Business Schools Are Back
Applications are up at the top US schools, but international student enrollment may have peaked.
The Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in California.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Turning point or just a blip? After years of decline, the number of applications to the country’s two-year MBA programs rebounded in 2024—rising 19%, according to a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council. The pandemic saw a blossoming of new ways to deliver an MBA, but tradition has reasserted itself: The biggest growth last year was in conventional two-year and part-time programs.
As in recent years, the great majority of student demand came from overseas, but applications from the US rose as well. While the two-year class graduating this spring included record levels of international students at many institutions, most of the top 20 schools as ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek welcomed classes last fall with a reduced international presence. Given the Trump administration’s hostility to immigration, the graduating class of 2025 could prove to be the high-water mark for international MBA students in the US for at least the near future.