OK, so I exagerated. But these schools showed the biggest decline in applications. Colleges with the Biggest Decrease in Applications | StartClass
It's gotta be the cost. I saw Columbia on the list. There's no reason to pay over 5k per grad class...
Columbia is at a disadvantage these days for a few reasons: 1. Another Ivy is setting up a satellite campus in their backyard. Imagine what might happen if Yale or Harvard decided to open up a Philadelphia campus. It would be appealing and it would probably hurt UPenn (even if just a little bit). 2. It is surrounded by other (non-Ivy) highly respectable schools. Get an MBA from NYU or Baruch and you are still holding a credential from a world class institution with the latter being significantly cheaper than either NYU or Columbia. 3. The Internet is bringing even more competition.