Last year, in an article posted on Beat the GMAT, mbaMission founder Jeremy Shinewald predicted that a trend of ever-rising MBA applications was about to turn and that during the 2009-2010 season application volume would level off or fall at some top schools. While some schools, according to a Business Week article, did see increases (notably, HBS, MIT and Duke), many top schools started seeing declines (Wharton, Cornell, Berkeley). And, even those that experienced increases are calling 2009-2010 the top of the market.
Before you start to worry about the declining popularity of the degree, you might want to stop and think about how this affects your ambitions. On a relative basis, it got a bit easier to get into a top-school in 2009-2010 and it should get even easier (though hardly easy) this year as well.