GMAT Volume: Change is blowing in the wind

GMAC has recently posted two articles on GMAT volume. The first article reports that worldwide 2004 GMAT volume declined by 6.6% from 2003 .  At the same time, as I noted in a previous post on GMAT volume, the decline tailed off at the end of the year. Indeed, this article highlights December increases in India, China,  and Europe, which pushed up December volume in these regions over November's by healthy margins.

The second article compares January 2005 GMAT volume to January 2004 and actually reports, for the first time in two years, an increase of  4.8% over the previous year. Do these stats represent a turnaround in the b-school market?

Although it is really too soon to tell if this is the beginning of a trend, I have long felt and written that this was a great year to apply because application volume is down. I have also suspected that the pendulum would begin to swing back starting next year.  If MBA hiring continues at a good clip and the media reports six-figure pay packages for newly-minted MBAs, next year will be a more competitive year than this year or last year.

What does it mean for you? It means that if you are a marginal candidate for the school that you are really interested in, you should either improve your profile in preparation for your Fall 2005 application or strongly consider a third round application. 

For practical tips on improving your profile, check out Best Practices for 2005 MBA Admissions. For a quick review of Best Practices, please see this recent post on my BW Forum thread (BTW, the thread passed 11,000 posts today!)

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