Columbia Business School Sees 19% Drop in Applicants

Applications for two-year, full-time MBA programs that start this fall declined for the fourth year in a row, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council of 744 MBA programs. Meanwhile European based 1-year, and part-time and EMBA programs continue to get more popular. 

The median number of applications world-wide fell 22% in 2012 for the two-year degrees, after a nearly 10% decline last year because of prolonged economic uncertainty. The GMAC survey included 744 M.B.A. and other business programs at 359 schools world-wide.

Columbia Business School posted a 19% drop in applications to its flagship two-year master of business administration program this year, after four years of rapid growth.

But University of California, Los Angeles's Anderson School of Management reported a 22% jump in applications.

Overall, 62% of U.S. schools reported declines in applications to two-year MBA programs.

Some 79% of two-year degree programs in the Asian-Pacific region and 80% of those in Central Asia experienced application gains.

Part-time, online and executive MBA programs are growing more flexible  Applications to the evening and weekend part-time M.B.A. program at University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business rose 11% this year.

37% of 1-year Euro MBA programs reported an increase this year, compared with just 22% notching gains in 2011.

For more on this story, see the WSJ story. 

More U.S. B-Schools Offering 1-year MBAs

The one-year full-time MBA, popular in Europe, is starting to become a more prevalent offering in the U.S. as institutions target new markets.
Applications to MBA programs are historically counter-cyclical to economic conditions: applications rise in bad times and fall in good. But the recent global economic downturn has been a different story. According to a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, applications to two-year, full-time MBA programmes declined in 2011 for the third consecutive year.
Schools that offer accelerated courses appeal to older, more seasoned students but not Executive MBA (EMBA) programs.
Some schools, like Emory’s Goizueta Business School, have offered an accelerated programme for years; several top-tier schools, including Cornell’s Johnson School and Northwestern’s Kellogg, have one-year programmes. 

For more, see the Financial Times