The United States (US) remains a top study destination for international students who want to pursue business programmes, claims a report by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an association of graduate business schools across the world. The report titled 'Application Trends Survey 2024 - 2024 Business School Applications Skyrocket amidst Economic Uncertainty' claims that business applications of women hovered around 40 per cent over the past 10 years, however, in 2024, they observed a small shift upward to 42 per cent. "According to the report, 55 per cent of programmes have observed growth in applications from women, a 10-percentage point jump from 2023 and the second-largest share of programmes reporting increasing applications from women over the past decade — next only to the pandemic boom in 2020,'' read a statement from the report, predicting that MBAs were most likely to see a surge of female applicants, with 70 per cent of flex MBA and roughly two-thirds of full-time MBA programmes experiencing such growth. Across the globe, total applications to graduate business school programmes in 2024 increased to 12 per cent 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. 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, mentioned the press release. The report also highlights that there is a significant uptick in applications in full-time, in-person offerings, with nearly six out of 10 such programmes —full-time two-year and one-year MBA programmes— reporting application growth. Not only, MBA but master disciplines in accounting and management also reported application growth. Despite the increased interest in studying in person, those with more flexibility also seem to be in high demand with 58 per cent of online programmes and 52 per cent of hybrid programmes reporting application growth. The domestic applications for B-schools also drove up demand for graduate business education in the US, Asia, and Europe—except for the United Kingdom, which witnessed a 45- per cent drop in domestic applications and a 12-point dip in international applications.
