Women, the cohort responsible for skyrocketing undergraduate b-school enrollments the last 15 years, now are driving enrollments down as they continue to migrate from business education. What's more, their male counterparts have begun to follow suit.

According to the latest data, the current downturn in undergraduate interest clearly represents the migration of women and men from business into other majors, often liberal arts fields. Experts say that efforts to recruit undergraduates into business programs - or at least to entice them into business minors as a way to enhance their resumes and build enrollments - will require some market segmentation on the part of business deans and faculty.

"There is no question that the single most important factor in the run-up in business school enrollments during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s was the migration of women from fields such as teaching and nursing into management and accounting," said Kenneth C. Green, visiting scholar at the Claremont Graduate School who monitors enrollment trends for AACSB. According to the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, the number of women earning bachelor's degrees in business rose from just under 7,000 in 1968 to 117,493 in 1994; women currently account for 47.6 percent of the students who receive bachelor's degrees in business, management and accounting. In contrast, the number of men earning bachelor's degrees in business and management during this same period rose by only 61 percent, from 72,126 to 129,161.

At the MBA level, the numbers also are impressive: between 1968 and 1994, total MBAs grew by a factor of 3.45, from 17,186 to 93,437; women now account for more than one-third (36.5 percent) of all MBA recipients, some 34,000 students in 1994, up from 18,759 in 1984 (a gain of almost 90 percent over the past decade) and only 609 students in 1968. During this same period, the number of men earning MBAs rose to 59,355 in 1994, up from 46,178 in 1984 and just 17,186 in 1968.

"While the number of MBAs awarded in the U.S. continues to rise, undergraduate business degrees actually have declined," said Green. "Between 1990 and 1994, there was zero growth in the number of undergraduate business degrees awarded in the U.S., compared to a 15 percent gain across all fields. In essence, undergraduate business has been a no-growth field, while the rest of the undergraduate market continues to expand." In actual numbers, undergraduate business degrees peaked in 1992, at 135,440 bachelor's degrees and then fell to 129,161 degrees by 1994 (a 4.5 percent decline).

Schools are trying hard to counter the trend. "The past three years have been a recovery from the trough of 1993-94, when we had about 16 percent of all freshmen in the university, compared to a high of 33 percent in 1989," said Roger Weikle, business dean at Winthrop College. "Now, we're getting about 20 percent," he said, adding that the percentage of men and women has stayed the same throughout the eight or nine-year trend. Admitting freshmen into the business program now, instead of requiring them to first reach 30 credit hours and a certain grade point average, has been a boon to the business school, said Weikle. "Now, from the time students come to summer orientation prior to the start of the freshman year, we provide them with a business school mentor/adviser," Weikle said. "We're trying to establish a link as soon as possible with the business school."

At Duquesne University, business school officials are stumped over what is driving the school's 40 percent increase in freshman enrollment. "We're studying it but we're really not exactly sure what is happening," said Thomas J. Murrin, business dean, who added that the improved image and reputation of the university overall in recent years could be a contributing factor, as well as recent image enhancements initiatives undertaken by the university and the b-school. "We're also doing a lot more with students on campus," said Murrin. "It isn't until late in the sophomore year that students decide whether they are going to move into the business school, so we've made increased efforts to communicate to freshmen and sophomore students what the business curriculum and careers are all about." Murrin said his school also is doing a much better job working with high school advisers. "We meet with them regularly and bring them to campus to critique us and to gather their ideas on how to make improvements," said Murrin. The relationship has led to the school attracting some outstanding students from area schools, students who previously expressed no interest. "We think the linkage is through these student advisers," said Murrin.

Beyond the numbers of degree recipients, other data on the population of traditional-age undergraduates who enter college planning to major in business and management fields provide an interesting portrait of the young men and women pursing business majors.

Compared to their male peers, young women planning to major in business have better high school grades. More than one-third of the women (37 percent) planning to major in business report "A/A-" high school grade averages, compared to less than one-fourth (24 percent of the men). Among students planning to major in accounting, this "grade gap" is even higher: 41 percent of the aspiring women accounting majors had "A/A-" high school grade averages, compared to just 26 percent of the men.

Yet despite their better academic performance in high school, women are less confident about their academic skills and rate themselves lower on "intellectual self-confidence." In essence, the data suggest that women have not internalized their academic accomplishments and intellectual skills, while men may overestimate and overstate their achievements.

Perhaps not surprisingly, young women planning to major in business also are less likely to identify themselves as "conservative" on political and social issues than men planning business majors. However, like their male counterparts, women business majors are more likely to identify themselves as "moderate" or "conservative" than their peers in other fields.

There is one area where the gender profile is similar: the proportion of men and women majoring in business who identify "being very well off financially" as a "very important" or "essential" life goal is almost identical - over 85 percent, the highest for any group by intended major.

Looking beyond academic achievement and attitudes, the specialization preferences of women business majors show some marked differences from their male classmates. Women are far more likely to report accounting as their intended major (21.6 percent for men, compared to 32.6 percent for women among Fall 1994 freshman business majors). In contrast, women are less interested in finance (9.7 percent for men compared to 5.1 percent for women) and general management.(20.3 percent for men, compared to 13.5 percent for women).

The data highlight important differences between the men and women who major in business - their interests and expectations, attitudes and values. "Retaining and enhancing the educational experience of these student also may require deans and faculty to think carefully about different populations within their clientele rather than viewing students or potential students as one homogeneous group," said Green.

Green cautioned that these data profile only one segment of the undergraduate business school population - traditional students. Missing are any data on the growing population of those who attend part-time, transfer into four-year programs from community colleges, or are over 24 years of age. "Part-time and adult students are an increasingly important clientele for many undergraduate programs," said Green. "The growth of distance education initiatives and rise of other degree-granting competitors to traditional, campus-based programs mean that deans, department chairs and faculty will have to pay more attention to (and get better data about) all segments of their potential client populations." According to some industry analysts, it is the growth in non traditional students that actually may be easing what could be a more painful scenario for schools as the migration at the undergraduate level continues.