The Mba Degree Stages A Comeback Numbers Increase For First Time Since Late 1980s

The MBA is back in business.

For the first time since the late 1980s, the number of people taking the test required for graduate business school admission has increased, and universities that offer master’s degrees in business administration are reporting record numbers of applicants.

Educators credit an exploding interest in entrepreneurship and a looming anxiety about having enough credentials to protect against potential layoffs. But the primary reason for the upturn, they say, is the strength of the economy.

“People hesitate to leave their jobs when the economy is bad,” said Jill Fadule, director of admissions at the Harvard Graduate School of Business. “Because there are really good job prospects for MBAs right now, I think it’s a lot easier for people to take that plunge.”

Harvard received 8,050 applications for the 870 spots available in the class beginning in the fall, up 16 percent from last year and the most in the school’s history.

Nationally, 80 percent of 121 business schools surveyed by the Graduate Management Admission Council reported an increase in applications; one in four said they had 20 percent more applicants than last year.

“It’s been very gratifying on the one hand, but it’s logistically a nightmare,” said Don Martin, admissions director at the University of Chicago business school, which had a 10 percent increase in applications this year.

Martin said the school is likely to be overenrolled and will have to find a way to squeeze in at least 40 extra students beyond the usual 500.

Students, many of them several years out of college, say their undergraduate degree is not enough to land them good jobs or advancement.

“Graduate study is the way to go if you want to stand out among your colleagues,” said Anthony Riggio, 25, who will enter the University of Michigan Business School this fall after quitting his job in an international financial consulting firm. “Nowadays, to get into any of the top companies, you have to have an advanced degree.”

The number of people who have registered for the Graduate Management Admission Test rose nearly 8 percent worldwide and 4 percent in the United States this year after four years of flat growth or declines.

“When the stock market crashed in ‘87, a lot of MBAs were out of work, and there was a really tough time in 1990 also,” said Fadule. “There was this feeling that, if these degrees were so valuable, why were all these people on the street?”

In fact, she said, executives with MBAs predominated in the industries most vulnerable to the recession. Since then, “there has been a fair bit of positive press again about the kind of jobs people are being offered, and the salaries.”

Many business programs say they have another waiting list these days: of corporate recruiters lining up to hire their graduates.