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Did you know that nearly half the people considering graduate business school take two years or more to make the decision to pursue a degree?
That’s a long time to think about going to business school, but thanks to results of a recent GMAC® survey of 10,000 people who signed up on mba.com—the mba.com Registrants Survey—we now know not only how long prospects and applicants take to progress through the business school pipeline but also how schools can recruit them effectively at each stage by using the right messages at the right time.
Moving through the B-School Pipeline: Three Decision Stages
Typical business school applicants progress through a three-phase decision process, during which they seek answers to questions that will help them move on to the next phase. At each stage, the prospective applicant (prospect) may also decide to drop out of the process, particularly if they cannot find satisfactory answers to their questions and concerns about going back to school for a business degree.
The stages are shown below, along with the questions prospects typically seek to answer in each phase and the time they typically spend in that phase.
Stage 1: Thinking about Business School
During the first stage in the decision process, prospects research the MBA in general, to determine whether the degree is right for them. They may use such online resources as MBA-related websites, business publication websites, or school websites for information. They may also get information from print publications, such as MBA guidebooks, and personal sources, such as people they know from the workplace and friends and family who have gone to business school.
Prospects first wrestle with the larger questions about affordability and lifestyle changes. Can I do it? Am I ready? Can I afford it? They may then move on to questions about their own qualifications (Can I get in?) and how applicable and worthwhile the degree will be for them (Is it right for someone in my field? Will it help me change/advance my career? Will it pay off?)
Even though prospects may not contact schools directly during this first phase of the decision process, schools can still influence prospects by using their own websites and sources of general information about the MBA (e.g., guidebooks, magazines, print and Web advertisements) to deliver messages that address the prospects’ concerns and give them compelling reasons to pursue the degree.
Stage 2: Deciding to Apply
This phase is shorter than the first decision phase, taking an average of 10 months. During the “deciding to apply” stage, prospects—
Prospects in this stage of the decision-making process take very different paths to the point of completing an application. Some take the GMAT® first. Others apply first, then take the GMAT®. Still others sign up on mba.com, then take the GMAT®, then apply (about half the survey audience took this traditional route).
Prospects are much more open to recruiting by schools before they sit for the GMAT® exam. We know from previous research that the list of schools to which GMAT® test takers send their scores usually includes the school at which they will enroll, so schools should make every effort to make contact with prospects in time to get on that list.
How to do that? In this decision stage, prospects are deciding what school attributes are important to them and trying to compare different programs to find the ones that seem to be the best fit. Tell them what school and program attributes they should be looking for, and attract them with messages about the unique identity and offerings of your school. Specific information about concentrations, cost, curriculum, faculty, and program type, for example, can help prospects evaluate what your school has to offer, compare it with others, and narrow the list of schools they are considering.
Stage 3: Deciding to Enroll
At this stage, prospects are firmly within the school’s sphere of influence, evaluating specific information and offers from program(s) to which they have applied. The mba.com Registrants Survey results concentrate on the stages leading up to prospects’ final decision about where to enroll. For information on how prospects make enrollment decisions, see the School Selection results of the Global MBA® Graduate Survey at www.gmac.com/surveys.
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