For 25 years, the GMAC™ Application Trends Survey research study has continued to be a leading source for comprehensive statistics and timely and reliable insights into the demand for graduate management education worldwide.
Intended for use by business school admissions professionals, our Application Trends research study offers actionable data that you can directly implement in your planning, marketing, and recruitment activities.
Purpose
The Application Trends Survey assesses longitudinal trends in the application volume of all graduate management program types, and since 2000, has provided information on:
- Changes in application volume over time
- Applicant pool demographics, including candidate gender, age, work experience, and citizenship
- Quality or academic credentials of applicants
- Acceptance and enrollment rates
- Key admissions criteria
- Incoming class size
- Availability of tuition assistance and employer funding
- Recruitment strategies, programmatic changes, and more
How to Participate
Invitations for the Application Trends Survey will be emailed on June 16, 2025. If you do not receive this email, please email us at research@gmac.com to secure your survey invitation today.
Who Is Eligible to Participate?
To better understand the entire graduate management community, GMAC™ invites all graduate-level management programs to participate in this study – regardless of school location, affiliation, admission structure, GMAC™ membership, or GMAT™ exam usage. We encourage universities to complete the Application Trends Survey for each of their graduate business programs:
- All full-time MBA and part-time MBA programs (including professional and weekend programs)
- Executive MBA programs
- Online, hybrid, and flexible MBA programs
- Non-MBA business master's programs, such as Master in Management, Master of Finance, or Master of Accounting
- Other business master's programs in newly emerging or rapidly growing disciplines, such as Data Analytics, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Operations, and IT/Systems
- Doctoral programs and PGP (Post Graduate Programs)
Will my Responses Remain Confidential?
Yes – the information you provide will be kept confidential. Survey results are reported only in the aggregate so that no individual response is reported. GMAC has a minimum acceptable response size for reporting requirements to protect confidentiality. Your school’s responses cannot be identified by another school. Your individual school name will only be included to show that your school participated in the research survey. GMAC’s complete Survey Privacy and Confidentiality statement can be found here.
School Benefits
Participants gain a competitive advantage over their peers through exclusive access to the following online tools:
- Benchmark Report – A FREE online service that allows survey respondents to create instant benchmark reports comparing your program responses against those of your peers. You will receive a unique Benchmark Report link for each program that you submit for the survey.
- Interactive Data Research Tool – A FREE online tool that lets users examine survey findings in greater depth and conduct customized data searches by numerous variables including program type and school location, application volume trends, class size, regional trends, school outreach, and more.
- GMAC staff expertise – If you have any questions about the research study, the data, are interested in additional analysis, or seek assistance interpreting results, we are here for you.
Timeline for 2025 Survey
Survey responses are collected over eight weeks during the months of June through August.
Here is the timeline of activities:
- June 2 – a heads-up email with survey instructions will be sent out to business school contacts.
- June 16 – Invitations to participate will be sent out and the survey opens for data submission.
- August 15 – Survey closes.
- Mid October – Summary report, dean’s summary, and infographic released. Benchmark report and interactive data research tools become available online exclusively for survey participants.
Questions? Contact Us