The Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC) 2009 research report in applications trends shows that application levels at Business Schools across the worlds continued to increase in 2009. The 2009 Application Trends Survey, conducted from May 27 to July 8, 2009, includes responses from 332 graduate business schools and reflects application volume at 667 graduate management education programs in 35 countries. GMAC has been conducting this survey for several years.

The key findings from GMAC’s 2009 report are provided below:

  • One-year full-time MBA programs reported the strongest application volume. 69% of programs indicated growth in the number of applications received over last year. The average number of applications per program increased by 21%
  • Flexible MBA programs continued to attract more applications—66% of such programs surveyed reported an increase in application volume; the average participating program received 14% more applications than in 2008.
  • Applications are down for half of the EMBA programs; the average number of applications per program declined by 25%
  • Part-time MBA programs experienced two distinct trends: Nearly half (45%) reported an average decline of 22% in applications, and 42% of part-time programs had an average increase of 40%. This translated into an overall positive change of 7% in part-time program application volume, despite the fact that slightly fewer programs reported an increase in applications than those that reported a decline.
  • Master of Accounting programs stand out among surveyed graduate management programs with the largest proportion (78%) reporting an increase in application volume.
  • Master of Management programs also reported reporting an increase in application volume; 63 % of programs reported an increase. The average number of applications per program increased by 18%.
  • When admissions professionals compared academic qualifications of this year’s candidates with those who applied last year, most reported that applicants either matched or exceeded academic benchmarks set in 2008.
  • 68% Masters in Finance programs reported an increase in applicants. However, average number of applications per program only increased by 2%. This could partially be due to the fact that in 2008 this program showed the most positive growth in application numbers among specialized master’s programs. It is likely also due to the downturn, which had affected the finance industry significantly.