Women make 36% of MBA applicants

Global Share Declines From 40% In 2012

Hemali Chhapia TNN 

Graduate business schools that participated in the latest Application Trends Survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reported receiving 1.21 lakh applications from women, which represented 36% of the applicant pool of the 2013-2014 academic year. 
    In 2012, women had formed 40% of the applicant pool. But this time, their share contracted a little, particularly in professional MBA courses and specialized master’s programmes. Only in two programmes was there an increase in the share: master’s of accounting programmes got 59% applications from women, up from 56% last year; and the master’s programmes in IT management received 45% applications from women, compared with 40% in 2012. 
    In contrast, the share of women applicants decreased this year for the master’s of finance and master’s in management courses as well as for full-time one-year, flexible, part-time, executive and online MBA programmes. The full-time two-year MBA programme applications from women were 39% of the total pool this year, same as in 2012. 
    Although the 2013 application volume trends for women mirrored the overall downward trend for some programmes, anywhere from a third to over a half of the programmes in the latest GMAC study received increased applications from women. In several courses, the growth in application volume from women exceeded the growth in application volume from men. 
    More than half (53%) the master’s in management programmes reported increased applications from women, compared with 43% that received increased applications from men. Executive, flexible and part-time MBA programmes showed a similar trend—a greater percentage of these reported volume growth in female applicants that outpaced the volume growth in male applicants.

Source::: The Times of India, 25-09-2013, p.08, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW