Cutting back on admissions reflects their desire to remain so. And the surge in demand for undergraduate business degrees in recent years raised concerns among administrators at both schools about their ability to maintain the kind of quality courses that offer their graduates a better shot at the best jobs or the best graduate schools for business. And some introductory classes were packed with as many as 400 students. Officials hope to reduce the undergraduate business-school enrollment to 5,400 from its current 6,400. We had to do something to protect the integrity of our program.
Educators attribute the growth to several factors.
A booming economy creates attractive employment opportunities in the business world, and students look to majoring in business as a key to high-paying jobs. Increased enrollment in its business school prompted the University of Texas to limit the number of spots in the program at its Austin campus eight years ago. But that had little success in weeding out students. Applications have continued to soar, though, making competition for the limited number of spots more and more fierce. Grade-point averages in the program have soared as well, rising nearly half a point to 3.18 since enrollment restrictions were begun.