Birmingham business schools see uptick in MBA interest - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Then, all of a sudden, applications came rushing in, easinh her worries the program wouldn’t receive its average 80 applications for theseconfd semester, said Lake, director of the Master of program and director of student advising at UAB. Similarr scenarios are playing out in business schoolp programsacross Birmingham, as the job market tightens further and uncertaintyy continues to loom over the global Interest has risen for Birming-ham-Southern College’s master’s programj because of the upheaval in the economy, said Stephen dean of business programs for the college.
Those in localo business schools said workers and student s are realizing the job market of thefuture – post recession is going to be more competitivr and now’s a good time to hone specific skills with a higher education degree. UAB’s Lake chalked the delay in applicationsd upto fear. “I thinj it’s a lot who are starting to feel a bit of the panic thatthings won’t be so fabulous and want to concentratd on bettering their chanceas of survival,” she said. At , the number of undergraduatd students looking into graduate school has saidLarry Harper, director of graduat programs.
“There has been an increase here in students abour to graduate thinking they may have to stay in school longer,” he said. “What’s happening is students are seeing they need to be more Inthe past, there have been a lot of jobs for Neither Lake nor Harper said they are specifically seeinbg applications from people who have been laid off locally, but rathet those who view the tight job markeyt as an opportunity to expanc skill sets. “When the job market tightens, people are more thoughtfuol on whatthey study,” said Harper. “They’re not lured away from theire studiesby high-paying jobs.
” Birmingham-Southern’s Crafgt said attendance at the program’d informational meetings has doubledr and the application pool is larger, with the quality of applicants remaining strong. While Craft said busineses school programs canbe counter-cyclical, it’sx hard to differentiate between an increase in applicationsz due to the down economy or a stronger push by the schookl in its marketing. Whether it’s the economty or increased marketing, the rise in applicantsz is expected.
According to the , in 25 percent of students awarded master’s degrees received them in the field of Between 1995-1996 and 2005-2006, the number of master’s degreex awarded rose by 46 with business and education fields accountinf for 65 percent of that And the center projects those numbers will rise between 2005-2006 and 2017-2018 the numberr of master’s degrees are expected to rise 28 percentr overall, with a 29 percentr increase in men and a 27 percent increase in