A July 29 Bloomberg Businessweek article on MBA admissions details a growing trend among MBA applicants and matriculating students: more than 51% of students choose their MBA program based upon the local economy’s strength rather than the school name or rank. That’s a 10% increase from the 2011 version of this same report.
The results come from MBA news outlet Quacquarelli Symonds’s MBA applicant report. QS analysts believe the shift toward regional economy-driven MBA study comes from new students’ desire to reap immediate benefits from their degrees rather than drawing out the employment process and deferring success. Some applicants who seek out area economic stability are choosing to study abroad in the growing economies of Germany, Switzerland, and China. Others come to the US for study only to immediately return to their country of origin to practice business, a phenomenon known as boomeranging.
For New York’s many MBA programs, this trend will, no doubt, prove extremely advantageous. Already a hub for the financial industry, the City is moving to the forefront of other industries that appeal to MBA program graduates. Employers continue to invest in New York by moving or expanding their technology, marketing and tourism, and export businesses—just to name a few—to NYC.
Business schools in the City have are well aware of the competitive value of their location. Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration, for example, coined the slogan, “New York is my campus. Fordham is my school.” In addition, virtually all NYC-based MBA programs make use of the local economy during, rather than just after, the MBA program by connecting their students to local professionals and mentors.
Location will always be a strong selling point for NYC MBA programs, and as the economy continues to thrive in the City, more and more applicants will seek out these NYC programs and join a thriving local network of business professionals.
