Based on results from more than 4,200 candidates in 145 countries over the full calendar year of 2025, the latest GMAC Prospective Students Survey report offers new insights into the mindset of graduate management education (GME) candidates.

For more than 15 years, the GMAC Prospective Students Survey has provided the world’s graduate business schools with critical insights into the decision-making processes of people actively applying to, considering, or researching GME programs.

The 2026 report offers new perspectives—also discussed at a recent webinar, 2026 Prospective Student Trends: What Schools Need to Know—about where candidates want to study, their degree and delivery preferences, and what makes a GME degree “worth it.”

1. Students want skills and ROI—not a career reset.

Since introducing a question about motivations to the survey, candidates’ interest in changing industries or job functions through GME has dropped sharply—from 58 percent of global candidates in 2022 to 42 percent in 2025.

As interest in making a career pivot declined, motivation to pursue GME to gain business knowledge increased 10 points over the same period, to nearly three-quarters of global candidates in 2025.

The survey results also show that candidates are increasingly focused on researching degrees’ return on investment (ROI), signaling that prospective students are increasingly doing the math before they commit.

2. Social influence is driving more students to apply.

In 2025, more prospective students reported taking definitive action toward GME in response to external nudges from parents, friends, and professors. For example, the share of candidates triggered to apply because friends suggested it nearly doubled—from 11 percent in 2019 to 20 percent in 2025.

Social influence is especially pronounced among younger candidates, for whom global opportunity and social standing are key motivators. However, all age cohorts reported increased action attributed to their personal and professional networks, revealing that it is not just young people who can be influenced by their peers, parents, and professors.

3. International interest in U.S. study is declining fast.

The share of non-U.S. candidates preferring to study in the United States dropped to 28 percent in 2025—the lowest since at least 2019—while interest in studying in Western Europe climbed to 45 percent.

U.S. policy developments are playing a measurable role. Over the course of 2025, the share of international students saying they were less likely to pursue U.S. study due to the policies and practices of the U.S. government continued to rise, reaching 40 percent by late 2025.

Declines were sharpest in key sending markets: U.S. consideration among Latin American candidates fell from 56 percent to 42 percent in a single year, while U.S. preference among Central and South Asian candidates dropped from roughly three-quarters to half over the course of 2025.

4. Younger candidates want specialized master's degrees; the MBA still owns the 25–30 cohort.

Forty-two percent of global candidates preferred non-MBA business master's programs in 2025 after growing even more popular among pre-experience candidates aged 22 and younger.

But the full-time MBA is far from irrelevant: among candidates aged 25–30, 54 percent still prefer the full-time MBA, compared to 24% who prefer business master's degrees. These programs are increasingly competing for different audiences.

Meanwhile, 73 percent of global candidates preferred full-time, in-person learning in 2025—holding steady after rebounding from a pandemic-era low.

5. AI is a baseline expectation—but employers still want human skills most.

Artificial intelligence ranked third among the most-wanted curricular areas for GME candidates in 2025, behind strategy (#1) and business analytics/data science (#2).

Half of all prospective students now expect AI to be embedded in their curriculum. Yet employers consistently prioritize human capabilities above technical ones: strategic thinking, problem-solving, leadership, and decision-making all rank above AI literacy on employer wish lists, and employers rate interpersonal skills like emotional intelligence and initiative higher than candidates do.

The throughline across all five trends is a prospective student population that is more pragmatic, more informed, and more sensitive to external conditions than in previous years. Schools that speak directly to ROI and adapt their recruitment strategies to a shifting global landscape will be best positioned to connect with candidates.

To learn more about candidates’ program and modality preferences, the skills they plan to cultivate in business school, and the career goals they ultimately aim to achieve, visit gmac.com/prospectivestudents.