According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2012 Application Trends Survey, 62% of full-time two-year MBA programs saw a decline in applications this year. Paradoxically, the number of GMAT tests taken hit a record high during the 2012 testing year (TY2012)—test data which follows an already entrenched upward trend in total tests taken.
The explanation lies in the veritable boom of graduate aspirants interested in obtaining specialized master’s degrees. A Bloomberg Businessweek article takes a closer look at what students want and what universities have been doing about it over the last five years. Posed as a response to market demands, b-schools began amping up and diversifying offered MS programs as a complement to established MBA programs. Of course, while markets do make demands, one cannot help but contemplate the implications of the ideas Jared Diamond poses in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Namely, that curiosity, not necessity, is the mother of invention and that invention, in fact, is what feeds necessity.
Chicken-and-egg argument aside, the simple truth is that MS programs in Accounting, Finance, Management, Information Systems, Supply Chain Management, Marketing Analytics, and several others are seeing massive interest. But, who is supplying this interest? Turns out, if we go back and have a look at the GMAT test taking data, therein lies the answer.
Forty-seven percent of GMAT test takers in TY2012 were under 25 years of age. As it turns out, candidates for the aforementioned specialized master’s degree programs tend to have at most two years of work experience; a stark contrast to the five to six average that describes most b-school cohorts. Young professionals across the globe at the start of their careers are seeking ways in which to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive job market. Without the work experience virtually required for admission to top MBA programs, MS degrees that take nine to sixteen months to complete are a great way for these early movers to garner attention and even shift industrial gears.
Whether graduate business schools are meeting or creating demand specialized master’s programs are not only here to stay, but will also continue to expand and replicate for the foreseeable future. After all, isn’t a master’s the new bachelor’s?
