According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the last year showed an increase of only 4% in the number of international applicants to 2011 U.S. MBA programs. This number is low given the percentage of growth in the number of international applicants to other advanced degrees in the U.S. Also, among the 25 MBA programs that grant the largest number of degrees to international students, there was even a decrease of 4% in the number of Fall 2011 applicants.

These findings are supported by GMAC (the company responsible for the GMAT test) data. Less than 78% of test results were sent to U.S. schools in 2010, compared with 83% in 2006. This must also be considered in terms of an overall increase in tests taken plus the fact that the number of tests taken by non-U.S. citizens surpassed those taken by U.S. citizens.

An additional relevant finding is that some of the schools have fallen in recent rankings. For example, in the latest global rankings by The Financial Times U.S. schools took only 24 of the top 50 spots, compared with 31 in 2007. This points to a great advance by business schools around the world (especially in Europe and India) that currently present a good alternative to international applicants, allowing them to study in their homeland rather than emigrating to the U.S.

Put Me in Business (applying in less than a year)
Put Me in Business (applying in more than a year)