The conversations were necessarily dominated by talk of the recession, of course—the topic du jour across graduate management education today. As just one example of the financial storm’s impact, the recession has “changed the way we teach our classes,” says Kenneth A. Kavajecz, associate dean of masters and undergraduate programs at the Wisconsin School of Business. In his finance classes for MBAs, for example, Kavajecz says “we’ve spent a good portion of the fall semester talking about what it means when Lehman and Bear go down.” The school has sponsored an extensive series of seminars to help students understand different dimensions of today’s economy.

Applications

One trend that will come as no surprise to our industry is that, in general, applications for business school are up.

“We’re up—way up. As in 70-85 percent up,” reports Richard M. Durand, dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, DC. Durand says one reason the school is seeing more interest in its full-time MBA program is that students like AU’s offering of select dual degree tracks. Through electives, for example, an MBA finance major can also develop a track in accounting. Dual degrees with other AU schools, such as international service, are also attractive.

Applications for AU’s part-time programs are also up. One factor in that trend, Durand says, is a sense that people feel a “need to have the academic credentials for change.” Durand also sees greater interest in AU’s specialized master’s degrees. Growth in the school’s finance master’s, for example, has become more selective, as measured by higher GMAT scores.

Like his peers, Durand has his eye on student yield, acknowledging that even with an increase in applications “the proof of the pudding” will come in the form of “people actually putting deposits down and showing up.”

Applications for the full-time and evening MBA programs are also up at the Wisconsin School of Business. “We’re seeing very good candidates,” Kavajecz says. Interest in the school’s program in accountancy is very strong, he reports, matching strong interest in accountants by employers. Even in the school’s finance and real estate tracks—two areas deeply affected by the recession—Kavajecz says “we’re doing reasonably well” in terms of student interest.

At the same time, Kavajecz says, the executive MBA at Wisconsin is not seeing a robust flow of applications. He believes that’s due, in part, by the recession, leading candidates for the program to focus all of their energies on their daily work challenge.

Applications “continue strong” at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, according to the school’s dean, Roger Martin, but not dramatically so. “The notion that there would be a huge ramp-up because people are fleeing the market does not seem to be the case,” Martin notes.

At the University of California-Davis, applications for the full-time MBA program in the Graduate School of Management are up 45 percent, according to the school’s dean, Nicole Woolsey Biggart. Early applications suggest, though, that interest in the school’s part-time MBA in Sacramento and San Francisco is essentially flat—a trend that Biggart says is at least partially due to a drop in company subsidies for students.

In a 2008 report, Tulane University President Scott S. Cowen pegged damage to the school from Hurricane Katrina at more than $650 million. The recession, therefore, constitutes a second major storm. Despite the double hit, Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business can still point to many signs of success. Angelo DeNisi, dean of the Freeman School, reports that applications for its MBA program are up, and that there is even stronger interest in the school’s specialized master’s degrees.

Career Placement and Recruiting

All of the deans we spoke with acknowledged that helping students find jobs in today’s economy is an uphill slog. “I’m investing heavily in corporate recruiting,” Durand says, indicating that the Kogod School is devoting more time from staff at all levels in promoting the school’s program to corporate representatives. At the same time, AU has added career services staff.

To help students find jobs, Wisconsin is investing more time in helping companies learn how the school’s specialization-focused curriculum, started in 2004, differs from general management programs. Kavajecz says the recession actually provides an entrée for Wisconsin to pitch the value of its graduates to a new batch of companies that have been forced to think differently about their business.

UC Davis’ Biggart notes a general decline in the number of internships that are available to students, and adds that such experiences result less frequently in job offers. “In terms of both recruiting and placement,” she says, “we’re going to have to work much harder on both ends of that operation. I don’t think we can expect an employer to interview students and take a bunch away. I think it’s going to be much more ones and twos and threes.”

Student placements in jobs are holding at last year’s rates at the University of Toronto, Roger Martin says, and the number of corporate recruiters coming to campus is also about the same. Still, Martin says, “we suspect that some of them will end up not hiring as many, or maybe just coming on campus and not hiring at all.” Rotman is urging students to think more broadly about their careers, he says, and is suggesting that “you may have to take an extra step to get to the job you really want.”

For more on this subject, see the related article, Helping Students Find Jobs.

Fundraising

All of the deans we spoke with said the dire world economy has put a damper on fundraising at business schools. “Dried up terribly” is how Durand at AU describes it. “Our large gifts have slowed to a trickle at best.” Durand adds that he is spending as much time on the fundraising road as before, but now with an emphasis on “maintaining relationships and making new friends.”

While she noted that UC Davis was about to announce a new major gift, Biggart also said that some donors are asking to spread their donations over a longer time span.

Looking beyond the current year, it’s too early to tell what impact the recession will continue to have on fundraising at the University of Toronto, Martin says

Cost Containment

Like the other schools we talked with, the management school at UC Davis is keeping a careful eye on expenses. “We look very carefully at everything we do,” including leases and vendor agreements, Biggart says.

To some extent beholden to funding allocations from the state legislature, Wisconsin is not filling some open positions and has trimmed some expenses, including travel. At the same time, Kavajecz says, funds from a well-publicized $85 million gift from 13 alumni in 2008 will “provide us with a lot of dry powder in the year or two to come.”

Financial Aid

Helping ensure that students find the money for their programs is also of concern. “Where do MBA students go out and borrow money now for tuition?” AU’s Richard Durand asks. “I don’t think we have answers for that yet.” See the related brief, Schools Help Students Stretch Finances.

Faculty Recruiting

The recession notwithstanding, many of the deans we talked with are actively recruiting faculty. “We’re going to hire as many as eight or nine,” Martin reports. Despite its overall belt-tightening, UC Davis has hired three new faculty members this year and may extend an offer to a fourth. AU is hiring, too.

Looking to the Future

Beyond recruiting, evidence of other forward-thinking strategies abounds. Martin would like to grow its MBA program by 50 percent. Rotman is also working to build its international profile

American University, meanwhile, is investing to strengthen its student services and co-curricular activities. Such programs help students develop professional skills, Durand says—adding, “they also build happy customers.”

At Tulane, DeNisi says the Freeman School will continue to extend its already strong connections with business schools in Latin America and around the world to become even more global.

Looking beyond the recession, Durand says that his schools and its peers “really do have to focus on what we do well” and jettison components that no longer fit the school’s mission and business models. “We have to be well managed over the next few years in order to maintain our growth and serve our stakeholders.”