Even with a 17 percent jump in daytime MBA students it's been business as usual at the Fuqua School of Business, which started classes Monday.
Amid some concern for "team Fuqua," the school's catch phrase commitment to a learning environment of cooperation over competition, Fuqua decided last year to add a sixth section of 60 students to the daytime master's of business administration program--but the move has been highly successful, said James Gray, associate dean of marketing and communication.
"When you add another 60 students...you want to make sure the quality is not diluted by going farther into the applicant pool," Gray said. "And we were concerned about whether having another 60 students would make it a little less personal around here, but a lot of good work has been done by students, faculty and staff to make sure that we did well on both those counts."
By the usual objective measures, Fuqua has continued a streak of strong performance. This year's matriculating class of 405 daytime MBA students boasts a mean GMAT score of 704, up from last year's 701; the average undergraduate GPA, however, went down from 3.59 to 3.39.
"When you [add students], you always fear the quality is going to go down," said Provost Peter Lange. "I think the quality has gone marginally up."
Associate professor Simon Gervais was optimistic about the entering class with regards to previous student performance.
"On paper, [they're] at least as good," Gervais said. "If anything, there's a slight improvement."
Gray said Fuqua plans to add more students again next year, making for a total of 120 new MBA spots in two years.
"Typically, higher education is counter-cyclical," professor Michael Bradley said. "When people find it's difficult to get a job, they decide instead to increase their human capital and go back to school, and that's what we're seeing now."
Meanwhile, Fuqua, traditionally one of the smallest top-tier business schools, has moved past competitor Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management in size. And while several peer institutions saw a decline in applications of 10 to 20 percent, Fuqua lost only about 2 percent.
The $27 million Fox Student Center, which opened last month, has helped to accommodate the larger student body, Gray said. Faculty numbers have shot up as well, from 69 to 99 over the past three years. Several departments have expanded sharply--the finance department, for instance, added seven faculty, more than doubling the number, Bradley said.
Women comprise 30 percent of this year's class; minorities, 20 percent. Twenty-two percent hail from the Northeast; 10 percent, from the Midwest; 9 percent, from the Mid-Atlantic; twenty percent, from the West or Southwest; and 13 percent, from the South. International students make up 26 percent.
Andrew Collins contributed to this story.
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