The MBA Candidate Has Changed. Have Business Schools?

Something interesting happened with CAT 2025. After three straight years of rising registrations, the number dropped from 3.29 lakh in 2024 to 2.95 lakh this year. A fall of about 10 per cent. The easiest explanation is that a stronger job market kept people from leaving work to pursue an MBA. That may be partly true. But for those of us who work closely with students, the shift feels deeper than that. Today’s management education candidate is not the same person they were five years ago.

The GMAC Prospective Students Survey 2026, covering 4,253 respondents across 145countries, gives us a clear picture. With Gen Z making up 75 per cent of the sample, the findings reflect a generation that is more practical, more informed, and far more direct about what it wants from business education. In 2022, 58 per cent of candidates said they wanted a graduate business degree to switch careers. By 2025, that number had dropped to 42 per cent. The big career pivot is no longer the main story. Candidates are now looking for focused business knowledge, stronger skills, and better long-term earning potential. They are also asking tougher questions about return on investment. Rankings as a top-three decision factor fell from 37 per cent to 29 per cent in just one year. What is replacing it is far more outcome-driven: placements, salary growth, recruiter access, and proof that the programme delivers.

AI is another major part of this shift. According to GMAC, 56 per cent of full-time MBA candidates now consider AI coursework essential, compared to just 29 per cent in 2022. More than half of business programmes globally have already started teaching it. GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey, based on 1,108 hiring managers across 46 countries, found that AI fluency is now seen as the most important skill for the future workplace. The question is no longer whether AI belongs in business education. Students already expect it.

Globally, graduate management education applications grew by 7 per cent in 2025, but the growth is uneven. Western Europe has overtaken the United States as the preferred destination among non-US candidates. For Indian business schools, this creates a real opportunity. Half of candidates who chose not to study abroad said they believed good programmes were available at home. But opportunity alone is not enough. Indian business schools now have to respond to a candidate who reads placement data before the brochure copy, expects AI in the curriculum, and is willing to walk away from programmes that cannot justify their fees. The MBA candidate has changed. The schools that understand this will not just attract more applicants. They will build far more relevant institutions.