Women Making Some Progress in Business School Enrollments

Five years ago, the business school at the University of Southern California was the first major business school to report that women made up a majority of all enrollments. This year, according to data from the Forte Foundation, five of the world’s leading business schools reported that they had reached gender equality: George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Oxford, and Pennsylvania State University. At George Washington University, 65 percent of the business school students are women.

Overall, women make up 42 percent of total enrollments at the 56 business schools that are members of the Forte Foundation. This is an increase from 33 percent a decade ago.

Founded in 2002, the Austin, Texas-based Forte Foundations links talented women, influential companies, leading universities and business schools, and pioneering donors. Together these important players commit to advancing women in business. The foundation provides women equal access to an infrastructure — business education, role models, professional networks, leadership training — that empowers them to rethink what’s possible. The foundation’s programs are tailored for women at every stage:

• For college women: Business conferences, a year-round career program and more.
• For women who want to attend business school: Application/GMAT preparation and more.
• For MBA women: Fellowships, leadership conferences, and more.
• For professional women: Networking, leadership training, and more.

The Forte Foundation is headed by Elissa Sangster, the former assistant dean and director of the MBA program at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Earlier, she was assistant director of the MBA program at Texas A&M University’s Mays School of Business.