M.B.A.’s Lose Their Luster at Some Business Schools

[Updated, 9/17/2012, 2 p.m., with information from an annual survey tracking applications to M.B.A. programs.]

The decline in this year’s applications numbers follows a boom from 2007 to 2009, when prospective students were probably attracted to programs that could bolster their résumés in a tight job market.

On Monday the Graduate Management Admission Council released the results of its annual survey tracking applications to M.B.A. programs. This year’s survey found that 44 percent of all full-time programs saw application increases, compared with 37 percent of full-time programs last year.

Applications declined sharply at some elite business schools in 2012, with interest in full-time, two-year M.B.A. programs weakening as applicants opt instead for shorter or part-time graduate business programs or forego school altogether in favor of on-the-job learning.

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