M.B.A. Applications Decline at Harvard, Wharton, Other Elite Schools as Degree Loses Luster

Applications to American M.B.A. programs dropped for a fourth straight year, with even elite universities starting to show signs of struggling to lure young professionals out of the strong job market.  For the first time in nearly a decade, waning interest in the traditional master of business administration degree hit business schools that draw the most applications, including Harvard and Stanford universities, according to a survey of 360 schools by the Graduate Management Admission Council, a nonprofit that administers the GMAT admissions exam. Those top-tier programs were until recently thought to be immune to the shakeout plaguing less-prestigious programs.