Application Trends Survey Report, 2017

For close to 20 years, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Application Trends Survey Report has gathered intelligence on the current market for graduate business school applicants. The 2017 report contains analysis of data submitted by 965 graduate business programs at 351 universities worldwide. Survey responses reflect the following program types, including 573 MBA programs, 369 business master's programs, and 23 doctoral programs. Participating programs are located in 45 countries, including 40 US states and the District of Columbia. This report highlights trends for the following responding graduate business programs: full-time two-year MBA, full-time one-year MBA, part-time lockstep MBA, part-time self-paced MBA, flexible MBA, online MBA, executive MBA, Master in Management, Master of Accounting/taxation, Master of Finance, Master of Data Analytics, and Master of IT/Systems. Featured topics for each program type include: (1) Application volumes trends for 2017 compared with 2016; (2) Applicant pool composition, highlighting citizenship and gender; and (3) Targeted candidate outreach, tuition assistance, and employer funding. Key findings include: (1) Size, popularity matter: Nearly 3 in 4 (73%) graduate business programs with 201 or more class seats report increased application volumes this year compared to 39 percent of programs with 50 or fewer seats; (2) International demand shifting away from U.S.: Programs in Europe and Canada are about twice as likely to report growth in international applicants compared with the U.S.; and (3) Women make gains: This year women represent 42 percent of the total applications received by participating survey programs, up from 37 percent in 2013. [Additional contributions to this publication were provided by: Rebecca Estrada-Worthington, Maryam Bastani, Tacoma Williams, Joanna Chau, and Tania Hernandez-Anderson. For the 2016 report, see ED593526.]