Drop in interest in two year MBA programmes globally

Data from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the makers of the GMAT exam reveals a falling interest in Two Year Full Time MBA programmes. Interest in One Year Full Time MBA programmes has stayed the course and continues to rise. 

An analysis of GMAC data of GMAT score reports sent in by students to B-schools indicates a falling interest in two-year full time MBA programmes.

Some key trends:

• The number of GMAT test takers who sent their GMAT score reports to two-year MBA programs plunged 29.1% to 69,465 in 2013 from a peak of 97,674 candidates in the recession-plagued year of 2009.

• The year-on-year fall in number of score reports sent to two-year MBA programmes in 2013 showed a massive 21.7% drop from 88,700 in 2012.

• Fall in interest is seen among both U.S. and non-U.S. test takers of the GMAT

• Decline is interest much steeper for U.S. candidates. In 2013, only 35,953 of the prospective students who took the GMAT exam in the US sent their scores to a two-year program: a massive 33.7% decline from 2009 and a 24.4% drop from the previous year.

• Among non-U.S. test takers, the numbers of students sending their GMAT scores for two-year programmes in 2013 stood at 33,512. As compared to 2009, this signifies a 20.1% drop (41,940 total applications). As compared to 2012, this signifies a 18.5% drop (41,119 students sent their scores to two-year MBA programs in 2012).

• Schools ranked lower seem to be bearing the brunt of the falling interest in two-year MBA programmes. Admissions at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business have remained competitive. At Harvard for instance, this year applications to its MBA programme increased by 3.9% to 9,315 candidates as compared to last year and by 7.6% from 2008.
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Infact, most Top 10 B-schools had lower lower acceptance rates in 2013 than in 2012 because of an upsurge in applications.

SCHOOLS RESPOND WITH ONE-YEAR MBA PROGRAMMES

The rising interest in the European format of the MBA (one-year) has B-schools in the US worried. A number of B-schools have taken a strategic decision to invest in their existing one-year MBA programmes or launch a one year MBA.

A case in point is Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management which is putting greater focus on its one-year MBA program and plans to slightly shrink enrollment in its two-year offering.

Cornell, which has a long running one year MBA programme has launched a new specialized variation of the course targeted at engineers this year.

Other top US B-schools offering a one year MBA include Thunderbird School of Global Management, USC Marshall, Katz Graduate School of Business, Mendoza College of Business, Boston University, Goizueta Business School (Emory).