GMAC Prospective Students Survey. 2025 Report

Abstract

For more than 15 years, the GMAC Prospective Students Survey (PSS) has provided the world's graduate business schools with critical insights into the decision-making processes of people actively applying to, considering, or researching graduate management education (GME) programs. Its questions--covering a diverse range of topics that impact prospective students' application and enrollment decisions--provide school professionals with timely, relevant, and reliable market intelligence to inform how they engage with candidates to build their incoming classes. Respondents include candidates who visited GMAC's web properties (i.e., mba.com, businessbecause.com, gmac.com, gmat.com.cn, and social media accounts) to learn about and prepare applications to GME programs. Respondents may also be members of partner organizations (e.g., Forté Foundation, Beta Alpha Psi) who are interested in GME. This year's report, which considers data collected throughout the 2024 calendar year, continues to explore trends in the candidate pipeline, program preferences, mobility considerations, and career goals. The first section builds on previous years' results with more detailed information about candidate interest in artificial intelligence (AI), along with data from new questions about desired business skills and how candidates might feel about a future employer's position on sustainability. The report then considers candidates' plans for financing their degree as well as their preferred communication channels and decision-making factors. We then explore the latest in our long-tracked trends in degree and format preferences; geographic mobility; and preferred careers. Each section begins with actionable insights for program and recruitment consideration, then expands on some of the key points that emerged from this year's analysis. Survey results are reported as percentages or population parameters, also known as estimates. To assess the magnitude of differences between groups or across survey years, 95 percent confidence intervals are used. When reporting group differences, this report largely discusses and visualizes statistically significant group differences in its analysis, though also comments on results that are not statistically significant but signal interesting trends. Results are weighted with known population figures to make the findings more generalizable to all those interested in pursuing graduate management education worldwide. Region and country-level results are not weighted. This analysis is intended to comment on trends and patterns--not to imply that any one group is monolithic in their preferences and behaviors.