More than 80 Percent of MBA Applicants Believe that Trump Immigration Policies Will Reduce Diversity of U.S. Business Schools According to New Survey by Stacy Blackman Consulting

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 21, 2017) -  More than 80 percent of business school applicants indicated that they agree that Trump immigration policies will reduce the diversity of U.S. business schools, according to an annual survey by Stacy Blackman Consulting, the leading b-school admissions consulting firm. The survey also reported that 54.59 percent of applicants plan to apply to five or more schools this year, up from the 37.69 percent that planned to apply to that many schools last year.

When asked about the significance to them of Trump's immigration policies, the survey reported that 15.80 percent somewhat agree and 5.44 percent agree that Trump's immigration policies have impacted them and that they will only apply to schools outside the U.S. In addition, 39.95 percent somewhat agree and 40.35 percent agree (total of 80.30 percent) that Trump's immigration policy plans will reduce the diversity of U.S. business schools.

In a broader context, more than 26 percent of respondents plan to apply to five schools, 12.62 percent to six, 6.64 percent to seven, and 9.3 percent of respondents plan to apply to eight or more schools, according to this year's survey.

The most popular post-MBA career continues to be consulting (47.92 percent). After consulting, finance is a top career choice, chosen by 24.93 percent of respondents this year, down from 26.75 percent last year. Interest in Entrepreneurship continued with a slight decline, capturing 23.41 percent this year compared to 26.47 percent last year. Technology is also a top career choice, with 23.82 percent compared to 23.11 percent last year, according to this year's study.

In terms of MBA study options, full time two-year programs continue to be the most popular, with 90.63 percent (up from 85.75 percent last year) considering full time 2-year programs and 30.39 percent considering full time, one-year programs, and only 10.84 percent considering part time and 2.14 percent online.

Other survey results include:

*50.20 percent indicated that reputation is the most important factor influencing the decision to attend a particular business school, followed by 19.43 percent for strength of job placement, 12.4 percent for culture of program, and 5.8 percent for strength of alumni network.

*Career advancement continued to rank as the top reason to attend business school at 44.74 percent (47.76 percent ranking it as most important last year), followed by career change at 37.55 percent (compared to 32.31 percent of respondents last year).

*67 percent indicated that business school ranking is extremely and 32.72 percent indicated that it was somewhat important in their selection of a MBA program.

*51.5 percent of respondents plan to work with an outside business school consultant, and 36.92 percent maybe working with an outside consultant, in their business school application process.

The survey was conducted during spring of this year, with 755 respondents.

About Stacy Blackman Consulting

Stacy Blackman Consulting (www.StacyBlackman.com) has helped clients gain admission to every top business school in the world. With a world class team of consultants, the firm applies a personalized approach to each applicant, based on developing and implementing a winning marketing strategy to make the application process less stressful and more successful.