Is Recession Really boosting up the applications?

A few weeks ago I was at a reception for Cornell and I asked the AD about applications. He remarked that while the number of applications is up, the competition isn't. His point was that a lot of the increase is folks (yes, many of whom have been laid off in the banking sector) who are rushing apps out the door, not taking the time to fully study for the gmat, and as a result are easier to ding. Maybe he was just trying to reassure folks, but it was an interesting take.

Read this article on BW: https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/co ... op+stories

Some schools are considering increasing class size. Unfortunately, it didn't specifically mention many school. The only elite school mentioned was Tuck, and Tuck plan to keep the class size unchanged.

When I visited Kellogg the Admissions Officer doing the info session made a similar comment that while application pool increased for the Fall 2008 entering class, they didn't see a huge increase in quality applications and the class stats aren't much different than for the Fall 2007 entering class.

Also, in response to the BW article, several people in the Admissions Office at Kellogg said they have absolutely no plans to increase class size.

In my humble opinion it does not really matter that much how good is the economy at the moment of graduation (in the short run).

We will all end up working for many many years in the future, prolly even up to 30-35 years or more and its definetely better option to be paid as an MBA versus BA or stuck up with a job that u dont like.

Even though if u graduate in the peak of a recession u will catch something, maybe not very well paying but what the heck, just to survive for a year or to till the market goes up again and raises bonuses and salaries.

The thing is that in times of bad economy a lot of ppl who really dont have anything else to do will end up applying to the bschools and thus take some spots from ppl who really wanted it.

That kinda sucks.

Was that reception before or after the R2 deadline at Cornell? Just curious because after R1 Cornell said apps were up 10% but after the R2 deadline the Cornell adcom on BW stated that apps were "roughly tracking" last year. I'm just wondering if the cornell adcom you spoke with may not have had the most updated numbers yet because I think cornell apps were flat. Of course the general statement that laid off applicants put in weaker apps is still stands (hopefully).

On the Chicago chat this morning, Rose said that applications were up in R1 (but didn't give an exact %), but that they didn't see a noticable increase in the quality. She said the AdCom can do a pretty good job at weeding out applications that were put together at the last minute and those that were the result of serious thought and reflection.

Also, one of the other AdCom said they are not currently discussing any increases to class size. So it seems that despite the BW article there really aren't any elite schools seriously considering a bigger class this year.