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GMAC’s 2009 Application Trends Survey, announced in the August Deans Digest, finds that business school application volume remains high, but the growth seen over the last few years may be leveling off. The economic downturn, political forces, and other factors affect business school application trends as they play out in applicant profiles, acceptance and enrollment rates, tuition assistance, and marketing and outreach.
Applicant Profiles
Different types of MBA programs continue to draw different pools of applicants. In 2009, the greatest gender diversity was among applicants to flexible and part-time MBA programs, while three out of four applications to executive programs came from men. Full-time MBA programs continued to attract international applicants, but the proportion of foreign citizens has decreased slightly (from 56 percent in 2008 to 52 percent in 2009).
Applicants to specialized master’s programs were distributed relatively evenly in terms of gender and citizenship in 2009. As in 2008, Master of Accounting programs reported the greatest percentage of female applicants (62 percent), and Master of Finance programs reported the most international candidates (60 percent) among all master-level programs, including MBA.
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