After earning his undergraduate degree in 1998 from Florida A&M University and winning a coveted consulting job at McKinsey and Co., Rayford P. Davis realized he couldn’t resist the allure of the Internet and joined a promising start-up company. But the company, Ethcentric, went bust in 2001, and Davis decided the time was ripe to get an MBA.

Davis was one of the 906 students accepted to this year’s first-year class at Harvard Business School (HBS) out of a record 8,893 who applied.

The dramatic increase in applicants to HBS reflects a nationwide trend of surging interest in both business schools and law schools, which many say is due to the economic slowdown.

The nationwide trend is even more pronounced for law schools than business schools. According to the Law School Admissions Council, applications to law schools around the country are up by 5.6 percent this year—the largest increase since 1991—and are expected to increase even more next year.

Harvard Law School (HLS) reported a 6 percent increase in applications for this year’s incoming class, putting it slightly ahead of the national average.

Officials at both HLS and HBS, however, say it is too early to know for sure whether the economy is the cause.

“History suggests that when the economy is down law school applications are up,” said HLS Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid Joyce P. Curll ’65.

“It’s a good time to go to law school. It’s a good time to go to school, period,” she said.