seventy-three graduate business schools and faculties submitted data for 521 graduate management programs. Overall, 364 programs from 181 responding schools were in the United States, 86 programs from 52 schools were in Europe, and 71 programs from 40 responding schools were in other world regions. In addition to receiving copies of the survey report and its accompanying Comprehensive Data Report, graduate business programs that participate in the survey receive individualized benchmarking reports that compare their responses with aggregate responses from peer programs.