Business as usual

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It's one of those conundrums. Slightly fewer than half the students in medical school are women. Ditto for law school. Yet in the hunt for a master's degree in business administration, women remain a definite minority -- about a third at the top schools.

In some places, female enrollments actually have fallen.

Why aren't women knocking down the doors to graduate business schools? The answer involves a negative perception of the business world, education experts say -- and it's depriving women of an important tool to enhance their careers.

"In business overall, I probably have to admit, there isn't a clear path for women to advance, and therefore the appeal of entry to women isn't as straight as say, law or medicine," says Dan Bauer, founder of the MBA Exchange, a Chicago admissions consulting firm. "That's sort of unfortunately ingrained in the culture of many businesses. ... And I advise our clients that it creates a tremendous opportunity."

For many women, an MBA apparently doesn't look very promising. From 2000 to 2002, female enrollment at the top 20 MBA programs fell by 35 percent, as did enrollments overall, according to Business Week magazine. Also, women's share of MBA enrollments at those schools has barely risen (roughly three percentage points) since 1992. That's half or less the rise that law and medical schools saw in the same period.

Not all schools follow this trend, says Kathleen Rogan, director of George Washington University's full-time MBA program.

Ms. Rogan says her university has averaged from 45 percent to 50 percent women in its MBA program over the past three years.

It isn't just one factor leading to that higher figure.