오늘자 Wall Street Journal Business 섹션 첫 페이지에 실린 기사인데, 새삼스런 얘기는 아니지만 그래도 현재 분위기를 대략적으로 잘 보여주는 것 같아 공유합니다.
제가 느끼는 요즘 분위기는, 여전히 MBA 어드미션을 받을 만한 candidacy가 뛰어난 international candidate들은 예전과 변함없이 지원을 하고, 학교들의 유인책상 스컬러십도 전보다 높은 가능성으로 받는 등 (그러나 tuition도 지속적으로 상승하기 때문에 학교 입장에선 남는 장사) 별다른 차이가 없어 보입니다. 예전대비 허수 지원 (일단 한번 지원해보자)이 많이 없어졌겠죠.
다만 상위 지원자들 간의 mix는 한쪽으로 치우져지는 것 같습니다. 제가 나온 학교는 Class of 17-18 즈음을 기점으로 (트럼프 정부) 아예 한국에서 오는 학생들의 profile이 달라지기 시작하더니, 몇 년째 확연히 높아진 비중으로 MBB/외국계 BB IB 혹은 홍싱 PE/VC/HF 출신들과 시민권자/이중국적자/그린카드 홀더, IVY 언더들이 옵니다. 학교에서도 employability에 신경을 더 쓰기 시작하면서 risk-averse한 모습을 보여주는 것 같아 한편으로는 이해가 가지만 한편으로는 진정한 의미의 diversity가 퇴색되는 것 같아 안타깝기도 하네요.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/elite-m-b-a-programs-report-steep-drop-in-applications-11571130001
(아래 기사는 Printed version이고 위 링크는 online version인데 온라인상의 data들이 더 구체적이네요)
Applications to some of America’s most elite business
schools fell at a steeper rate this year as universities struggled to attract
international students amid changes to immigration policies and political
tensions between the U.S. and China.
The declines affected some of the nation’s top-rated
programs, with Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, among others, all reporting larger year-over-year
drops in business-school applications. Some, such as Dartmouth College’s Tuck
School of Business, had double-digit percentage declines. Overall,
applications to American M.B.A. programs fell for a fifth straight year,
according to new data from the nonprofit Graduate Management Admission Council,
an association of business schools that administers the GMAT admissions test.
In the latest academic cycle ended this spring, U.S. business schools received
135,096 applications for programs including the traditional master of business
administration degree, down 9.1% from the prior year, according to
an annual survey.
Last year applications for U.S. business
programs fell 7%. The M.B.A. was once considered de rigueur for
anyone wanting to join the management ranks of U.S. companies, especially for
international students, offering a pathway to leadership and a bigger payday.
But shifts in U.S. immigration policy, trade and political tensions with China,
as well as the growing attractiveness of technology- industry jobs that don’t
require M.B.A. degrees, have recently damped foreign students’ enthusiasm for
business school.
Meanwhile, a hot domestic job market has cooled the
interest of many Americans in the traditional two-year M.B.A. path.
Millennials, many of whom are saddled with debt loads from their
undergraduate degrees, have proved more reluctant than previous generations to
pursue the pricey degree.
“A lot of individuals, a lot of terrific international
applicants, they’re choosing not to apply to any U.S. schools,” said Matthew J.
Slaughter, dean of the
Tuck School at Dartmouth. A growing concern for international
students is that they won’t be able to obtain employment visas
to stay in the U.S. after graduation, he said.
The U.S. government issues 85,000 H-1B visas annually to
highly skilled workers through a lottery, but demand far exceeds the supply.
The Trump administration has sought to overhaul the visa system. It is
increasingly requesting supplemental information to support H-1B applications
and is denying more petitions, government data shows.
The decline in applications from international students
to American programs is stark. In the U.S., international applications fell by
13.7% this year, according to GMAC. Canada and Europe, meanwhile, saw
international applications rise.
China still sends more business- school students abroad
than any other country, but more of its students are choosing schools within
Asia, where programs have proliferated. Applications to business schools in
China rose 5.2% this year, fueled by domestic applications within the country,
according to GMAC data.
“There’s perception, which we absolutely pick up in
our data, that the U.S. is not a welcoming environment,” said Sangeet Chowfla,
GMAC’s chief executive.
To counteract the decline in applications, many schools
are stepping up recruitment. This spring, Columbia Business School streamed a
class from its popular “Leadership Through Fiction” course, which gleans
leadership lessons from works such as HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” said Michael
Robinson, a director of admissions.
Mr. Robinson said he and his colleagues have been making
more trips overseas to recruit international students. In the most recent year,
Columbia Business School’s applications declined, but at a lower rate than the
prior year.
Smaller applicant pools mean schools dangle higher
scholarship amounts at students, said Stacey R. Kole, deputy dean for M.B.A.
programs at the University of Chicago, one of the few top-rated schools where
applications rose. “The incentives to join programs have gotten sweeter,” she
said.
Elite institutions, until recently, had
largely avoided the decline in student interest that had plagued
smaller and less prestigious programs. This year, Harvard
Business School drew 9,228 applicants, a 6.7% decline from the prior year,
its biggest drop since 2005.
In a blog post, Chad Losee, managing director for M.B.A.
admissions and financial aid, attributed the drop, in part, to Harvard’s
decision to eliminate a round of applications to streamline the admissions
process. Mr. Losee provided figures showing applications would have declined
only about 1% if the school had a comparable number of rounds last year.
At Stanford, applications fell about 6% to 7,342, a
steeper decline than the prior year. A spokeswoman said the school’s
applications fluctuate year to year and noted the latest group includes
slightly more international students and a record number of women, at 47% of
the class.
Bill Boulding, dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of
Business, said he is optimistic that applications to business schools will
recover over time. Many schools are making changes to their programs, offering
specialized degrees in fields such as data analytics, or finding ways to give
graduates access to additional courses after graduation at little or no cost.
“Business schools aren’t going to go out of business, but
they will change,” Mr. Boulding said.
He and others are pushing for shifts to immigration
policy to make it easier for students to work in the U.S. after graduation.
Along with deans from dozens of competing business
schools, Mr. Boulding signed an open letter to President Trump and
congressional leaders set to be released Tuesday. It calls for changes to the
H-1B visa process and the creation of a “heartland” visa to incentivize people
to move to regions in need of skilled workers.