This is certainly not a new story for those who have been obsessing over their MBA applications for months—the number of applications is indeed on the rise. While this trend has been anticipated given the layoffs on Wall Street and a weak U.S. dollar—which makes higher education cheaper for those abroad—it is now confirmed. Yesterday, BusinessWeek reported that 77% of all MBA programs experienced an increase in application volume last year (citing GMAC sources) and that a record number of candidates have taken the GMAT this year.
In this article, BusinessWeek also offers statistics on individual schools’ increases, from higher-ranked schools like MIT (28%) and Stern (20%) to “middle tier” schools like Olin (36%) and Carlson (26%).