NewHavenBIZ

8 n e w h a v e n B I Z | N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 8 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T R E N D I N G B E Y O N D T H E H E A D L I N E S From Yale to UConn, MBA applications tumble A mong young aspirants to the top rungs of American business, MBA programs are losing their luster. Once considered a prerequisite for climbing the corporate ladder at major corporations, the MBA's hold on distinguishing the highest-per- forming rising talent for employers has loosened measurably. is year, applications to the Yale School of Management declined from 4,098 to 3,785 for the MBA class of 2020, a decline of 7.6 percent from 2017 applications (MBA Class of 2019). at figure is in line with nation- al trends in graduate education. Overall, 2018 marks the fourth consecutive year of declining applications to MBA programs at U.S. schools. For the application year ended this spring, U.S. business schools received 140,860 applications for programs including the traditional two-year MBA, down 7 percent from the previous year, according to the Graduate Management Ad- mission Council (GMAC). e decline is most noteworthy at elite schools, previously consid- ered insulated from admissions trends affecting lower-status uni- versities. Harvard's graduate busi- ness school, which received more applications to its MBA program than any other U.S. university, saw applications fall by 4.5 percent this spring — the largest such decline since 2005. e declining-applications trend is evident in Connecticut, and not just at Yale. Quinnipiac University's School of Business posted a similar decline in applications from 2017 to 2018 — from 378 to 350, a decrease of 7.4 percent year over year, according to John W. Morgan, QU's associate vice president for public relations. At the University of Connecticut School of Business, applications to the full time MBA program declined from 212 in 2017 to 187 this year, an 11.8-percent decrease. However, applications to the school's part-time MBA program actually rose slightly, from 437 to 448 (2.5 percent), across all three UConn business-school campuses (Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury). Other area schools this year recorded admissions numbers that buck the national trend, albeit based on significantly smaller sample sizes. e University of New Haven's business school saw applications soar by more than 50 percent this year — from 208 to 316, according to Dave Cranshaw, UNH's director of digital content and social media. And at Southern Connecticut State University, applications to SCSU's recently established grad- uate business program increased from 22 to 31 between 2017 and 2018. "Looks like we are bucking the trend," jokes SCSU's me- dia-relations manager Joseph A. Musante. What accounts for the recent reversal of a long-term trend in graduate education? For one thing, Americans are saddled with more college debt than ever, and they have grown increasingly disin- clined to take a leave from jobs for a year or two to pursue one of the most expensive graduate degrees, especially as the economy has improved. To respond to that trend, universities in recent years have launched cheaper, more flexible or more customized master's degrees in areas such as data science and supply-chain management. But with that proliferation of choice among graduate business programs comes a dilution of the pool of applicants prepared to invest in them — and not just in Connecticut. "e growth of new MBA and master's programs across the country has been massive," says one graduate-school admissions official. "Are there really enough students to fill all these schools?" n — Michael C. Bingham

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