MBA applications increase third straight year; applicants cite career advancement as primary goal

Applications for admission to the Richmond MBA program rose for the third year in a row this year and significantly faster than the national rate.

Richmond’s MBA applications jumped 28 percent, and average scores of enrolled students on the Graduate Management Admission Test increased 15 points—from 579 to 594—from 2004-07. Nationally, applications to part-time MBA programs increased only 15 percent during the same period.

Richard Coughlan, Associate Dean for Graduate and Executive Education at the Robins School, attributed the increases to a higher volume of experienced business professionals turning to graduate education as a means of career advancement.

“We saw a dramatic increase this year among professionals with 10 or more years of industry experience,” Coughlan said. “The MBA is no longer a degree meant exclusively for people in their twenties.”

Richmond’s new class of 48 MBA students is 12 percent larger than last year’s and includes two people with doctoral degrees and three with master’s degrees in other fields. Coughlan said the profile of the class includes greater numbers of women and international students, while representing the region’s largest companies.

The proportion of women in Richmond’s MBA program has increased steadily over the past five years, from 30 percent to 44 percent. The national average is around 30 percent. Coughlan credits the involvement of successful female Richmond MBA graduates, such as Lyn McDermid, Chief Information Officer of Dominion, and Katie Gilstrap, Senior Vice President of Marketing at First Market Bank, as role models who have helped build interest in the program. Twenty-two women and 26 men comprise this year’s entering class.

Joining current students from France, Italy and Spain in Richmond’s MBA program are citizens of Bulgaria, China, Grenada and Ukraine.

Employees of the Richmond area’s largest firms are members of the new MBA class. Banking and financial services industry professionals represent Capital One, Genworth, LandAmerica Financial and Wachovia Securities, as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Manufacturing sector companies Alfa Laval, Honeywell, MeadWestvaco and Philip Morris USA also have managers enrolled.

“The sharing of best practices among accomplished managers from Richmond’s best companies has always been a major strength of our program. Spending a couple of years in classes with leaders who have discovered a formula for success in their own careers is an invaluable part of the educational experience,” Coughlan said.

Graduates of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee, and William and Mary are joined by Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech and Texas alumni, among others, in the incoming group.