A reminder, a gift,  and then good and bad news, but mostly good.  

• IMD Chat tomorrow. Accepted.com is hosting an admissions chat for IMD, the leading international MBA program . Janet Shaner, Director of MBA Marketing, and an IMD MBA student, will be available in the Accepted chat room to answer your questions. The chat is at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/7:00 PM Swiss time.
• Chicago GSB Gift. The Chicago Graduate School of Business announced that it has received one of the largest cash gifts in its history from Charles M Harper, retired chairman and CEO of Con Agra. Mr. Harper is a member of Chicago's Class of '50 and a long-time supporter of Chicago. In recognition of the gift, Chicago has decided to name its new building, formerly knows as the Hyde Park Center, the Charles M. Harper Center.
• Latest GMAC Recruiter Survey. GMAC announced the results of its latest Corporate Recruiters Survey, and they are excellent if you have a graduate business degree: "Corporate recruiters expect to hire an average of 18 percent more workers with MBAs and other graduate business degrees this year than they did in 2006." A few other factoids of notes from the survey:
• "Recruiters said they plan to offer annual base salaries to people with graduate business degrees that are 28 percent higher than what they extend to new hires with other types of graduate degrees."
• "Recruiters are willing to pay 84 percent more to new MBAs or other high-level business degree recipients than to people with only an undergraduate education." That figure was 75% in 2006.
• "Respondents to the survey said they are especially drawn to the expertise in managing corporate strategy and motivating teams of workers."
• GMAT Volume Increases. GMAC reports that GMAT volume has climbed briskly from January 1 to April 30, when compared to the same period in 2006. Test taking volume is up overall by 13.25% and outside the US by a whopping 24.7%. Registration volume for this period is up 9.36% overall and 17.39% overall.
  

I view the GMAC stats on both recruiter interest and GMAT volume as both good and bad news, though mostly the former. It is great that recruiters are valuing the degree in the most practical way possible: preferring it to others. I expect that we will shortly read stories of multiple offers and attractive compensation packages for this year's grads.  The GMAT stats reflect increased student interest in the degree when students believe the education will provide a handsome return on investment.

The cloud lurking in this attractive, thick silver lining? Increased competition for places at the top schools. Those of you outside the golden gates will have to work that much harder to get accepted. I anticipate that next year will see higher average stats for accepted candidates and lower acceptance rates at the top schools.