In 2018, 70% of MBA programmes saw a decline in applications, according to a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep. The two main assumptions for the decrease in applications were; the current political climate in the United States and its impact on immigration and acquiring work visas, and the booming job market retaining potential students. There has been substantial dialogue around the topic, from popular MBA resource sites like Poets&Quants to notable publications like The Wall Street Journal. With 35% of members possessing MBA’s, Hiperpool wanted to take a closer look at MBA trends over the last few years to understand what’s changed for the popular graduate degree. 

Despite these shifts, the top business schools have seen very little change in their application numbers. The report published by Poets&Quants (Figure 1), demonstrates there has been an overall decline in MBA enrollment since 1995, predominantly affecting the lower ranked schools. The top 20 programmes have not only seen very little change in application numbers but actually, continue to grow as the market consolidates.