GMAC has reported that the number of GMAT tests taken by women surpassed 100,000 for the first time ever last year. Exams taken by women in the testing year ending June 30, 2009 represented 39.5% of all exams taken, a figure that has changed only one percentage point in 10 years.

However, Lamia Walker, GMAC regional director for Europe, Middle East and Asia,  points out some major shifts by region, age, and career intent. “When we break down gender distribution by regional citizenship, we find a wide range – from 56.1 percent of exams in Eastern Europe to just 24.6 percent in Central Asia,” she says.

(source: Graduate Management Admission Council)

Key findings from the 2010 mba.com Registrants Survey Report indicate that:

Schools need to recruit women sooner. The average woman first considers business school less than two years after finishing her undergraduate degree, almost nine months earlier than the average man. Women also sit for the GMAT exam sooner than men and submit their first business school application more rapidly than male counterparts.

Women typically submit fewer applications. Female applicants considering full-time MBA programs submitted an average of 2.4 applications, compared with 3.0 for men. Women in Central Asia and in Asia Pacific submitted the greatest number of applications on average, 3.7 and 3.3 respectively.

Don’t write off the female quants. Female prospective students are more likely than men to consider MA/MS in Accounting programs, and the average number of submitted applications reported by women to any graduate management education program type is highest among those applying to MA/MS Finance programs (3.2 applications on average in 2009).

The survey report found numerous differences between men and women when it comes to preferred study location, financing plans, information sources, business school preferences and employment outcome, as well as significant differences by gender in the skills that prospective students hope to improve in business school.

Armed with this information, MBA programs should be able to more effectively outreach to talented female applicants.

“Any signs of recovery are modest. But business schools are looking ahead and seeing a light at the end of what is now a pretty short tunnel.”

Business students everywhere are finding banking jobs and internships; the number of banks interviewing at Darden School of Business this year increased 20%, and the number of job offers so far has risen 33%, the school tells the Times. At the Duke Fuqua School of Business, meanwhile, the career office reported last month that the number of students with investment banking internships had doubled compared with last year.

“Ironically, this can be a superb time to enter banking,” Jeff Fischer, the director of career management at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, tells the Times. “The MBA population is like the end of a whip. When cycles swing up and down, students are the ones who swing up and down the most in terms of employment.”

It may be premature to predict hiring results, since job offers continue throughout the spring, but the general mood about banking jobs is quite optimistic. Wall Street’s bad rap is slowly fading away, becoming a dream destination for B-school students once more.

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Register for the UCLA Anderson online information session here.

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Both the 2009 QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey and the GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey 2010 show a marked increase in the number of women applying to and graduating from B-school.

Lopel quotes Ross Geraghty, co-author of the QS TopMBA.com Applicant Report, who said: “The proportion of women attending the QS World MBA Tour annually has increased year on year since records began. These figures are supported by the fact that, for the first time, more than 100,000 GMAT takers in 2009 were women. This proves two things, firstly that business school is more popular than ever before, in general, and that women have become motivated and inspired by their female peers to achieve the same business success.”

MBA.com, the official GMAT website, indicates that 40% of GMAT test takers are women. But despite the numbers, some lingering trends remain. According to MBA.com, admissions officers say there are still many myths which keep women from applying to B-school.

The notion that an MBA is only for those who want to work for a big corporation, or the perception that the business school culture is not supportive of women, are just two mental hurdles today’s women need to overcome.

Zoya Zaitseva, Regional Marketing Director at QS, points out a more serious problem. “Unfortunately, women still continue to believe that they will receive lower salaries than their male colleagues: only 32 percent of women, compared with 43 percent of men, expect to earn more than $100,000 per year after graduation.”

But changes in the educational landscape are afoot. Last month, BusinessWeek’s Alison Damast reported on the growing interest in business programs at women’s colleges. Currently 44 such schools offer a business management curriculum, according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)–viewed by many in the management education world as the gold standard for B-school approval, Damast writes.

“I think women’s colleges, like all other colleges and universities, are looking very closely at a number of market-driven variables and making sure that their programs are reflecting the needs of what today’s students are looking for,” says Susan E. Lennon, executive director of the Women’s College Coalition.

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In the February issue of Deans Digest, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) president and CEO David A. Wilson addressed the boom in demand for graduate business education, citing the record number of GMAT exams taken in the testing year ending June 30, 2009. For the first time in GMAT history, non-US citizens lead all test takers by 51%.

Wilson identified five macro forces which have influenced the channels of students interested in graduate management education:

• Economic growth and job creation. Growing economies create jobs and career advancement opportunities. GMAC research finds that some 70% of employers expect their business will improve in 2010, which also tracks with broader global indicators, Wilson said.

• Population changes. Africa expects a 50% increase in the student-age population (20-29) over the next two decades. The student population in Asia is expected to be stable until 2025. Europe, meanwhile, expects a nearly 25% decline in student-age population.

• Population shifts within regions. India will gain 28 million people in the student-age group over the next two decades, China will lose 76 million. Similarly, Germany expects to lose nearly 2 million, while France expects a gain of almost a quarter-million. In the US, a rise of some 4.8 million potential students is expected by 2030.

• Age range diversity. GMAT test-takers worldwide are largely in the 24-30 age bracket, but those examinees younger than 24 increased 132% between testing years 2005 and 2009.

• Student mobility. GMAT scores sent to non-US destinations jumped to 170,000 in 2009, up from about 90,000 in 2005. Score-sending patterns shifted away from US programs in nine of 10 global regions. US business schools  still received 78% of all GMAT scores sent in 2009, though, due to the fact that 98% of US citizens send score reports to US schools.

How will these changing demographics play out in the classroom? Wilson says business schools will need to assess how a potentially younger cohort with less work experience might affect class discussions, team projects, and school dynamics.

For more on this issue, check out GMAC’s new World Geographic Trend Report 2005 to 2009, which takes a look at schools outside the United States that have become increasingly attractive to business students.

* * * * *

If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

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