It's not often you hear an administrator canonize a flow chart,
even at a Catholic school.
But talk to Carolyn Woo, dean of the Mendoza College of Business,
about enrollment trends and you're likely to hear her invoke a
saint's name in reference to a particular info-graphic.
Prepared by the University's Institutional Research office,
the chart tracks transfers of Notre Dame undergraduates from one
college to another.
"We call that one Saint Sebastian," she says, "because of all
the arrows going into us."
She means that like Sebastian, a third-century Roman soldier
traditionally depicted as pincushioned with arrows (according
to legend he was healed after being pierced by several), all the
arrows on the transfer chart point in the business college's direction.
That's because more students transfer into business than transfer
out of the college and into the colleges of Science, Engineering
or Arts and Letters or the School of Architecture.
Five years ago, that net influx helped produce what is believed
to be an all-time record for business enrollment at Notre Dame
of 1,869, according to Institutional Research. To put the total
in perspective, it meant that about one out of every three sophomores,
juniors and seniors was enrolled in business. (Incoming first-year
students don't enroll in specific colleges.)
This phenomenon troubled some University administrators, in
part because it put Notre Dame far out of step with its peers.
Most other highly selective colleges and universities don't even
teach undergraduate courses in business. The field is often looked
down upon by academics as being too close to vocational training.
Woo's rebuttal is that the Mendoza curriculum goes well beyond
spreadsheets and business plans to explore such intellectual subtleties
as ethics and leadership.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the boom in business
study has abated since 2000, but it remains one of several enrollment
trends the University is trying to manage. With a light touch,
if possible. Other concerns include a prolonged decline in engineering
enrollment, both nationally and at Notre Dame, and an even longer-term
move by students away from the liberal arts in favor of fields
perceived as more practical.
In a college administrator's dreams, students would sort themselves
out evenly among the scores of available majors. Or they would
at least enroll in the various fields in the same percentages
year after year. That way no college or department would ever
be left with over- or under-utilized capacity in terms of faculty,
classrooms and other resources.
Such perfect predictability exists nowhere, of course. But Notre
Dame faces an additional, self-imposed challenge. Some universities
establish filters or "gates" to admission, meaning students must
declare their intended major on their application for admission.
The admissions office can then pick and choose among applicants
to assemble a class that's both well-qualified and evenly dispersed.
Suspecting this to be the case, many high school seniors, when
filling out an application, will write in what they imagine to
be the least popular major at a school in hopes of improving their
chances of getting in, one current Notre Dame student confides.
This wouldn't be an effective strategy at Notre Dame because
the University has never had admission gates. Its philosophy has
always been to evaluate applicants individually according to their
overall records, says Dan Saracino, assistant provost and director
of admissions. The ND application does ask about intended area
of study, but the answer isn't binding and has no bearing on admission
decisions, he says.
Saracino says gates would be "against the culture" of Notre
Dame because the University believes in letting students explore
different fields and figure out where their passions and abilities
lie. One aim of the University's First Year of Studies program,
mandatory for all freshmen, is to expose students to a wide array
of subjects. Not until near the end of first year are students
required to pick a major and enroll in a college.
Notre Dame's two largest colleges by far in terms of undergraduate
enrollment are Arts and Letters (45 percent of non-freshman enrollment)
and Business (25 percent). They're followed distantly by Science
(15), Engineering (11) and the School of Architecture (3). The
percentages have remained roughly the same for the past 15 years.
The most noticeable change has been a drop in engineering enrollment.
Engineering enrollment
The heyday for engineering came in the late 1950s, when the launch
of Sputnik sparked renewed interest in engineering, especially
aerospace. Back then engineering students made up more than 30
percent of Notre Dame's enrollment. As recently as 1985, the college
enrolled more than a thousand students, but in 2004-05 the figure
stood at 734.
Nationally, undergraduate engineering enrollment declined from
a 1983 peak of about 441,000 students to about 361,000 by 1999,
an 18 percent drop, according to statistics reported by the American
Association of Engineering Societies. Enrollment rebounded to
about 421,000 in 2002. According to an article last year in the
Wall Street Journal, the United States, which in 1975
ranked third worldwide in the number of undergraduates studying
engineering and natural sciences, has now fallen to 17th place.
John Uhran, associate dean of engineering, says increased investment
in defense during the Reagan administration probably helped spur
the enrollment spike in the mid-'80s. Since then, "there has been
a slow decline in enrollment in the college," he says.
To counter that trend, both engineering and the College of Science,
which has faced a similar but less-pronounced slide in enrollment,
have stepped up their marketing efforts. Snazzy new promotional
publications and elaborate receptions and open houses on campus
for admitted students are all part of the recruitment campaign.
Representatives of the engineering college went so far as to visit
Catholic high schools in California's Silicon Valley last September
looking for potential applicants.
The efforts may be paying off. Engineering enrollment has risen
by nearly 100 since the year 2000. The science college proudly
points to a report from First Year of Studies showing that 25
percent of freshmen entering in fall 2004 said they intended to
major in science, up from 20 percent two years earlier.
But the problem for both colleges has been retention. A report
that looked at freshmen who entered in 1998 found that 27 percent
who said they intended to major in science transferred to Arts
and Letters, and 22 percent of engineering intents switched to
business. The latter migration is so familiar to students, one
senior says, that a joke around campus is that when someone says
they're majoring in engineering, you say, "Oh, you mean pre-business?"
One reason science and engineering have trouble attracting and
retaining students is that the programs are perceived as too difficult
and time-consuming.
Regina Muscarello, a junior whose three-headed major of philosophy,
English and Spanish hardly qualifies her as a slacker, says, "Many
students want to be able to dabble in other non-related courses,
but the engineering curriculum is rather set and stringent." Students
also think the workload won't leave time for a social life or
extracurricular activities.
Several years ago the engineering college revamped its undergraduate
program with an eye toward boosting retention. The most obvious
difference involved a retooled Introduction to Engineering Systems
course spanning fall and spring semesters of freshman year. Designed
to replace a course that focused on computer programming, the
new course features guest speakers, hands-on learning and small-group
sessions on creative problem-solving. In recent years it's become
common to see members of this class out on the South Quad in fair
weather catapulting softballs and comparing distances traveled
against their predictions.
The college also condensed a three-semester physics sequence
into two semesters and a two-semester chemistry course into one.
The freed-up second chemistry semester was given over to a new
course focusing on biochemistry. The idea is to prepare engineering
majors to explore the burgeoning field of biotechnology, Uhran
says.
The changes appear to be helping. In 2000 about 55 percent of
freshman engineering intents stayed with the college at least
into their sophomore years. By 2004 the rate had improved to better
than 70 percent. The college also gave special attention to retaining
women. Only about 45 percent of female students were making it
to sophomore year five years ago. Today their retention rate is
on a par with that of the college as a whole, according to the
college's statistics.
Still, only about half of students who at enrollment say they
intend to major in science or engineering actually graduate from
either college, according to the most recent reports from Institutional
Research.
Concern for grades
Students say one reason is concern for grades. Almost all students
arrive at Notre Dame with stellar high-school grade-point averages,
and they typically expect to keep making A's as they eye possible
graduate school opportunities. (In recent years about a third
of Notre Dame seniors surveyed have said they planned to further
their education.) Some will transfer out of a major if they receive
what they deem to be unsatisfactory marks. They're afraid of damaging
their GPA beyond recovery.
Engineering, in particular, is seen as a killer major.
"A's in engineering are few and far between," observes one sophomore,
"and that causes extreme stress in students who are used to being
at the top of their respective classes. . . . [S]tudents want
to be part of something in which they excel."
Mitchell Wayne, associate dean of the College of Science, is
less charitable, saying he thinks too many of today's students
"aren't willing to struggle for a while."
But grade phobia doesn't explain all transfers out of science
and engineering. Sophomore Keri Mikuska, originally a science
major, says she left not because the classes were too hard but
because she missed reading great literature and reflecting on
its meaning in essays. "Looking back, I didn't realize that a
science major took four science classes and one non-departmental
elective for almost every semester. I thought that it would be
more integrated, but it wasn't."
She switched to medieval studies and English. Like Wayne, though,
she bemoans the find-the-easy-major mentality of many students.
"So many students today seem to be choosing their major, something
that will potentially affect the rest of their lives, on the criterion
of the level of difficulty," she says.
If perceived difficulty scares students away from engineering
and science (architecture, too; Bond Hall, the school's HQ, is
known among students as the "only co-ed dorm on campus" because
Arkies have so much work they sometimes end up sleeping there)
the opposite is true about business. Most students imagine the
business curriculum to be easier than that of other colleges.
Reality turns out to be a little different. Junior Covington
Doan started out as an engineering intent freshman year, switched
to pre-med as a sophomore and is now enrolled in the business
college's management information systems track. He says he hasn't
found the course work to be easy in any sense. "I actually find
myself doing more work in business than I did as a pre-med."
The other common perception is that a Notre Dame business diploma
is a ticket to a high-paying job. This notion holds particular
sway among parents.
Finance major Patricia Alvarez tells of a friend of hers who
enrolled as a business major then switched to psychology, an Arts
and Letters major. Her parents weren't happy with the decision
and convinced her to switch back. She did, Alvarez says, but was
miserable. She eventually came to an accommodation with her parents.
She would double-major in marketing and psychology. The change
required her to take summer courses and overload her schedule
in the fall and spring of junior year, Alvarez says.
"She loves psychology but is still bitter [about having to take]
business."
Mark Roche, dean of the Arts and Letters college, says the attitude
of that student's parents is common among parents of Notre Dame
students. He theorizes that it's a remnant of Catholic immigrant
culture.
"The immigrants thought that the main purpose of college was
to get professional training to get a job," he says.
Many still think that way, of course, and not just Catholic
parents. Since many parents are footing the bill for their child's
education, and many come from business backgrounds, they often
look for a tangible return on investment.
Part of Roche's challenge since becoming dean in 1997 has been
to convince students and parents of the practicality of a traditional
liberal arts education. The college has even produced a DVD featuring
interviews with faculty and alumni who talk about the intrinsic
value of a liberal arts education. It also describes how study
in the liberal arts sharpens analytical and other skills valuable
in any profession and appreciated by employers. The message seems
to be getting through, as the Arts & Letters college posted
record enrollment in 2004-05 of nearly 3,000 students.
In a future DVD, Roche might consider featuring business
major Alvarez talking about the trip she took with the Notre
Dame Finance Club last fall to New York City. The group met with
representatives of General Electric and its NBC subsidiary to
talk about internship opportunities. She says company representatives
told them it didn't matter what their major was because G.E. puts
all hires through extensive training for their specific jobs.
"Basically they said to major in something you like and enjoy,"
Alvarez says.
Business enrollment climbs
Woo, dean of the business college since 1997, says she thinks
one reason business enrollment has taken off is because even students
eyeing a path other than up the corporate ladder realize they
need some knowledge of business principles.
That was the case with sophomore Shannon Reabe, who had intended
to study theology and peace studies but switched to accounting
and peace studies. Reabe says she hopes to work for a not-for-profit
organization someday and knows such groups need people who can
manage finances. She's quick to add, though, that she still believes
a strong liberal arts background is essential.
Whatever the reason for business's popularity, the flood of
students presented a major management problem for Mendoza administrators.
Woo points out that the college was being asked to teach almost
a third of all Notre Dame upperclassmen with one-seventh of the
University's faculty. Plus professors were expected to teach about
800 graduate students and conduct extensive research.
One obvious solution would have been to hire more faculty. But
Woo says it's expensive to recruit faculty with the teaching and
research abilities the college demands. Plus she didn't want to
risk disrupting the culture of "collaboration and collegiality"
she says exists within college at its traditional size. "It will
change our DNA if we grow too big."
The only alternative was to reduce the number of students. The
college set a long-term enrollment target of 1,200 -- a reduction
of more than a third from the record high of five years ago. The
question is how to get there.
Woo says many universities seeking to limit enrollment in a
popular program do so by raising the minimum grade-point average
required to enter or by boosting the number and type of prerequisite
courses. The business college rejected those options, the dean
says, because they ran counter to Notre Dame's philosophy of giving
students the freedom to pursue all opportunities.
The one concrete step the college and University have taken
is to cease accepting business transfer students from other universities.
Undergraduates can still transfer to Notre Dame up to the start
of their junior year but can't enroll in business unless they
arrive before the start of sophomore year. The college had been
enrolling about 50 transfer students a year in the years leading
up to the change, a Mendoza official says.
In hopes of further suppressing enrollment, Woo says she has
actually begun encouraging students to consider options other
than business. "Here I am a business school dean," she marvels,
"and I'm talking about the benefits of other majors."
Whatever the reason, undergraduate enrollment in business has
fallen every year since 2000 to 1,537 this past fall semester,
according to the Institutional Research office. Woo says she expects
the number to stabilize around 1,500.
Ed Cohen is an assistant editor of this magazine.
(January 2006)
