NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 23 Apr 2024, 21:10 It is currently 23 Apr 2024, 21:10
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
User avatar
theK
Manager
Manager
Joined: 05 Nov 2009
Posts: 127
Own Kudos [?]: 40 [1]
Given Kudos: 67
Concentration: Strategy, Finance
Schools: Duke '15 (M) Darden '15 (A)
WE:Management Consulting (Consulting)
Send PM
Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   26 Feb 2013, 03:33
1
Kudos
I don't know about you guys, but I find some of essaysnark's posts to be pretty insightful. In case you're wondering, I'm not affiliated with them.

One of the latest posts that I find very interesting is about the trends in applications, specifically comparing the Net Growth/Reduction of Applications in the last 6 cycles (2006-07 to 2011-12) with the Net Growth/Reduction of Applications in the last 2 cycles (2010-11 to 2011-12).



https://essaysnark.com/2013/02/last-seas ... on-trends/

The trends that I'm seeing are:
1. Brand matters - If you look at the right-hand side, despite the economic downturn, the net applications at HBS, Stanford, MIT and Kellogg in the last 6 cycles are way ahead of other top 16 schools. HBS's growth is particularly impressive with ~1500 additional applications in the last 6 cycles.
Exceptions: Wharton and CBS are the only heavyweights that are experiencing net decline in the last 6 cycles. My guess is that these schools tend to accept students with finance background. With the collapse of some financial institutions, it's only logical that these schools were hit the hardest as their main target market for applicants suddenly shrunk. Refer to Poets and Quants article for more info on CBS's 19% plunge in the last 2 cycles.

2. Schools on the rise - Looks like Anderson, Fuqua and Tuck have been doing something right in the past 6 cycles. Despite the recession, they've been able to grow their applications in that period. Anderson's net applications in the last 2 cycles are particularly exceptional - I believe the credit goes to Robert Weiler, the Associate Dean of Admissions (See Poets and Quants article for more info). Cornell and Darden also did very well in the last 2 cycles (See this P&Q article for more info).

3. Kellogg is doing very well in the Midwest - Booth has a net growth of about 250 applications in the last 6 cycles, but Kellogg seems to be attracting more applicants as it's been able to grow by about 850 applications in the same period.

What other trends or observations do you see?
avatar
TheFool
Intern
Intern
Joined: 10 Dec 2012
Posts: 41
Own Kudos [?]: 14 [0]
Given Kudos: 27
GMAT 1: 710 Q47 V41
GPA: 3.53
WE:Marketing (Real Estate)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   26 Feb 2013, 10:08
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
User avatar
OptimisticApplicant
Manager
Manager
Joined: 18 Jun 2012
Posts: 81
Own Kudos [?]: 42 [0]
Given Kudos: 11
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, General Management
Schools: Babson '14 (M$)
GMAT 1: 680 Q49 V34
GMAT 2: 730 Q48 V42
GPA: 3
WE:Marketing (Computer Software)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   26 Feb 2013, 12:01
Pretty hard to interpret this graph without any indication of applicant quality...E.g., HBS received 1,500 more applications than they did 6 years ago, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the program is more competitive...what if they have just been marketing towards a lot more "low quality" applicants in an effort to decrease their acceptance rate (and increase their selectivity ranking)...
User avatar
theK
Manager
Manager
Joined: 05 Nov 2009
Posts: 127
Own Kudos [?]: 40 [0]
Given Kudos: 67
Concentration: Strategy, Finance
Schools: Duke '15 (M) Darden '15 (A)
WE:Management Consulting (Consulting)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   27 Feb 2013, 01:20
OptimisticApplicant wrote:
Pretty hard to interpret this graph without any indication of applicant quality...E.g., HBS received 1,500 more applications than they did 6 years ago, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the program is more competitive...what if they have just been marketing towards a lot more "low quality" applicants in an effort to decrease their acceptance rate (and increase their selectivity ranking)...


Well, having knowledge about the applicant quality would be great as that will give us better insights. However, we're faced with two challenges:
1. 'applicant quality' might be a bit hard to define. Some might say that the GMAT is the best indicator of applicant quality. I'd disagree with this since I believe quality is a combination of work experience, GMAT, GPA and community work.

Nevertheless, it'd be great to see a breakdown of these net applicants VS GMAT score ranges and distribution.

2. Unfortunately, not all schools publish their applicant pool's GMAT score ranges and distribution.
User avatar
OptimisticApplicant
Manager
Manager
Joined: 18 Jun 2012
Posts: 81
Own Kudos [?]: 42 [0]
Given Kudos: 11
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, General Management
Schools: Babson '14 (M$)
GMAT 1: 680 Q49 V34
GMAT 2: 730 Q48 V42
GPA: 3
WE:Marketing (Computer Software)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   27 Feb 2013, 09:28
theK wrote:
OptimisticApplicant wrote:
Pretty hard to interpret this graph without any indication of applicant quality...E.g., HBS received 1,500 more applications than they did 6 years ago, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the program is more competitive...what if they have just been marketing towards a lot more "low quality" applicants in an effort to decrease their acceptance rate (and increase their selectivity ranking)...


Well, having knowledge about the applicant quality would be great as that will give us better insights. However, we're faced with two challenges:
1. 'applicant quality' might be a bit hard to define. Some might say that the GMAT is the best indicator of applicant quality. I'd disagree with this since I believe quality is a combination of work experience, GMAT, GPA and community work.

Nevertheless, it'd be great to see a breakdown of these net applicants VS GMAT score ranges and distribution.

2. Unfortunately, not all schools publish their applicant pool's GMAT score ranges and distribution.


Completely agree that the applicant quality data is not available and that it is challenging to define applicant quality metrics. My argument is that any insights gleaned without a sense of applicant quality aren't particularily useful. I don't think you can say "School X is doing something right" or "School Y is doing something wrong" soley because of their changes in application volume.

For example, CBS applications are down 19% year-over-year - on the surface, that seems like a really bad thing for CBS...however, the class profile for the Class entering 2011 and Class entering 2012 aren't that different in terms of GMAT/GPA:

2011: average GMAT: 716, average GPA: 3.5
2012: average GMAT: 715, average GPA: 3.5

So if the quality (in this case defined by GMAT/GPA) of the class is more or less the same, is it really a "bad thing" for CBS that their applications are down 19% year-over-year? I'm not really sure.
avatar
TheFool
Intern
Intern
Joined: 10 Dec 2012
Posts: 41
Own Kudos [?]: 14 [0]
Given Kudos: 27
GMAT 1: 710 Q47 V41
GPA: 3.53
WE:Marketing (Real Estate)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   27 Feb 2013, 10:14
OptimisticApplicant wrote:
Completely agree that the applicant quality data is not available and that it is challenging to define applicant quality metrics. My argument is that any insights gleaned without a sense of applicant quality aren't particularily useful. I don't think you can say "School X is doing something right" or "School Y is doing something wrong" soley because of their changes in application volume.

For example, CBS applications are down 19% year-over-year - on the surface, that seems like a really bad thing for CBS...however, the class profile for the Class entering 2011 and Class entering 2012 aren't that different in terms of GMAT/GPA:

2011: average GMAT: 716, average GPA: 3.5
2012: average GMAT: 715, average GPA: 3.5

So if the quality (in this case defined by GMAT/GPA) of the class is more or less the same, is it really a "bad thing" for CBS that their applications are down 19% year-over-year? I'm not really sure.


I think it's more indicative of the demand for a CBS education, rather than the quality of the student body or of the value of an MBA from CBS.

Any way you slice it, we're talking a drop in 1,260 applications for Columbia year-over-year. That means that fewer applicants are buying what Columbia's adcom is selling - a shot at a CBS education - along with $315,000 in lost revenue from app fees (assuming everyone pays the fee).

As you mentioned before, the school has an incentive from rankings to get more applications simply so that they can reject more applications. I'm not sure if that really has an effect on the quality of the student body or the teaching, given that their acceptance rate's still in the teens, but the school will definitely be in trouble if the blip turns into a trend.
User avatar
OptimisticApplicant
Manager
Manager
Joined: 18 Jun 2012
Posts: 81
Own Kudos [?]: 42 [0]
Given Kudos: 11
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, General Management
Schools: Babson '14 (M$)
GMAT 1: 680 Q49 V34
GMAT 2: 730 Q48 V42
GPA: 3
WE:Marketing (Computer Software)
Send PM
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink] New post   01 Mar 2013, 07:21
TheFool wrote:
OptimisticApplicant wrote:
Completely agree that the applicant quality data is not available and that it is challenging to define applicant quality metrics. My argument is that any insights gleaned without a sense of applicant quality aren't particularily useful. I don't think you can say "School X is doing something right" or "School Y is doing something wrong" soley because of their changes in application volume.

For example, CBS applications are down 19% year-over-year - on the surface, that seems like a really bad thing for CBS...however, the class profile for the Class entering 2011 and Class entering 2012 aren't that different in terms of GMAT/GPA:

2011: average GMAT: 716, average GPA: 3.5
2012: average GMAT: 715, average GPA: 3.5

So if the quality (in this case defined by GMAT/GPA) of the class is more or less the same, is it really a "bad thing" for CBS that their applications are down 19% year-over-year? I'm not really sure.


I think it's more indicative of the demand for a CBS education, rather than the quality of the student body or of the value of an MBA from CBS.

Any way you slice it, we're talking a drop in 1,260 applications for Columbia year-over-year. That means that fewer applicants are buying what Columbia's adcom is selling - a shot at a CBS education - along with $315,000 in lost revenue from app fees (assuming everyone pays the fee).

As you mentioned before, the school has an incentive from rankings to get more applications simply so that they can reject more applications. I'm not sure if that really has an effect on the quality of the student body or the teaching, given that their acceptance rate's still in the teens, but the school will definitely be in trouble if the blip turns into a trend.


That all make sense to me. I guess my contention is really with U.S. News for ranking on the selectivity variable - why should any stakeholders (applicants, recruiters, etc.) care about all-in demand for the education if it doesn't impact the quality of the degree?
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: Trends in MBA Applications: Last 6 Cycles VS Last 2 Cycles [#permalink]
01 Mar 2013, 07:21

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions