Berkeley Haas

Essay Guide 2024-2025: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

And, we’re off! The 2024-2025 MBA Admissions Season has begun! 

Berkeley Haas has released updated application requirements and deadlines for their full-time MBA. It’s never too early to start thinking about your essay responses. 

Round       Application Deadline           Decision Notification

Round 1       12 September 2024             12 December 2024

Round 2       09 January 2025                27 March 2025

Round 3       03 April 2025                     08 May 2025

The Admissions Committee at Berkeley Haas seeks a holistic understanding of applicants, including “all aspects of a candidate’s character, qualifications, and experiences.” The school places a high value on putting together a diverse class that represents a wide array of industries and backgrounds. 

All MBA programs look for applicants to demonstrate their abilities in innovation (critical, creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork. In addition, Berkeley Haas defines four leadership principles you should pay particular attention to while brainstorming and writing. These include “Challenge the Status Quo,” “Confidence without Attitude,” “Students Always”, and “Beyond Yourself.” 

Required Essay 1: What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)

The Haas Admissions Committee asks this question to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. They want to better understand your passion(s) and what qualities and interest(s) you will bring to the program. 

To get started, consider what “feeling most alive” means to you. Is it working towards something meaningful? Overcoming an obstacle? Entering a flow state? What experiences in your past have made time disappear? Then consider your interests, hobbies, work, and volunteer experiences. Keep in mind that the activity itself matters less than the joy and personal growth that has resulted from your experiences. So choose something you feel authentically passionate about rather than what you believe the Admissions Committee wants to hear.

Once you feel confident with what you want to write about, take a deep dive into one specific instance in the activity. Then explain the role of the activity in your life. What has it taught you about yourself, about others? How does your participation in the activity continue to inspire your growth? 

Take a look at our writing process to help you craft a strong narrative.

Required Essay 2 (Updated): What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals? (300 words max)

Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations.

Although this question asks about your short- and long-term goals and how a Haas MBA will help you achieve them, you will want to anchor this essay in the past. Because what you’ve already done, learned, and achieved is far more important than what you haven’t—what you say you want to do in the future. To fully satisfy the objective of this prompt, go into your backstory and detail the key moments that influenced you and the formation of your goals. Your resume will provide an overview of your professional path to date, but this is your chance to provide a deep dive into your most pivotal experiences. Once the reader has taken this trip to your past, your proposed path forward and why Haas will be the perfect fit, will make much more sense.

See also: Anatomy of a Successful MBA Application: Show Meaningful Professional Experience

Required Essay 3 (Updated): One of our goals at Berkeley Haas is to develop leaders who value diversity and to create an inclusive environment in which people from different ethnicities, genders, lived experiences, and national origins feel welcomed and supported. Describe any experience or exposure you have in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging whether through community organizations, personal, or in the workplace?

Candidates seeking consideration for mission-aligned fellowships may use this space to reflect on their commitment to the mission of those fellowships. (300 words max)

Berkeley has updated this question from a short-answer response, last year, to a full essay this year.

This question prompts you to explore how you have and will continue to thrive in diverse environments. What have been your most meaningful experiences connecting with those unlike yourself? What have you learned? You should choose one or two anecdotes to anchor your response and explore how these instances impacted your perspective and reinforced your desire to promote a sense of community at Berkeley Haas and throughout your career.  

See also: Anatomy of a Successful MBA Application: Show Compatibility in Close Knit and Collaborative Communities

Required Video Essay: The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which leadership principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life. (Not to exceed 2 minutes.) 

To start, familiarize yourself with the Haas Four Defining Leadership Principles. Which one resonates most with you? Why? Which of your personal and/or professional experiences will most compellingly show how you live one of these values in your daily life? 

Create an outline of ideas and practice delivering your content aloud. You’ll want to include a brief introduction (~20 seconds), an explanation of why your chosen principle resonates with you (~45 seconds), a deep dive into a specific experience that shows how you live that principle (~45 seconds), and a brief conclusion (~10 seconds). 

In addition to gauging your understanding of the Berkeley Haas’s culture, the Admissions Committee will also look to evaluate your communication skills and poise. 

Tips for filming your video include:

  • Set the lights. Place a light in front of you so that your face is clearly visible on the screen (backlighting will result in shadows). You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. 

  • Dress professionally. Put your best foot forward by dressing professionally, similar to how you would dress for an in-person interview. 

  • Prepare, but don’t script yourself. You’ll want the admissions committee to see the real you. Think strategically about the points you want to highlight in each video, but don’t memorize a script. 

  • Note your pace. When nerves hit, people tend to speak too quickly. Practice delivering your response out loud, and ensure you can get through all of your points at a steady pace within two minutes. 

Optional Information #1: We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements.

The Haas Admissions Committee calls out its understanding that not all applicants have had the same opportunities and that they consider the context of an applicant’s environment when evaluating their experiences. They value those who display “maturity, perseverance, and thoughtfulness” in periods of hardship or difficult circumstances.

Use this space to provide any additional context that you would like the admissions committee to keep in mind while reviewing your application. Did you have responsibilities at home that required you to choose an undergraduate institution in your home town over a more prestigious choice farther away? Did you have caregiving responsibilities throughout your junior and senior years that made it difficult to maintain your GPA? Or an extenuating circumstance that impacted your ability to earn a promotion? 

Do not exaggerate your circumstances, but do share any challenges that you’ve had to overcome in your academic and professional pursuits. 

Optional Information #2: This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate.

This essay is for additional context around a weak spot in your application. Did you get a C in calculus? Or withdraw from your courses your sophomore year to help a family member? Do you feel that your lackluster GMAT score isn’t indicative of your abilities? Were you laid off? 

If you are going to address a low grade in an analytical course or a low GMAT score, don’t make excuses. Spend the majority of your word count demonstrating your ability to excel in rigorous academic or professional environments by using specific examples. Provide information on similar classes in which you achieved excellent grades or give details about a professional pursuit that resulted in success. Similarly, to address an employment gap resulting from a layoff, explain the situation and then share the productive ways in which you filled your time during the gap. 

If you are speaking to a more sensitive situation, perhaps a big mistake or legal issue that impacted your GPA, spend approximately 20 percent of your essay addressing the situation. Then use the remaining 80 percent on the actions you took to improve and what happened as a result. Again, do not make excuses. Simply address the situation, placing the emphasis on what you learned. Everyone makes mistakes. Taking accountability and moving forward demonstrates maturity.

Essay Guide 2024-2025: The Writing Process

Below is a writing process that we recommend. We encourage you to start early so that you have time to work through this iterative process and create your most compelling work. 

Begin with a brainstorm. Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Document your experiences, positive and negative, that prompted an evolution in your perspective—you know, those “ah-ha!” moments without which you would be a different student, professional, and/or person today. Then, record those experiences that will show the reader your abilities in innovation (critical/creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork, as well as those experiences that reinforced your interest in business school. Capture as many details as possible, paying particular attention to what you thought, felt, said, and did in each situation. Your focus should be on adult experiences (from the start of college and later), though stories from your youth could comprise up to 20 percent of this brainstorm.

During your brainstorm, don’t limit yourself by worrying about a cohesive narrative, the quality of your writing, and/or the number/length of your stories. Simply focus on collecting those situations that helped to guide your path to this point and impacted your decision to apply to the MBA program.

Craft an outline. Select the key stories you will use to anchor your narratives. Remember that you’ll use your essays to go deep into experiences that demonstrate the traits you want to emphasize. 

Write. Keep in mind that you must be showing, not telling the reader who you are. In contrast to your resume, which provides a general overview of your experiences, your essay responses should go deep into a story that allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about some of your character traits and abilities. Highlight how you’ve struggled, triumphed, learned, and how these experiences have developed you into the person you are now.

Review. Revise. Repeat. Confirm your word count and read your essay aloud noting where you stumble. Make revisions as necessary. Once it reads smoothly, set it down and walk away for at least 24 hours. Then re-read it. Is it you? Is it personal and authentic? You want the reader to see the real person behind the applicant number. While we caution against “oversharing,” being appropriately vulnerable will create connection. 

Essay Tips: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley Haas has published application deadlines for their full-time MBA, and it’s never too early to start thinking about your essay responses. 

Round Application Deadline Decision Notification

Round 1 14 September 2023 07 December 2023

Round 2 04 January 2024    21 March 2024

Round 3 28 March 2024         02 May 2024

The Admissions Committee at Berkeley Haas wants a holistic understanding of applicants, including “all aspects of a candidate’s character, qualifications, and experiences.” And they care deeply about putting together a diverse class.

All MBA programs look for applicants to demonstrate their abilities in innovation (critical, creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork, but Berkeley Haas specifically defines four leadership principles you should pay particular attention to while brainstorming and writing. These include “Challenge the Status Quo,” “Confidence without Attitude,” “Students Always”, and “Beyond Yourself.” 

Required Essay 1: What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)

The Haas Admissions Committee asks this question to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. They want to better understand your passion(s) and what qualities and interest(s) you will bring to the program. 

To get started, consider what “feeling most alive” means to you. Is it working towards something meaningful? Overcoming an obstacle? Entering a flow state? What experiences in your past have made time disappear? Then consider your interests, hobbies, work, and volunteer experiences. Keep in mind that the activity itself matters less than the joy and personal growth that has resulted from your experiences. So choose something you feel authentically passionate about rather than what you believe the Admissions Committee wants to see.

Once you feel confident with what you want to write about, take a deep dive into one specific instance in the activity. Then explain the role of the activity in your life. What has it taught you about yourself, about others, about the world? How does your participation in the activity continue to inspire your growth? 

Take a look at our writing process below to help you craft a strong narrative. 

Required Essay 2: How will an MBA help you achieve your short-term and long-term career goals? (300 words max)

Although this question asks about your future goals and how a Haas MBA will help you achieve them, you will want to anchor this essay in the past. Because what you’ve already done, learned, and achieved is far more important than what you haven’t—what you say you want to do in the future. In order to fully satisfy the objective of this prompt, go into your backstory and detail the key moments that influenced you and the formation of your goals. Your resume will provide an overview of your professional path to date, but this is your chance to provide a deep dive into your most pivotal experiences. Once the reader has taken this trip to your past, your proposed path forward and why Haas will be the perfect fit, will make much more sense.

Required (Video) Essay 3: The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which leadership principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life. (Not to exceed 2 minutes.) 

To start, familiarize yourself with the Haas Four Defining Leadership Principles. Which one resonates most with you? Why? Which of your personal and/or professional experiences will most compellingly show how you live one of these values in your daily life? 

Create an outline of ideas and practice delivering your content aloud. You’ll want to include a brief introduction (20-30 seconds), an explanation of why your chosen principle resonates with you (40-50 seconds), a deep dive into a specific experience that shows how you live that principle (40-50 seconds), and a brief conclusion (10 seconds). 

Consider also how you can best incorporate your personality into your submission. If you have a location or background that will help you tell your story, go for it. And take advantage of the fact that you can record the video as many times as you want.

Tips for filming your video include:

  • Set the lights. Place a light in front of you so that your face is clearly visible on the screen (backlighting will result in shadows). 

  • Dress professionally. Put your best foot forward by dressing professionally, similar to how you would dress for an in-person interview. 

  • Prepare, but don’t script yourself. You’ll want the admissions committee to see the real you. Think strategically about the points you want to highlight in each video, but don’t memorize a script. 

  • Note your pace. When nerves hit, people tend to speak too quickly. Practice delivering your response out loud, and ensure you can get through all of your points at a steady pace within two minutes. 

Required (Short Answer) Essay 3: Can you please describe any experience or exposure you have in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging whether through community organizations, personal, or in the workplace? (150 words max)

This question prompts you to explore how you have and will continue to thrive in diverse environments. What have been your most meaningful experiences connecting with those unlike yourself? What have you learned? With such a limited word count, you should choose one anecdote and explore how it impacted your perspective as well as reinforced your desire to promote a sense of community at Berkeley Haas.  

The Writing Process

Begin with a brainstorm. Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Document your experiences, positive and negative, that prompted an evolution in your perspective—you know, those “ah-ha!” moments without which you would be a different student, professional, and/or person today. Then, record those experiences that will show the reader your abilities in innovation (critical/creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork, as well as those experiences that reinforced your interest in business school. Keep in mind also the Haas Defining Leadership Principles. Capture as many details as possible, paying particular attention to what you thought, felt, said, and did in each situation. Your focus should be on adult experiences (from the start of college and later), though stories from your youth could comprise up to 20 percent of this brainstorm.

During your brainstorm, don’t limit yourself by worrying about a cohesive narrative, the quality of your writing, and/or the number/length of your stories. Simply focus on collecting those situations that helped to guide your path to this point and impacted your decision to apply to the Berkeley Haas MBA program.

Craft an outline. Select the key stories you will use to anchor your narratives. Remember that you’ll use your essays to go deep into experiences that demonstrate the traits you want to emphasize. 

Write. Keep in mind that you must be showing, not telling the reader who you are. In contrast to your resume, which provides a general overview of your experiences, your essay responses should go deep into a story that allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about some of your character traits and abilities. Highlight how you’ve struggled, triumphed, learned, and how these experiences have developed you into the person you are now.  

Review. Revise. Repeat. Confirm your word count and read your essay aloud noting where you stumble. Make revisions as necessary. Once it reads smoothly, set it down and walk away for at least 24 hours. Then re-read it. Is it you? Is it personal and authentic? You want the reader to see the real person behind the applicant number. While we caution against “oversharing,” being appropriately vulnerable will create connection. 

Related:

Essay Tips: Harvard Business School

Essay Tips: The Stanford Graduate School of Business

Essay Tips: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Essay Tips: Columbia Business School

Essay Tips: The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Essay Tips: NYU Stern School of Business

Essay Tips: The Yale School of Management

Essay Tips: The University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Chicago Schools Come Out on Top in U.S. News’ Best MBA Rankings

University of Chicago Booth took the top spot in the newly released U.S. News and World Report’s “Best MBA” ranking. Booth was followed by Northwestern Kellogg at number two. University of Pennsylvania Wharton dropped to number three after sharing the top rank with Booth last year. This year’s rankings utilized an updated methodology with a greater emphasis on outcomes, which caused some shifts within the top 15. Highlights include:

  • Dartmouth Tuck saw the largest uptick, moving from the 11th rank in 2022 to share the 6th rank with Stanford. 

  • USC Marshall climbed four spots to the 15th rank, which it holds alongside Cornell Johnson.

  • Harvard maintained its 5th rank position for the third consecutive year.

  • Stanford, Columbia, and Berkeley Haas all dropped three spots from their positions last year. Columbia and Berkeley fell out of the top 10 into a three-way tie for the 11th rank with Duke Fuqua.

Along with the rankings, U.S. News shared key updates to its methodology, which increased the weight for “Placement Success,” to 50 percent of the overall rank. This is up significantly from 35 percent last year and includes two employment metrics as well as the mean starting salary and bonus for graduates. The overall rank de-emphasized the “Quality Assessment” to 25 percent of the total, down from 40 percent, and includes a peer and recruiter assessment score. “Student Selectivity” makes up the final 25 percent of the rank. It includes undergraduate GPA and acceptance rate, weighted slightly more than in previous years, and standardized test scores, weighted slightly less. 

Rank/School

1 University of Chicago (Booth)

2 Northwestern University (Kellogg)

3 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)

5 Harvard University

6 Dartmouth College (Tuck)

6 Stanford University

8 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross)

8 Yale University

10 New York University (Stern)

11 Columbia University

11 Duke University (Fuqua)

11 University of California, Berkeley (Haas)

14 University of Virginia (Darden)

15 Cornell University (Johnson)

15 University of Southern California (Marshall)

17 Emory University (Goizueta)

18 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)

19 University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)

20 University of Texas--Austin (McCombs)

20 University of Washington (Foster)

22 Indiana University (Kelley)

22 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

24 Georgetown University (McDonough)

24 Rice University (Jones)

Elite MBA Programs Incorporate Online Learning

Even the most elite MBA programs continue to embrace online learning. A recent Business Because article highlighted a few of the recently added options.  

  • The University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) Global Executive MBA will launch in May and provide a predominantly online experience for participants. Just 25 percent of the program will take place in-person, while the remainder of the content will be provided online. The program intends to cater to a global cohort of participants and will confer the same Executive MBA degree, at the same cost, as the in-person Executive MBA.

  • The NYU (Stern) Part-Time MBA will provide online modules (asynchronous online learning combined with an in-person component) and course options for those in the part-time MBA program. The online offerings are intended to provide additional flexibility, however, the program will still require students to take at least nine classes in-person. The tuition and degree conferred are the same for part-time students taking courses in-person or using the hybrid learning model.

  • The University of California Berkeley (Haas) Part-Time Flex MBA will allow students to complete the majority of their coursework online, but do require participation in at least three in-person immersion events. The tuition and degree conferred are the same for the in-person and online part-time programs.

  • The Georgetown (McDonough) Flex MBA Online will offer students the option to complete the majority of their coursework online. In addition to the virtual classes, the program requires students to participate in a two-week on-campus residency as well as a one-week study abroad program. The tuition and degree conferred are the same for the Flex MBA and Flex MBA Online.

More MBA Programs Offer Admissions Accommodations to Laid Off Tech Workers

A number of business schools are joining Northwestern’s Kellogg in offering special admissions accommodations to the tens of thousands of recently laid off tech workers. 

MIT Sloan will extend its Round Two deadline from January 18th to February 23rd for recently laid off tech employees. Applicants will still need to submit the full application, including GMAT/GRE scores. 

Indiana Kelley is offering laid off employees an application fee waiver, and highlights that they offer GMAT/GRE waivers to all applicants (in any round) with a strong past academic record that includes the successful completion of quantitative coursework. Upcoming application deadlines are January 5th, March 1st, and April 15th.

UC-Berkeley Haas is offering any applicant who has been laid off in the past six months (regardless of industry/location) an application fee waiver for the full-time MBA program, as well as an extension for the Round Two application deadline from January 5th to February 2nd. 

NYU Stern announced that it will waive entrance exams for the one-year Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA program (May 2023 start). Upcoming application deadlines are January 15th and February 15th.

Related: Kellogg Waives Standardized Test Requirement for Laid-off Tech Employees

Even After Obtaining an MBA, Women and Minorities Continue to See Pay Gap Compared to Men and Non-Minorities

Earlier this year, the Forte Foundation released survey results reporting that a pay gap continues to exist, even after an MBA, between non-minorities and minorities and men and women. The survey, which included 900 men and women who graduated from MBA programs between 2005 and 2017, collected respondents’ pre-MBA salaries as well as their salaries from their first post-MBA position and currently.

Between non-minority and minority graduates, the pay gap improves somewhat over time, decreasing from 24 percent to 16 percent between pre- and post-MBA salaries, and then continuing to decrease to 12 percent on average for the reported current salary. Minority students, identifying as black, Hispanic, or Native-American, did see the largest return on investment from the MBA with an average pay increase of 76 percent. Minority men reported an 84 percent increase between their pre-MBA salary and their first job after graduation and minority women gained a 70 percent increase on average.

Conversely, the pay gap between men and women appears to increase over time. Pre-MBA, women were paid 3 percent less than men, this gap increases to 10 percent for the post-MBA salary, and widens to 28 percent among the current salaries. The pay differential between white men and minority women is the largest with a difference of 52 percent.  Both genders reported a positive return on investment from the MBA with women gaining a 63 percent salary bump after graduation and men seeing a larger increase of 76 percent.

The gender differential may be explained, partly, by a tendency for men and women to gravitate towards different job functions. Women enter marketing and human resources at higher rates than men, while men are more likely to pursue finance, general management, consulting and IT careers. The study shows that finance and operations are the job functions which contribute most to the gender pay gap, with men earning 60 percent and 48 percent more than women, respectively. Marketing is the only job function where women reported earning more than men (2 percent).

Forte Foundation CEO, Elissa Sangster, warned against attributing the entire gap to job functions. “While some salary disparity can be explained by the job functions women choose, there is likely unconscious bias and other factors at play,” Sangster added. "When we asked women MBAs how they intend to address the gender pay gap they’ve experienced, it’s more common for them to leave the company rather than speak about it with their manager, human resources, or company leadership. This is a wake-up call -- companies need to take proactive steps to lessen the pay gap, or risk losing highly skilled women employees."

While there is a tendency to assume that the differences in men and women’s salaries are related to women’s presumed unwillingness to negotiate, research is now showing that this is not the case. Berkeley Haas Professor, Laura Kray says, “We know that people who negotiate get more than those who don’t, but that’s not a ‘women’s issue’—two-thirds of men don’t negotiate. Women are asking, but they’re not always getting what they ask for, and they’re more likely to be told things that aren’t true.”

Kray recently published research with Margaret Lee, a postdoctoral research fellow, sponsored by the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership, showing that the differentials in total compensation are even more exaggerated than those spotlighted using salary data. The two reviewed surveys from Berkeley Haas alumni who graduated between 1994 and 2014 and work full-time. The data showed that “while men’s base salaries were on average about 8 percent higher than women’s, it’s in the bonuses, share values, and options—which tend to not be tracked as publicly as salaries—where the men’s salaries outpaced women’s. Overall compensation for Haas women MBAs averaged about $290,000, or about 66 percent of men’s $439,000 average. Kray and Lee also linked part of the pay gap to the fact that men manage larger teams than equally qualified women.”

 The Forte Foundation study also included career advancement statistics and found that men on average have garnered more promotions (2.3 vs. 1.8), have more direct reports (3.3 vs 1.8), and have achieved higher organizational rankings (Director level vs. Senior Manager) when compared with women. There were no statistically significant differences in career advancement for minorities versus non-minorities. Just as Sangster suggested, it appears that bias is at play, whether consciously or unconsciously, which contributes to men receiving management and leadership opportunities, earlier than women, with greater associated pay.

Application Volume Drops at Top MBA Programs in US

The Financial Times reported this week that four of the most prestigious business schools in the US saw a drop in MBA application volume for 2018 matriculation. Harvard, NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua, and Berkeley Haas each reported a decrease in applications from 2017 that ranged from 4 percent to 7.5 percent.

According to Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) data, in the US full-time two-year MBA programs’ application volumes have been in decline since 2014. However, this is not consistent across programs. In 2017, those with larger classes (201 or more students) accounted for 6 percent of MBA programs, but 55 percent of applications and 32 percent of enrollments. Larger schools were more likely to report application volume increases in 2017, while smaller were more likely to have experienced decreases. This decrease now appears to have expanded to the large, prestigious MBA programs.

While the decline in applications has not yet affected Harvard’s 11 percent acceptance rate or median GMAT score of 730, it was fairly significant at 4.5 percent. Similarly, NYU Stern reported a nearly 4 percent drop, while Duke Fuqua and Berkeley Haas were at about 6 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

In contrast, MBA application numbers globally continue to increase. “When looked at internationally, graduate business education is a growth stock. Applications to Canadian, European, and Asian schools are increasing at an enormous rate,” said Bill Boulding, Dean of Duke Fuqua. Other admissions representatives who spoke with the Financial Times pointed out a multi-faceted cause for the lower application rates in the US:

  • Decreasing numbers of international applicants to US schools, due to a less welcoming political climate, as well as increasingly rigid immigration requirements.

  • Increasingly competitive European and Asian MBAs, offered in English, for those wanting a global experience. Some of these well-ranked programs also offer expedited timelines.

  • Increasing tuition and a robust economic climate in the US, which increases the cost of an MBA in both direct costs and wages-lost.

  • Increasing interest in part-time, online, and/or one-year MBA programs.

Take-aways for prospective MBA students

  • If you have dual-citizenship, don’t forget to note this on your application. It could be advantageous for you in the admissions process.

  • Be sure to highlight your international experiences and interests in your application. Admissions officers want to create a diverse student body and, with fewer international applicants, these experiences are likely to stand out more.

  • Consider that in strong economic climates, with low unemployment, schools are likely to receive fewer applicants. While this may not significantly change acceptance rates at all of the most prestigious programs, it can provide some benefit with regard to both admissions likelihood, as well as the possibility for substantial merit-based scholarships.

  • Choose your MBA program carefully, rather than automatically selecting a full-time, two-year program. Learn from these trends, by thinking carefully about the type of MBA that will benefit you most. International programs, one-year or expedited programs, and part-time cohort-based programs can all be worthwhile for you and your career.