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for Applicants Angling A marked decline in application volume to full-time U.S. MBA programs has caused consternation among many management educators. Our con- cerns are evidenced by a survey of 352 graduate business programs con- ducted in June 2004 by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) and the Executive MBA Council. It found that 78 percent of full-time, two-year MBA programs reported a decline in application volume between the 2002– 2003 and 2003–2004 academic years. Moreover, the number of GMAT test takers fell from a peak of 228,500 in 1997 to just under 182,000 in 2004—a 20 percent decline in the number of potential MBA students. GMAT test- taking volume is down 18 percent just since 2002, indicating that most of this decline has happened in the last two years. The MBA Roundtable also estimates the decline in applica- tions to be about 15 to 25 percent for the 2003–2004 admissions cycle. These statistics point to a decline that compounds what has gen- by Mark Zupan illustration by Dave Cutler erally been a softening market for full-time MBA applications since the late 1990s. If only a few schools were seeing this decline, we might be able to localize the cause to individual campuses or regions. But the trend seems to affect business schools across the board. For instance, Kenneth Dunn, dean of Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, noted that the school's full- time applications were running 30 percent lower in 2003–2004 than in 2002–2003. The reported decline in applications in 2003–2004 34 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2005 More and more business schools are fishing for MBAs from the same applicant pool. To bring in the best catch, each school must position its boat carefully, cast a broad net, and offer more tempting bait on its hook.