College Graduates Looking for Better Job Opportunities Increasingly Going Back for Their MBAs

Students walk past a graduation cap and stole at George Washington University in Washington on May 2, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the number of Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree applications in 2024 is on the rise. Some view this as an indication that young workers are looking to improve their job opportunities by taking more elite-level courses. Others, however, view the rise as a pandemic-era correction or an indicator that artificial intelligence (AI) is making the MBA application process easier than ever.  

“If you had a bad experience in your undergraduate education, what you should do in pursuing your MBA is to find a different school and not go back to the same institution,” Clemens Kownatzki, Pepperdine University associate dean with the Graziadio Business School, told The Epoch Times.

“For me, the MBA degree is a door opener, but for me, I want to understand from these applicants what they really know. I don’t want to know your grade in accounting, but what do you know about accounting?”

According to a new survey from the GMAC, which tracks trends in MBA program applications, there has been a 12 percent increase in 2024. The upbeat survey results countered two years of declines, especially in the category of full-time, in-person degrees. A total of 80 percent of full-time, two-year programs reported growth.

However, Rachel Beck, admissions managing director for MBAMission.com, which helps students apply for MBA positions in universities nationwide, told The Epoch Times that the growth depicted in the GMAC study is somewhat misleading.

“When you look at it, the past year versus the year before, it looks like a big surge. It’s a flawed way to look at it. What we are is basically back at pre-pandemic numbers, and that’s what’s going on here,” she said. “A lot of people in their 20s had great jobs, which allowed them to work from home, so why go to school?”

However, Joy Jones, the CEO of GMAC, said in a statement that the evolving offerings of university MBAs have contributed greatly to the upswing in applications.

“While the phenomenon could give proof to the countercyclical trend long observed between interest in graduate business school and the strength of the economy, I would give much credit to global business schools and their tremendous efforts to continue innovating with new technologies, new delivery tactics, and new ways of operating that satisfy the latest interests and needs of students and their future employers,” she said.

Poets&Quants, which provides information about business schools and management education, released a poll earlier this year showing that many of the elite or M7 business schools have seen a significant increase in MBA applications, including The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, which missed a school record of applications by just 16; Harvard Business School, which reported a 21 percent increase; Stanford Graduate School of Business, reporting an 18 percent jump in applications; and MIT Sloan School of Management, which saw a 16 percent increase.

Kownatzki says some of the stated application increases should also be attributed to the increasingly frequent use of AI in filling out applications.

“At Pepperdine, we’ve seen an increase in applications, but we haven’t seen an increase in enrollment. There is an AI tool now that helps you streamline your applications,” he said.

The GMAC says in its surveys that most MBA programs still lack formal AI policies in their admissions processes.

As with most higher education today, cost and value are still considerable factors in the decision to enroll in an MBA program. However, Beck says that although expensive, the total experience draws many back to school.

“A lot of top schools estimate it could cost $200,000, including room and board. Applicants know this going into the process, but it’s not just about going to class. Many of these MBA programs involve a lot of socialization, travel, and global programs where they go on treks to different cities in other parts of the world,” she said. “They recognize we live in a global economy, and recruiters care a lot about that.”

But there is an overriding question for some who wonder if paying upward of $200,000 for their full-time MBA experience means they’ll get back what they’re putting in. Q.G. Love, a Wayne State University graduate in Detroit, tried a number of startups and entrepreneurial job endeavors before electing to go back to school for his MBA with a big push from his greatest mentor.

“My mother was all over me to get a graduate degree, and I took as long as possible. I wanted to see the world, but eventually decided to get my MBA at Wayne State,” he told The Epoch Times. “I got the value out of it that I wanted. It took a full year for me to get a full-time offer, and I was paying down student loans at the same time. It ended up really helping me with networking after graduation, and I got new opportunities because of it and the non-traditional approach they had to the MBA in Entrepreneurship that I received.”

Kownatzki says he’s not surprised that networking for some might be one of the biggest takeaways from an MBA program, but he believes it’s also the new opportunities that result in serving as a draw.

“At Pepperdine, we have 50,000 alumni just from the business school here. That certainly affects the size of their networking, and when you’re thinking about a career, it’s a door opener,” he said.

For Love, that door opened right back where he started. He now teaches entrepreneurship in the Wayne State MBA program with his former professors as peers. H said that in the end, everyone was pleased with his decision.

“Well, Mom is certainly happy. She came to my graduation and now uses it as an example to my sisters. She even went back to school again herself and is getting a doctoral business degree,” he said.