Record Number Enroll for MBA Studies

San Diego State University reported a record number of applicants and students accepted for its two-year master’s of business administration program beginning last month. The University of San Diego also reported a record number of MBA applications students accepted.

SDSU warned, however, that MBA admissions may be cut in upcoming quarters as it adjusts to drastic budget cuts imposed by the state on California universities. Entrance requirements are likely to be tightened significantly at SDSU, the school said.

SDSU accepted 600 graduate business students from a field of more than 1,300 applicants, said Thomas Warschauer, associate dean for graduate studies and academic affairs in SDSU’s College of Business Administration. Both applicants and the number of students accepted were up 10% from last year, he said.

The added enrollment came despite a nationwide trend that indicates a slowdown in the rate of increase in MBA applicants as businesses say they expect to hire fewer MBAs, and fewer undergraduate students indicate a desire to pursue business careers.

Demographic trends indicating a shrinkage in the applicant age group could also working to reduce enrollment growth in graduate business degree programs.

Warschauer said the increase in MBA students was part of a trend in that enrollment in SDSU’s graduate business programs “seems to be counter-cyclical”: applications go up when the economic cycle turns downward.

“Working people find that, while they may not be laid off, there are fewer chances for advancement in their companies,” Warschauer said. “So they find it a good time to go back to school so that, when the economic climate improves, they will be more appealing with a combination of career experience and solid academic background.”

At the private University of San Diego, both MBA applications and admissions also set records. A total of 224 new MBA students were accepted for USD’s two-year program beginning this Fall, up from 189 students accepted last year. Applications were up slightly to 405 this year from 401 last year, said Gary Whitney, associate dean of USD’s School of Business Administration.

Whitney noted a continuance of the trend of a gradual improvement in grade point average among undergraduate applicants. The average grade point average of a new MBA student this fall was up to 3.1 from 3.04 last year, he said.

SDSU began its accredited MBA program in 1963, and the University of San Diego began its MBA program in 1973.

Some universities say applications are flat or declining because economic hard times make it tougher for corporations to pay MBA tuition for their employees. But, at San Diego State, corporate sponsorship has never played as much a role in financing students as at other schools, Warschauer said.

In fact, applications and enrollment were up as well this year for SDSU’s “executive MBA” program, a two-year course of study costing $9,000 in annual tuition that compresses curriculum and scheduling to suit students who are working managers. The expense of the program dictates that employers subsidize much of their employees’ tuition, Warschauer said.