Women Outpace Men in MBA Applications, Finds GMAC 2025 Survey

• According to the most recent GMAC 2025 Application Trends Survey, women presently outnumber men in full-time MBA applications.
• The study also indicates increasing female interest in online and flexible MBAs, with 40%+ market share in business master's programs.

According​‍​‌‍​‍‌ to the latest Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) 2025 Application Trends Survey, the share of female applicants has increased across different MBA formats. For the first time, women have outnumbered men in the application pool of full-time MBA programs, which is the major global shift in graduate management ​‍​‌‍​‍‌education.

The​‍​‌‍​‍‌ survey discloses that in 2025, female candidates for full-time, two-year MBA programs raised their applications by six percent, thereby, a men's applications increased by only one percent. The change is most visible in the case of conventional, full-time programs as well as online MBA courses, which is indicative of the changing business school application ​‍​‌‍​‍‌trends.

Out of full-time, two-year MBA programs, 63 percent of programs indicated higher applications from women. Online MBA programs also recorded growth, as overall applications from women improved by seven percent. Flexible​‍​‌‍​‍‌ MBA programs also showed similar trends with more than half of the programs reporting an increase in female applicants.

While there was a general increase in the number of applications, the total number of applications for executive MBA, flex MBA, and part-time MBA programs declined, that is, fewer men and women applied for these ​‍​‌‍​‍‌programs. But decreases were less steep among female applicants, reflecting ongoing interest in flexible program modes.

In business master’s programmes, women continue to make up just over 40 percent of applicants globally, a proportion that has remained steady for more than a decade. In 2025, there was a nominal one-percentage-point increase in the median share of women applying.

Applications from women increased most significantly in Master of Accounting programmes, with 53 percent of the programmes reporting the increase. Women were also responsible for about half of applications to Master of Accounting and Master in Management programmes. In Master of Marketing programmes, women made up about two-thirds of applicants.