What GMAC's 2025 Data Tells Indian MBA Applicants: AI, Application Growth, and What Business Schools Are Changing

Between 2023 and 2025, something changed in how people apply to business school. Not gradually. The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the world's most authoritative source on graduate business education, provides specific data about what happened.

GMAC's 2025 Application Trends Survey covers responses from over 1,170 graduate business programs at 326 business schools worldwide in 41 countries. It confirms two things Indian MBA applicants need to understand before shortlisting programs in 2026.

First: applications to GME programs worldwide grew 12% in 2024, ending years of post-pandemic decline, and continued growing at 7% in 2025. The applicant market has become more competitive after two consecutive years of application growth.

Second: what applicants are looking for has shifted. AI integration has moved from differentiator to baseline expectation, but the delivery format picture is more nuanced than many guides suggest. 

What the GMAC Data Actually Shows

On AI in business education:

• By summer 2024, 78% of business schools globally had incorporated AI into students’ learning experiences, according to GMAC.  
• By 2025, more than half of programs worldwide teach AI as a must-have tool for decision-making, strategy, and innovation. 
• In July 2025, Chicago Booth announced a new MBA concentration in applied artificial intelligence. In October 2025, Columbia Business School launched its new AI in Business Initiative. MIT Sloan, Kellogg, and Wharton have all introduced AI-specific courses. 
• The most popular ways AI is integrated: exploring AI in society and business ethics (44%), developing courses using AI in decision-making (43%), and adding practical applications into the classroom (42%). 

On application growth and delivery format, the nuanced picture for 2025 is: 

The 2025 GMAC data reveals a more specific pattern than "flexible is winning": 

• Full-time, in-person formats drove application growth in 2025 up 8%. This reflects the widespread return-to-office trend in the business world. 
• Flexible, online, hybrid, and part-time formats experienced a drop in applications in 2025. 
• More selective programs performed better: just over half of the most selective MBA programs reported growth, while nearly two-thirds of the least selective reported declines.
• The exception within the flexible trend: Some online programs targeting specific underserved segments, particularly first-generation applicants and those balancing full employment, maintained their appeal.

On AI education demand by age, according to the 2024 Prospective Students Survey: 

• GMAC's 2024 Prospective Students Survey revealed a jump in the number of candidates who say AI is essential to their ideal business school curriculum, up to roughly 40%. 

What This Means for Indian MBA Applicants

India sends more business school applicants abroad than almost any other country, and the GMAC shifts have specific implications. 

The AI question is now a shortlisting criterion. A school that ranked in the top 20 in 2018 and lacks a meaningful AI curriculum is now less valuable in 2026 than a school that has AI embedded into its core coursework. Ask the admissions office: Where does AI appear in the curriculum? Is it a core requirement or an elective? What percentage of recent graduates entered AI-adjacent roles? 

Ask the AI question explicitly. Before applying to any program, ask the admissions office: where does AI appear in the curriculum? Is it an elective or a core requirement? What company partnerships exist for AI project exposure? What percentage of recent graduates entered AI-adjacent roles? A program that cannot answer these questions clearly is behind the curve.

The delivery format picture has changed, but not in the direction most guides suggest. Full-time, two-year MBA programs drove the 2025 application rebound. For Indian applicants, the change means:

• If you are a recent graduate applying for a full-time program, the prestige advantage of full-time in-person formats has been reinforced, not eroded, by 2025 data
• If you are a working professional, online and hybrid formats remain viable and legitimate, but they are not the growth story of 2025; they are the steady-state story for a specific profile
• Look for modular scheduling, global immersions, and depth in AI electives rather than assuming any format is automatically more employer-valued

Business Schools That Have Already Made the Shift

• Chicago Booth (US): New MBA concentration in Applied Artificial Intelligence, announced July 2025. Combines machine learning, AI strategy, and business simulation modules. Open to all MBA students as a formal concentration, not just as electives.
• INSEAD (France/Singapore): AI in business strategy modules integrated into the core MBA curriculum. Strong fintech and AI-adjacent career services. Graduates entering consulting and technology roles receive specific AI-readiness preparation.
• IE Business School (Spain): One of the earliest adopters of AI-integrated flexible MBA formats. The IE Global MBA includes an AI and digital transformation track and allows hybrid completion across campuses.
• NUS Business School (Singapore): AI and analytics embedded into the core MBA curriculum. Strong partnerships with regional technology companies in Singapore's growing AI ecosystem. This program is particularly relevant for Indian students who are targeting career opportunities in Southeast Asia.
• Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands): QS #3 globally for Masters in Management. AI and data science electives available within the core business master's framework. Strong graduate employment outcomes in European technology and consulting markets.

The Specialised Business Master's Trend

AI integration has also accelerated the rise of specialized business master's programs over generalist MBAs. GMAC's 2025 data shows business master's program applications grew significantly, with the exception of Master of Business Analytics, which saw a slight dip.

Programs seeing the strongest growth:

• Master of Science in Data Science and Business Analytics.
• Master of Management with an AI track.
• MBA with specialization in Technology Management or Digital Strategy.
• Master of Finance with Quantitative Methods and AI tools.

For Indian students, the specialized master's route is often more financially efficient than a full two-year MBA, faster to complete at typically 12 to 16 months, and increasingly as well-regarded by employers in technology and consulting roles.

How to Use This When You Apply

Check the AI credentials before shortlisting. Programs without AI integration are already falling behind in application volumes. That same dynamic plays out in graduate employment outcomes. A program that added "AI literacy" as a single elective in 2023 and has not updated since is not what GMAC is describing when it says schools have embedded AI.

Take the flexible format seriously. A working professional in India builds both the AI-integrated hybrid MBA degree and work experience simultaneously while employed. The return on that investment, both financial and career-wise, is often stronger than a full-time student who pauses employment for two years.

Align your program with the industries that will be hiring in 2026. GMAC's recruitment outlook shows optimism centered on healthcare, sustainability, AI, renewable energy, consulting, and financial services. The demand for profiles that blend technology and leadership specifically emphasizes roles in product management, corporate strategy, and operations.

Treat the ranking table as a starting point. A program ranked 45th globally with a serious AI concentration, strong technology company partnerships, and a post-study visa pathway that works for your career plan may deliver better outcomes than a program ranked 15th that has not meaningfully updated its curriculum since 2019.

Book a free session with a Leap Scholar counselor to understand which AI-integrated business school programs align with your profile, how to evaluate programs beyond their ranking, and what the application timeline looks like for the 2026-27 intake.

Sources: GMAC, 2025 Top 10 Trends in Graduate Business School Research | GMAC, 2025 Application Trends Survey Deans Summary | BestColleges, Business Education Trends 2025-26 | BSchools.org, MBA Application Competition 2025 | Clear Admit, AI Offerings at Top Business Schools, November 2025 | Admitify, MBA Admissions Trends 2025-26 | Careers360, GMAC Report Business School Applications 2024