2024 Business School Applications Skyrocket Amidst Economic Uncertainty

RESTON, Va., Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Across the globe, total applications to graduate business school programs in 2024 increased an impressive 12 percent from 2023 to 2024. This is a sharp reversal from the previous two consecutive years of declines, which followed a small pandemic related boost in 2020-2021, according to an annual survey released today by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). With cost consistently cited as a key barrier to an advanced management degree in GMAC’s perennial survey of prospective business school students, it is perhaps not surprising that this year’s upward-trending application volume coincides with business programs offering financial assistance to more members of their incoming classes in 2024.

A deeper dive into the data shows that the significant uptick in applications was mainly driven by renewed interest in full-time, in-person offerings, with nearly six out of 10 such programs reporting application growth. Full-time two-year and one-year MBA programs, for instance, saw the largest shares of schools reporting application growth in the past decade at 80 percent and 64 percent, respectively. Nearly three-quarters of accounting and management master’s programs also reported application growth. Interestingly, despite the increased interest in studying in-person, those with more flexibility also seem to be in high demand with 58 percent of online programs and 52 percent of hybrid programs reporting application growth, so did roughly two-thirds of online and flexible MBA programs.