HBS’ Leopold predicts 10,000+ apps for 2009
HER MAJESTY CONFIRMS THE OBVIOUS, AND DEIGNS TO TALK TO THE BOSTON HERALD.
said Leopold, who anticipates an even bigger surge in applications this fall for next year’s incoming class [than the 16 percent last year]
PHEW, THAT WOULD MEAN 10,000 APPS. 
No job, no prospects? More flock to biz school
By Jay Fitzgerald
Friday, July 25, 2008 –
The economic downturn has now been academically confirmed: Area business schools are seeing a spike in applications for MBA programs.
For years, academics and economists have noticed a correlation between a poor jobs market and an increase in people returning to schools for advanced degrees, especially for master’s degrees in business.
Sure enough, Harvard Business School reports that applications for this fall’s incoming class jumped by nearly 16 percent, to 8,600 applicants. Other area business schools also report double-digit increases over last year – with MIT’s Sloan School of Management scoring the largest application increase with 28 percent. . . . .
Deidre Leopold, managing director of Harvard’s MBA admissions, said the business school noticed an applicant increase of 10 percent two years ago, when the economy was still in generally good shape.
But the recent downturn, while not as severe as recessions in the past, is clearly driving more and more students to apply.
This past May, Leopold said HBS hosted a “full to capacity” recruitment conference in New York, where prospective applicants were asked if they had “uncertainties” in their econommic lives.
“More than half raised their hands,” said Leopold, who anticipates an even bigger surge in applications this fall for next year’s incoming class.
