The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business’ Master of Science in Management program recorded a 296% increase in applications for its latest class.

The graduate program is a 10-month, accelerated business degree program designed to help students who hold non-business bachelor’s degrees to enter the business world. The program’s second cohort will feature a total of 68 students, up from the 31 students in the inaugural 2019 group.

The new class of 2021 will feature students from 17 colleges and universities across the United States. Of the new students in the program, 45% hold Bachelor’s degrees in the humanities, social sciences or liberal arts, 35% in business and finance, 13% in STEM-related fields and 7% in economics, according to the program’s own statistics.

Because cohort members have diverse academic backgrounds, the program features a curriculum specifically designed to ease students into the business field, according to Evelyn Williams, academic director of the program.

“One of the main differences between our program and other competitors is that we actually start with summer programming that helps students learn about the different functions of business and to explore what they might like as a vocation,” Williams wrote in an email to The Hoya.

Since the program began only last year, this year’s applicants were the first to go through a year-long recruitment cycle, as opposed to the six months of recruiting for to the program’s first class. With the longer time period for applications, administrators and admissions deans were able to come up with creative ways to recruit students to the program, according to Nita Swinsick, assistant dean of recruitment and admissions for executive and specialized degree programs.

“Our students from the first cohort also helped immensely by speaking with prospective students about their experiences and enabling candidates to hear about the value of the program firsthand,” Swinsick wrote in an email to The Hoya. 

Other possible reasons for the increase in applications could be Georgetown’s proximity to several corporate headquarters, the program’s focus on international business communities or the integration of STEM in the curriculum, according to Williams.

Regardless, applications to the Master’s in Management program will only continue to grow in the future as more people are made aware of its details, according to Swinsick.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest in our Master’s in Management and expect an increase in applications in the coming years, especially as more prospective students learn about this program,” Swinsick wrote. “It’s such a wonderful program which truly helps students become more competitive in the job market.”