Sherwood News

Massive Business Ambitions: Way more people want to go to business school this year

MBA applications have soared 13.2% in 2024

10/25/24 6:08AM

What do NBA all-star Shaquille O’Neal, Republican president George W. Bush, and former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg have in common? They all have an MBA: the graduate-level degree that’s often billed — at least by the schools offering the programs, which can cost more than $200,000 — as a golden ticket into the global corporate elite.

The S-curve

Early classes on the programs likely cover the classic product life cycle, or “S-curve”, which theorizes that most products go through 4 phases: a slow early introduction, rapid growth, maturity, and then decline. With the first MBA introduced in Harvard in 1908, the program is certainly mature, and industry insiders were claiming we’d seen “peak MBA” as recently as February.

But, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s latest annual Application Trends Survey, 2024 has seen record growth in demand for graduate management education, with MBA applications soaring 13% from 2023, following 2 consecutive years of decline.

Grads around the globe are turning to business master’s programs to stand out in the somewhat chilly white-collar job market, with B-School often seen as a surefire way to bolster a resume, especially if the school in question is particularly prestigious. Per the Wall Street Journal, Columbia Business School applications are up 27% from last year, while applications at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Harvard Business School have risen 22% and 21%, respectively.

According to the report, graduate management education programs hosted by US colleges specifically were up 8% year-on-year, driven by the number of American applicants rising almost 19%.

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American Airlines joins the flock, hiking bag fees amid higher jet fuel prices

American Airlines on Thursday announced that it, too, will be hiking the fees it charges customers to check luggage.

With the move, all four of the major US airlines, which together control about 80% of the US market, have now hiked their baggage fees in recent days amid surging jet fuel prices.

The change will go into effect on tickets bought on or after Thursday, the same day Southwest’s hike begins.

Since late March, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Canada’s WestJet, and Southwest have hiked their fees. Experts expect more major carriers to follow, and to potentially tweak the pricing of other ancillary revenue sources like seat assignments and carry-on luggage.

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The change will go into effect on tickets bought on or after Thursday, the same day Southwest’s hike begins.

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Less than a year after implementing them, Southwest is also hiking its bag fees

Southwest Airlines has joined the growing list of airlines opting to hike their bag fees amid sustained higher jet fuel costs.

Starting today, the first checked bag at the carrier — which implemented bag fees less than a year ago — will jump from $35 to $45, and the second from $45 to $55. Southwest quietly disclosed the change Tuesday.

Southwest assigned the decision to “part of an ongoing analysis of the business and against the evolving global backdrop.”

As of Wednesday, jet fuel prices dropped to $4.16 a gallon, per the Argus US Jet Fuel Index, down from $4.81 on Tuesday following President Trump’s ceasefire announcement, which sent travel stocks soaring. Major airlines have shed some of those gains in premarket trading Thursday.

With the move to hike bag fees, Southwest joins JetBlue, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Canada’s WestJet, all of which also boosted fees this month. Experts expect more major carriers to follow, and to potentially tweak the pricing of other ancillary revenue sources like seat assignments and carry-on luggage.

Three US airlines have already hiked baggage fees. More are likely on the way.