The Graduate Management Admission Council has released a new report analyzing global trends in applications to graduate business schools, including information on women’s representation among applicants to MBA programs and other business master’s degrees.
In an examination of nearly 1,200 graduate programs at 326 business schools in 41 countries, the report found applications from women to MBA programs increased by 6 percent in 2025, significantly higher than men’s 1 percent increase. About 43 percent of all MBA programs included in the study reported year-to-year application growth from women, while 9 percent reported no change and 48 percent reported declines.
Full-time, two-year MBA programs and online MBA programs were the most likely to report increases in applications from women, showing absolute increases of 9 percent and 7 percent in 2025, respectively. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of full-time, two-year MBA programs around the world experienced growth in the number of women applicants. In contrast, executive MBA programs and flexible MBA programs had the largest declines in applications from women, each dropping 13 percent over the past year. Just over a third of these programs reported growth in their number of women applicants.
However, the share of women applicants to MBA programs has typically been the highest among flexible MBA programs, remaining around 46 percent of all applicants to these programs over the past decade. Women have consistently represented the lowest share of executive MBA applicants, rising slightly from 32 percent to 34 percent of all applicants to these programs between 2016 and 2025.
In 2025, business master’s degree programs experienced a collective 5 percent increase in applications from women, while men’s applications grew by 12 percent. Among specific disciplines, total applicants from women grew the most for master of accountancy programs, with an absolute year-to-year increase of 14 percent. Over half (53 percent) of these programs reported a rise in women applicants. The only discipline that experienced a decline in women’s applications was master of finance programs, with a 2 percent drop over the past year. However, half of all master of finance programs reported an increase in their total applications from women.
Women are by far the most represented in master’s of marketing programs, representing 70 percent of all applicants to these programs in 2025. They are the least represented in master of finance programs. These programs have experienced a sharp decline in their share of women applicants, dropping from 47 percent of all applicants in 2016 to just 32 percent in 2025.
Overall, women’s applications to full-time, in-person business graduate programs and online programs grew by 6 percent and 2 percent, respectively, in 2025. In contrast, all other degree delivery formats, including part-time, evening, weekend, flexible, and hybrid programs, experienced declines. Full-time, in-person, flexible, and online programs were more likely to report growth than other formats, with about half of all of these programs reporting relative year-to-year growth in women applicants.