While schools around Indiana have seen as much as a 29 percentdrop in applications to MBA programs, Ball State University'sprogram has continued to grow.
Ball State's number of applications has risen over the past fiveyears, with a total of 609 applications for 2003-04, Inga Hill,assistant to the dean for graduate programs in the Miller Collegeof Business, said.
"Ball State's enrollment is rising because of a program revisionin fall 2003 that made courses more convenient for students totake," Hill said. "We also allow more students to take classes overthe Internet so that if they are traveling for business, they canparticipate in classes from anywhere in the globe."�
Though Ball State's number of applications has raised, otherIndiana schools number of applications has declined.
"Our application numbers did drop by 29 percent, but that's notespecially surprising to us, as the Graduate Management AdmissionsCouncil reports that 78 percent of MBA programs had applicationnumbers decline this past year," Bridget A. Collins, associatedirector of MBA admissions for Indiana University, said.
While Ball State, Indiana University, Purdue University andNotre Dame University offer distance learning programs, there areslight differences in the setup of each.
"Indiana University, Purdue and Notre Dame offer Executive MBA'swhich require students to come to campus on weekends," Hill said."Ball State is unique in offering an MBA over live, synchronous,interactive electronic media."
Low cost tuition for the MBA program might also contribute tothe high number of applications that Ball State continues toreceive, Lynne Richardson, dean of the Miller College of Business,said.
Ball State's total program tuition and fees for full-time MBAstudents is $4,019 for residents and $9,679 for non-residents,while IU's total program tuition and fees for full-time MBAstudents is $12,179 for residents and $23,383 fornon-residents.
Both Ball State and IU emphasize that they strive for qualityrather than quantity during the admission process.
"We are trying to increase the number of applications and thenbe more selective in our admissions," Hill said. "We raisedadmission standards this year and expect to raise them again nextyear so that the quality of our students, not the quantity of ourstudents, increases."
Applications to IU's program decreased this year, so the schoolhad to make a choice, Terrill Cosgray, MBA program director for IU,said.
"We could admit the same number of students and have decreasedquality or admit fewer students and not compromise the quality ofour program. We choose to admit fewer students," Cosgray said.
Both Ball State and IU have recruitment programs that involveeverything from the traditional postal mail to recruiting atcompanies.
"We host dinners around the country, as well as informationsessions," Cosgray said. "We plan to continue with personalizedrecruiting processes, such as paying part of the cost for admittedstudents to visit the campus for a weekend."
Ball State has focused on recruiting from employers in Indiana,Hill said.
"The School of Extended Education has been very active inhelping us with publicity and scheduling information sessions inthe Indianapolis area," Hill said. "Advertising by Miller Collegeof Business and development of strong relationships with alumni andbusiness leaders also should help increase the number ofapplications so that we can continue to increase the quality of theprogram."
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