Mirroring a national trend, applications to the UC Davis Graduate School of Management's two-year Daytime MBA program are up 50 percent from last year, the school's admission office reports.

The nationally ranked management school has received 377 applications to date, compared to 252 received by the same time last year.

"We were expecting an increase, but this is larger than we’d anticipated," said James Stevens, assistant dean of student affairs at the school. "When the economy cools down, applications heat up: More people look to invest in themselves through education in troubled economic times -- and an MBA is always a good investment. Conversations with applicants and academic research also make it clear that our new building is a major draw. Students want to be in the first class in the new facility."

According to the Virginia-based Graduate Management Admission Council, 77 percent of business schools nationwide reported an increase in applications in 2008, compared to 64 percent of schools in 2007.

Deadline for fall 2009 admission into the UC Davis Daytime MBA program is March 11. The incoming class of 2009 will number 60 to 65 students, in keeping with incoming class sizes in recent years. In September the management school will move into Gallagher Hall, a new, three-story, 40,000-square-foot campus home that will be one of the "greenest" buildings in the University of California system.