My Guilty Pleasure: The MBA Comparison Game

Just going through the backlog of random b-school information that I have lying around my computer, and thought I would share some of the statistics that have come through.

The recession has been blamed for a lot of things. One of the biggest complaints for a b-school candidate is that, because the recession has severely limited the supply of jobs, a lot of the unemployed a.) want to improve their chances at getting a job, which usually entails going back for higher education and b.) the unemployed search for something to do, which also pushes them toward more education. 

Poets & Quants released some figures that indicated that for Stanford, one of the top business schools in the nation, applications overall are actually down 8.9% between 2008 and 2011. Other interesting facts include that (for Stanford), they have increased the percentage of U.S. minorities in the student body (from a low of 21% in 2009) to an all-time high of 29% for the class of 2013. Average GMAT scores across the board increased by 1 point to an average of 731 (Seriously, the testing madness really needs to stop. When the average for top schools is staying in the 90th percentile or higher, it becomes pretty clear that people are really just cramming for these tests, spending way too much money--I'm guilty of this-- in hopes that these numbers will give them the edge they need. /Rant over.)

Though, the worry about the influx of application volume isn't without some grounds. We've seen that applicants in 2008 had a work experience range of 0-11 years, increased dramatically in 2009 to 0-21. Dropped again in 2010 to 0-13, and seems to have ticked up again to 0-18 for the class of 2013. 

Veritas Prep also released the results of their survey of 2011 MBA applicants, where they asked questions about motivations for an MBA, aspirations and b-school selection. 70% of the applicants hoped to use an MBA to switch careers (no surprise there), and a lot of people lied on the survey-- 71% stated their motivations to be an interest in the way business shapes society, whereas 54% admitted that they hoped to attain a prestigious, high paying job as their main motivator. I assume that multiple options were allowed, and that hopefully there was a lot of overlap, because if people honestly are just interested in the way business shapes society, they should probably just become consultants and save themselves about 120 grand. Just sayin'.

Ironically, 25% of applicants claim that consulting is their area of focus upon graduation.

I have to admit that I am addicted to the handicap MBA game that they're playing on Poets & Quants right now, because they take profiles of real people and then assess the likelihood of them getting into the schools that they want. The logic is fascinating, the profiles are interesting and it's fun to know what you're up against. It's all of my guilty interests all in one place! Enjoy!