Business schools have seen a sharp increase in the number of applicants since 2005, according to a recent Kaplan, Inc. survey, which is a trend that may continue during the national economic downturn, experts say.
“The applications to business schools are on the rise,” said Dan LeClair, vice president & chief knowledge officer for Assocation to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, adding that many speculators think it is due in part to the uncertainty of the economy.
Liza Weale, director of graduate programs for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, noted that interest in graduate degrees generally rises during market downturns. For many students, she said, graduate school is a safe place to ride out any difficulties of finding a job while gaining a degree that will help students be more marketable in the future.
Chris Privett, spokesperson for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business agreed, noting that many students seek a business graduate degree because of the fiercely competitive job market. He said business-related careers in fields such as financial services are especially hard to come by presently.
“It’s an opportunity to reinvent themselves or move in a direction that perhaps they have not felt comfortable [with] in the past,” LeClair said.
Most people take a new direction in their careers at some point, LeClair said, and the current economic market provides a chance to do so.
While the number of applicants to business schools is up, LeClair said business graduate schools are facing difficulties.
“It would be a mistake to send the message that business schools are prospering in the face of the economy,” he said. “There is so much that a graduate business school does today that is impacted by the financial crisis — not all of them positive.”
He explained that many programs are having to scale down. Additionally, he said, endowments are not yielding good returns this year, and alumni who are affected by the economic slump are not able to donate the funds that these degree programs require to function.
Despite the economic conditions, Sara Neher, Darden School director of admissions expressed optimism for the future.
“As we come out of this recession, there are going to be tremendous opportunities,” she said, also noting the Darden School is among the schools witnessing an increase in interest and applications.
Neher expressed skepticism about one of Kaplan’s findings, though; the survey found that 75 percent of the 245 surveyed business schools indicated this year’s applicant admission process is more competitive than it was three years ago.
“I’m not sure the quality of the applications will go up, because they might not be prepared to do a thorough job,” she said. Neher explained that the admissions process takes about a year to complete and requires multiple essays, GMAT testing and interviews.
She said she thinks many of these new applicants are applying purely out of fear of the economic climate and are not as invested in the process as their peers who had planned to earn an MBA all along.
Students who had planned to attend business school “will be ahead of anyone applying just because of the current crisis,” she said.
Privett noted that at Duke, “the admissions standards will always remain the same,” adding that because the economic slump is a global issue, applications are coming in from other countries not historically interested in master’s of business programs.
Despite the increased interest in business programs, business schools will not necessarily enroll more students than in past years.
“Applications don’t always translate into increased enrollment,” LeClair said. “There are only so many seats to be filled without additional faculty and courses.”
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