GMAC Advisor

The dominant narratives in every aspect of life today have a distinct demarcation – before and after the pandemic. The GME industry is no exception. This is reflected in the Enrolled Students Survey - 2022 Summary Report, which shows a more favorable response to GME across evaluation matrices as the pandemic recedes globally. Eighty-five percent of respondents rated the value of their GME degree between good and outstanding, compared with 82 percent in 2021. Participants’ response to student services is up from 80 percent in 2021 to 85 percent this year; the survey indicated a similar increase respondents’ satisfaction in career services, which grew over the past year from 74 percent to 84 percent. Elsewhere in the survey, 86 percent of the respondents from the GMAC member schools were employed at graduation, compared with 80 percent last year - indicating an improvement in the job market.

Topics: Research Insights, graduate business school, business school, pandemic, Student Survey, GME, COVID-19

Working in graduate management education (GME), odds are you’re busy, and you may not always have the time to stay up-to-date on the latest news and insights that can help you in your work.

Topics: Prospective Students, Research Insights, graduate business school candidate, graduate business school, business school, graduate management education, GME, MBA, candidate research, STEM, corporate recruiters, survey, blog post, infographic, blog

Earlier this year, GMAC published the latest Corporate Recruiters Survey, an annual exploration of the state of hiring for graduate management education talent. This year’s survey offered further insights into how employer demand for MBA and business master’s graduates is bouncing back after the Covid-19 pandemic and included responses from 539 corporate recruiters and 402 staffing firms.

Topics: Research Insights, graduate business school, business school, pandemic, graduate management education, GME, MBA, COVID-19, corporate recruiters, survey

What attracts students to a STEM-certified program at a US business school? What is their student profile? What about post-GME career prospects? What’s in it for the business schools? A new GMAC research brief does a deep dive into the STEM-certified programs, including an explanation of what they are, details of their rapid growth, and who wants to enroll in them.

Topics: graduate business school, MBA Program, business school, graduate management education, GME, MBA, MSTEM, STEM, STEM MBA

It drew much media attention last month when Columbia University announced that it would pull out of the 2023 Best College Rankings by U.S. News & World Report due to questions raised—by the institution’s own faculty, nevertheless—on its data submission. The ranking publisher subsequently moved the university to the “unranked” category from its runner-up placement of the nation’s best universities in 2022. It is also worth mentioning that the graduate-level schools of Columbia University, including its business school, remain ranked because the university used different processes when reporting the data (full disclosure: Columbia Business School is a member school of GMAC). Soon after this announcement, The Economist magazine decided to discontinue its publication of MBA ranking, citing “commercial” reasons behind the move.

Topics: graduate business school candidate, graduate business school, MBA Program, business school, MBA, candidate research, MBA ranking

Schools in the world of graduate management education (GME) embraced hybrid learning as a transitory response to pandemic-induced disruptions. However, even as teaching has resumed in classrooms, interest in blended learning has persisted.

Topics: Prospective Students, Research Insights, graduate business school candidate, hybrid program, online mba, graduate business school, MBA Program, business school, pandemic, MBA, candidate insights, candidate research, edtech, hybrid learning, hybrid MBA

In April 2022, GMAC published the latest edition of the Prospective Students Survey. This year, the survey included responses from more than 6,500 individuals from 156 countries. These students were asked about their perspectives on graduate management education, including preferred program types and career aspirations.

Topics: Prospective Students, Research Insights, graduate business school candidate, graduate business school, business school, pandemic, Student Survey, candidate insights, candidate research, COVID-19

Last month, in what Inside Higher Ed called a watershed moment, it was reported that in the United States, the number of full-time, online MBA students eclipsed that of those studying on campus during the 2020–21 academic year. The data, provided by the Association to Advance Collegiate Business Schools (AACSB), shows that 45,038 students were enrolled in online programs in the U.S. last year with 43,740 in person. In an interview for Forbes with John Byrne of Poets and Quants, Will Geoghegan, chair of the Kelley Direct Program at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, identified four trends in graduate business education behind the phenomenon: better recognition of the online MBA, significant technology advancements, enhanced in-person experiences in online programs, and lower opportunity costs.

Topics: Research Insights, online mba, graduate business school, business school, MBA

Diversity is a popular buzzword in MBA recruiting. From achieving gender parity to building an international cohort, business school experts agree that a diverse class is a strong one. To achieve this diversity, B-school marketers not only need to appeal to international applicants, but also to candidates with academic backgrounds beyond business and economics.

Topics: Prospective Students, Research Insights, graduate business school candidate, graduate business school, candidate research

MBA students this year are facing a job market so hot that offers are already being made before they even set foot on campus, reported the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. With record-level openings created by the COVID-prompted “Great Resignation” in the United States, recruiters recognize the unmistakable talent in the incoming cohort of business schools and rush to secure the employment of these candidates, among whom women and underrepresented minority groups are especially the targets of intense recruitment competition as companies shift their focus to build more diverse and inclusive workforces.

Topics: GMAC Events, graduate business school candidate, graduate business school, business school, diversity, Women in Business, events