Sky-high fees reduce appetite for Harvard University

This is your time!

If you are trying to get into Harvard University, this might be your best chance to do so, as you will have less competition this year.

Harvard Business School and other top business programs are reporting steep drops in applications as the hot labor market and the cost of the degrees are keeping would-be M.B.A.s on the job and out of their applicant pools.

At Harvard, widely regarded as probably the world’s top business school, M.B.A. applications fell by more than 15%. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania recorded more than a 13% drop.

At other elite U.S. programs—including Yale University’s School of Management, as well as the business schools at the University of Chicago and New York University—applications dropped by 10% or more for the class of 2024.

For those who did apply, the numbers were in their favor. Yale drew 3,237 M.B.A. applicants for the class of 2024, down more than 16% from the prior class, said Laurel Grodman, assistant dean for admissions. She cited the competitive labor market and interest in shorter master’s programs as reasons for the drop. With a smaller applicant pool vying for the school’s 347 spots, some students who would have been waitlisted in a higher-demand year got an acceptance letter, she added.

M.B.A. applications are often countercyclical, which means that when the job market is good, people stay at work. In economic downturns, workers seek out business school for a safe harbor and a degree that will make them more marketable.

Many young professionals received large pay raises this year, making the cost of taking two years out of their careers to attend less attractive. The sticker price for highly ranked business schools can reach $200,000 or more for a two-year, full-time program, once living costs are added.

School recruiters have said they are increasingly competing not against other M.B.A. programs but against job offers and pay raises as they try to persuade students to enroll