Admitify’s Paul Bodine Weighs in on MBA Application Trends for Poets & Quants

Founder Paul Bodine was quoted in a Poets & Quant’s piece by Marc Ethier on trends in MBA applications. In contrast to a Wall Street Journal article that suggested that application volume declined in 2021, Poets & Quants emphasized that only Kellogg and Columbia saw a decline in apps from 2020 to 2021. The aggregate application volume from 13 top schools represented an increase of 5,000 applications from 2020 to 2021.

Paul Bodine commented on the bigger picture trends in application volume:

“As John Byrne and multiple admissions directors have noted, the expectation was for a so-so year this cycle in terms of applicant volume, because Covid is still rampaging in many parts of the world,” Bodine tells P&Q. “The expectation was that pent-up demand would explode next year (2022-23 cycle). That sounded plausible to me a few months ago but now I’m not so sure: the Delta variant and the unexpectedly high number of non-vaxxers, combined with the hot labor market and the still slow pace of vaccinations in many parts of the world, suggest to me that we may not return to ‘normal’ applicant volumes until 2023-24.

“But I disagree with doomsayers who say that applicant volume at the elite/top 10 schools will never recover. I still think the ROI and ‘network effects’ of a top 10 MBA remains compelling. Geopolitical factors such as declining applications from China may suppress international applicant volume in the short-term, but long-term I see applicant volume at top MBA programs reverting to the historical trend lines.” Read the full article and other admissions comments here.  

If application volumes do take off next year, applicants who apply for Round 2 deadlines this coming January may benefit from better odds than if they wait until next year. Admitify’s world-class admissions team is ready to help you position yourself for admissions success at your dream schools.