Crisis? What crisis?

30 October 2026

Andrew Crisp considers the latest news about MBA applications and how schools may need to change their approach.

Crisis, what crisis? was the title of CarringtonCrisp’s first Tomorrow’s MBA report, published in 2009 just after the global financial crisis.  Despite MBAs being widely blamed in the media for the excesses that fuelled the global financial crisis, the report found strong and continuing demand for the degree.

Fast-forward 17 years as we prepare to launch the next round of Tomorrow’s MBA and the crisis may be becoming real.  New GMAC data shows a 13% year-on-year global decline in applications for the MBA, MIT announced more than a 1000 fewer applications for its MBA last year and Poets&Quants suggests a further double-digit percentage decline in round one applications at leading US schools in the current recruitment round.

So what is going on?  Undoubtedly, visa and political issues are impacting applications to the USA, with some of those candidates choosing Europe or moving within Asia; the GMAC data confirms as much.  Visa tightening in the UK, Australia and Canada is probably growing this impact.  Germany passed 400,000 international students last year.

Unlike 2009, applicants now have many other choices instead of an MBA.  For some, a specialist Master’s in a particular field looks like a better alternative to meet their career goals.  Others might decide to take a series of short courses offered by one of the leading business school brands, a cheaper option which may also be more attractive to an employer funding the development of their staff, and some will consider the growing number of quality online MBAs which don’t mean interrupting a career and forgoing income.

Perhaps more important is whehter MBA applicants want a different type of MBA? The debate triggered by the recent NYT article suggesting it was time to close, or at the very least, reinvent business schools, focused on many of those schools with strong MBA cohorts.  Yet few have stood still since 2009 and have reinvented their curricula; whether that goes far enough is for another article.

However, 16 years of the Tomorrow’s MBA study suggest a growing demand for something new.  Inevitably, the role, use and potential of technology, especially AI, is to the fore unlike 16 years ago.  There is an ongoing demand for ethical leadership, diversity, equality and inclusion, global challenges and responsible management to be included as core themes of study, and a wish for a more personalised experience to drive the ROI that so many seek in their studies. 

The top four reasons for not taking an MBA are all financial, whether it is the end goal of ROI, the fees of study, the absence of scholarships or a fear of not being able to pay back loans to cover fees.  Other work suggests cost of living is also creating pressures on students, especially when considering full-time study.

The MBA has rarely stood still, innovating, adapting, changing to meet student and employer demand.  Now that change is required more than ever, in many different ways.  So what does your MBA look like tomorrow?

The next round of Tomorrow’s MBA will be going live in mid-November, providing schools around the world with insights into the minds of applicants as well as the data specific to their school to build a sustainable future.  If your school would like to take part in the study, get in touch at info@carringtoncrisp.com for details of costs, timings and what to do next.