The MBA continues to hold the largest share of master’s degree students in the U.S., according to a new report by Validated Insights
Business education remains the backbone of U.S. higher education — and a new report proves it.
According to Higher Ed Insights: August 2025, a report released this month by research firm Validated Insights, business continues to dominate at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Bachelor of Business Administration is once again the most popular undergraduate degree in America. At the same time, two key undergraduate business disciplines — finance and accounting — posted double-digit or near double-digit enrollment gains. And at the graduate level, the MBA continues to hold the largest share of master’s degree enrollment, far outpacing every other field.
The report, based on enrollment data from Spring 2025, offers a snapshot of how business programs remain central to student demand — even as graduate growth slows and higher ed as a whole wrestles with demographic shifts.
According to the report, business-related bachelor’s degrees remain the most popular major in American higher education, enrolling approximately 1.63 million undergraduates as of Spring 2025. That marks a 4.8% increase over Spring 2024 — the highest growth rate of any major field.
The Bachelor of Business Administration continues to lead the pack as the most popular undergraduate degree in the U.S., with 646,747 students enrolled in BBA programs nationwide. Other top business-related undergraduate majors include finance, accounting, marketing, and management, many of which saw meaningful enrollment increases year-over-year.
The Validated Insights report attributes business’s dominance to its broad career applicability, high ROI, and strong employer demand. At a time when students and families are increasingly focused on employment outcomes, business degrees are viewed as “safe and versatile,” with graduates finding roles across nearly every sector of the economy.
Within business majors, two fields stood out for especially rapid growth: finance and accounting.
The report shows finance undergraduate programs grew by 12.3% year-over-year — making it one of the fastest-growing majors in the country. Accounting undergraduate enrollment increased by 9.6%, rebounding from years of stagnation and signaling renewed interest in a field long plagued by talent pipeline concerns.
This reversal may reflect greater awareness of accounting career pathways, stronger employer outreach, and increased investment in CPA readiness programs by colleges. For finance, the growth is fueled by continued interest in investment banking, private equity, financial analysis, and fintech, particularly among students seeking clear post-graduation earnings potential.
Validated Insights also notes a gender imbalance in business, with 56.7% of undergraduate business students identifying as male, a figure higher than the undergraduate average of 42% male across all disciplines. Fields like finance are particularly male-dominated, though schools have ramped up efforts to boost female enrollment.
On the graduate side, business analytics and related programs remain among the most in-demand specialized master’s degrees. While exact enrollment totals for MSBA programs were not broken out separately, Validated Insights classifies business analytics under the “business & management” umbrella, which continues to hold the largest share of graduate-level students.
The report highlights that graduate students in business and management fields outnumber those in health, computer science, education, and engineering, underscoring the staying power of business education at the graduate level.
Interest in business analytics is especially strong among international students, early-career professionals, and STEM-seeking applicants. Many analytics programs offer STEM designation and practical training extensions, making them attractive for international students seeking work authorization in the U.S. post-graduation.
At a time when demand for data-savvy professionals continues to grow across industries, MSBA and analytics degrees are increasingly seen as high-value, high-impact credentials — often requiring less time and financial investment than a full MBA.
Despite flattening growth at the graduate level — with only a 1.5% year-over-year increase in total graduate enrollment — the MBA continues to hold the largest share of master’s degree students in the U.S., according to the report.
In Spring 2025, more than one in five graduate students in the country were enrolled in a business-related master’s degree program, and the MBA remains the most enrolled graduate degree across all fields. While some specialized degrees have seen growth, the MBA still outpaces them all in terms of total headcount.
The report notes that many schools have begun evolving their MBA portfolios to stay competitive, offering more part-time, online, and modular formats to appeal to working professionals. Additionally, ethics, AI, sustainability, and analytics are now widely integrated into the MBA core — helping keep the degree aligned with industry needs and employer expectations.
However, Validated Insights also raises a cautionary flag: future growth may require deeper innovation. Institutions will need to tailor MBA offerings to meet increasingly diverse student profiles, especially as other graduate degrees (like analytics or public health) begin to siphon off some demand.
Beneath the surface of strong domestic growth, a looming threat to international enrollment may pose major challenges to graduate business education in the coming academic year.
Validated Insights reports that U.S. colleges and universities are bracing for a sharp downturn: new international student enrollment is expected to fall by 30% to 40% in Fall 2025, which could translate to a 15% decline in total international enrollment. That equates to as many as 150,000 fewer international students this year.
The financial stakes are high. The report estimates that this decline could cost the U.S. higher education sector nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and put 60,000 jobs at risk — many of them in institutions that depend heavily on full-paying international students to sustain graduate programs, including business schools.
Factors contributing to the projected decline include visa backlogs, restrictive immigration policy, global competition from other study destinations, and concerns about post-graduation work authorization in the U.S. Institutions that have long relied on international MBA, MSBA, and MSF students may be the most exposed to this shortfall.
While some schools have launched virtual pathways, dual-degree partnerships, or regional hubs to offset the trend, Validated Insights warns that a “meaningful disruption” in international enrollment is likely in the near term, particularly at the master’s level.
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