"Applications to American M.B.A. programs dropped for a fourth straight year, with even elite universities starting to show signs of struggling to lure young professionals out of the strong job market.
For the first time in nearly a decade, waning interest in the traditional master of business administration degree hit business schools that draw the most applications, including Harvard and Stanford universities, according to a survey of 360 schools by the Graduate Management Admission Council, a nonprofit that administers the GMAT admissions exam. Those top-tier programs were until recently thought to be immune to the shakeout plaguing less-prestigious programs." …
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/m-b-applications-keep-falling-040100855.html
Among the most prestigious MBA programs, the M-7, all saw decreases in the number of applications.
-
Columbia -2.6% apps decreased from 6,188 to 6,029.
-
Northwestern (Kellogg) -2.7% apps decreased from 4,595 to 4,471.
-
MIT (Sloan) -4.3% apps decreased from 5,798 to 5,560.
-
Harvard Business School -4.5% apps decreased from 10,351 to 9,886.
-
Stanford GSB -4.6% apps decreased from 8,173 to 7,797.
-
UPenn (Wharton) -6.7% apps decreased from 6,692 to 6,245.
-
Chicago (Booth) -8.2% apps decreased from 4,674 to 4,289.
Only three of the top 29 MBA programs saw an increase in applications last admissions cycle:
Dartmouth (Tuck) saw a slight increase in number (+11) of applications of 0.4% --from 2,610 to 2,621.
USC (Marshall) saw an increase (+19) of 1.0% (one percent) in applications from 1,998 to 2,017.
While UCLA’s Anderson School of Business saw the largest increase (+3.3%) in number (109) of apps from 3,314 to 3,423.
For a more comprehensive perspective, it may be helpful to know how many applications were received by each of the top 29 MBA programs last admissions cycle:
-
Harvard 9,886
-
Stanford 7,797
-
Penn (Wharton) 6,245
-
Columbia 6,029
-
MIT 5,560
-
Northwestern (Kellogg) 4,471
-
Chicago (Booth) 4,289
The above seven MBA programs are often referred to as the M-7.
-
UCal-Berkeley (Haas) 3,821
-
Yale SOM 3,785
-
NYU (Stern) 3,781
-
Duke (Fuqua) 3,557
-
UCLA (Anderson) 3,423
-
Michigan (Ross) 3,188
-
Dartmouth (Tuck) 2,621
-
Virginia (Darden) 2,279
-
Texas-Austin (McCombs) 2,078
-
USC (Marshall) 2,017)
-
UNC (Keenan-Flagler) 1,758
-
Cornell (Johnson) 1,600
-
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) 1,656
-
Georgetown (McDonough) 1,459
-
Emory (Goizueta) 1,348
-
WashUStL (Olin) 1,115
-
Indiana (Kelley) 1,082
-
University of Washington (Foster) 934
-
Vanderbilt (Owens) 712
-
Rice (Jones) 587 (impacted by Hurricane Harvey flooding–apps down by almost 28%)
-
Notre Dame (Mendoza) 578
-
Minnesota (Carlson) 529
The primary reason for the drop in the number of applications to US MBA programs is the current political environment in the US which has caused many international applicants to focus on European & Asian business schools. A rising dollar plus fear that work permits may become harder to get suggests that this trend may continue, in my opinion.
In order to get serious consideration as an applicant to top MBA programs, one should have anywhere from 2 to 6 years of post undergraduate work experience.
Acceptance rates to the top 29 programs range from about 6% at Stanford & about 11% at Harvard to over 55% at Georgetown and over 39% at Rice (Jones). Texas-Austin (McCombs) latest acceptance rate for its fulltime 2 year MBA program was 33.6%.
Last year’s acceptance rates–before the drop in apps reported above–to the M-7 MBA programs were:
Stanford–6%
Harvard–11%
MIT–12%
Columbia 14%
Penn (Wharton)–20%
Northwestern( Kellogg)–20%
Chicago (Booth)–24%
Although not referred to as an M-7 school, UCal-Berkeley (Haas) had an acceptance rate of about 12%.