According to a recent article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the number of prospective candidates applying to MBA programs at 10 top U.S. business schools is down this year compared with 2009. Indeed, Bloomberg BW is declaring that the recent boom in MBA applications that went hand in hand with the economic crisis “appears to be over.”
Bloomberg BW surveyed 30 of the top U.S. MBA programs about application volume. Of those, 10 reported decreases in volume averaging 6.1 percent. Eleven reported increases averaging 10.2 percent, and nine schools declined to provide information.
Among the top schools where fewer candidates applied in 2010 than in 2009 were the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Business.
Admissions officials at both Wharton and Haas attribute the decreased application volume to the economic recovery, according to Bloomberg BW. At Wharton, for example, application volumes have returned to a more normal level following a peak during the downturn, according to Ankur Kumar, deputy director of MBA admissions at the school. “We are really normalizing to the level of applications we experienced before the events of the past two years,” she told Bloomberg BW.
At some of the schools where application volume is still on the rise, meanwhile, adcom officials expect things to change soon, according to the Bloomberg BW report.
“I really think this is the high-water mark, and we won’t experience this windfall that we’re experiencing now,” Rod Garcia, director of admissions at the MIT Sloan School of Management, told Bloomberg BW. At Sloan, applications are up 16 percent year-over-year, to 4,782, and up more than 50 percent for the past three years. “I think this is probably going to be it in terms of increases in applications. … The only question is, is it going to be a moderate decline or a big decline?”
But at other schools, admissions officials point to factors beyond the economy that have contributed to increased applications volumes – such as better rankings, greater visibility for their programs here and abroad and reduced applications fees – suggesting that booms there could continue longer, according to Bloomberg BW.
Washington University’s Olin School of Business, for example, has sidled up the U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of top MBA programs to No. 19 from No. 36 five years ago. At the same time, the school has eliminated its application fee and simplified its application process. There, 2010 application volume was up 26 percent compared to 2009.
