Students Want Specialized Specialized Business Master’s Degrees: Report
Credit: Hispanolistic / E+ / Getty Images- GMAC found a growing student demand for specialized business master’s degrees.
- The report found that interest in MBAs varied significantly by age, with older candidates showing more interest in professional MBAs offered in flexible, online formats.
- GMAC previously found rising employer interest in hiring those with specialized business master’s degrees.
Yet another report has confirmed an ongoing trend in business education: Specialized business master’s degrees are on the rise.
Prospective students are increasingly interested in specialized programs like master’s degrees in accounting and finance, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) 2025 Prospective Students Survey.
The master of business administration (MBA) dropped overall globally as a preference for graduate business school candidates, falling from the main preference of 63% of prospective students in 2023 to 52% in 2024.
Specialized business master’s degrees rose from being preferred by 31% of surveyed candidates to 39% during that same period.
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GMAC notes that some of that drop in MBA interest might be due to a change in methodology, since the most recent survey condensed MBA lengths into a single category rather than asking whether prospective students preferred a one- or two-year MBA.
But despite that methodology change, GMAC found that interest in MBAs varied significantly by age.
Prospective students between the ages of 23 and 30 — traditionally the main audience for full-time MBAs — didn’t see a significant year-over-year dip. GMAC notes it was older and younger candidates who drove the degree preference.
GMAC also found vast differences in how long students expected it to take to earn a degree based on what kind of degree they were pursuing.
A plurality of prospective full-time MBA students, for instance, want their degree to take more than 18 months. Compare that to those searching for a master of accounting program, the vast majority of whom want the degree to take less than a year.
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Among candidates ages 31-39 and especially 40 and older, preference for a full-time MBA fell while interest in professional MBAs offered in flexible, online formats stayed steady.
“Notably, these older groups — as well as the youngest respondents surveyed who are likely still completing their undergraduate studies — showed year-over-year increases in preferences for business master’s programs,” the report reads.
“The largest increases were seen in the ‘other business master’s’ category, which is a catchall for the many newer, specialized graduate business programs that have been rolling out at business schools over the past several years.”
Specialized MBA Programs on the Rise
The GMAC findings further confirm the growing interest in the specialized master’s degree at business schools.
Previous research by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) found a rapid rise in applications to business master’s programs since the 2018-2019 school year driven by specialized degrees.
The AACSB found that enrollment grew by 13% over six years, with more than half of AACSB schools reporting gains.
It also builds on previous research by GMAC and the Career Services Employer Alliance (CSEA) that found rising employer interest in hiring those with specialized business master’s degrees.
BestColleges previously reported that master’s in accounting degrees are seeing substantial growth, driven by job security and employer need in that sector. But the growth of specialized business master’s degrees extends well beyond accounting alone.
One only has to look at business schools’ moves over the past year to see how schools are adapting to rising demand for specialized degrees. A number of business schools have launched degrees in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year as universities scramble to adapt to the fast-changing technology.
The W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, for instance, launched a master’s degree in AI with a business focus as well as undergraduate AI degrees in 2024. The University of Rochester also launched online AI and business analytics master’s degrees last year.
Other universities have focused on specific fields within tech. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, for instance, debuted both graduate and undergraduate degrees in financial technology.
That move toward specialized business master’s degrees extends to the highest levels of business education. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2024 launched a new master of finance program.