Why More Women Go to Law or Med Schools

“And when you say, ‘my child is a doctor, a lawyer, or a nurse,’ everyone knows what she does. It has status. When you are going against the odds to pursue a career in business, there may not be much support for it. People around you might not understand what consumer marketing is or what investment banking it. That’s a much bigger hurdle than going to law school.”

Another drawback to increasing female enrollment in B-school has to do with the typical work experience requirement, says Sangster. “A lot of kids go to law or med school because they can go straight through out of undergrad. It’s a choice that is easy if you’re not thinking you want to get a job or if you are a liberal arts major because so many people will tell you to get a law degree.”

FEMALE ENROLLMENT IN BUSINESS, LAW, MEDICINE AND EDUCATION AT UNIVERSITIES WITH TOP 25 B-SCHOOLS

School	Businesss	Law	Medicine	Education
1. Harvard	36.1%	48.0%	47.9%	73.1%
2. Stanford	36.3%	45.0%	48.0%	69.6%
3. Chicago	35.4%	44.3%	49.0%	NA
4. Pennsylvania	39.7%	47.6%	49.3%	73.6%
5. Columbia	34.9%	48.5%	47.8%	76.9%
6. Dartmouth	33.7%	NA	49.9%	NA
7. Northwestern	29.8%	45.8%	47.3%	73.5%
8. MIT	36.1%	NA	NA	NA
9. California-Berkeley	29.6%	52.9%	NA	71.8%
10. Duke	33.7%	41.0%	48.8%	NA
11. Virginia	29.0%	44.8%	43.4%	75.2%
12. New York	36.9%	42.6%	49.0%	76.8%
13. Michigan	31.4%	44.6%	49.9%	73.8%
14. Yale	35.5%	49.3%	50.8%	NA
15. Cornell	32.2%	49.6%	48.9%	67.3%
16. Carnegie Mellon	26.7%	NA	NA	NA
17. California-Los Angeles	32.9%	47.5%	47.0%	68.0%
18. North Carolina	27.7%	50.9%	51.1%	72.7%
19. Texas-Austin	29.4%	46.4%	NA	69.3%
20. Emory	28.2%	46.0%	53.8%	NA
21. Indiana	28.6%	41.0%	NA	69.8%
22. Southern California	30.0%	47.9%	46.9%	73.7%
23. Georgetown	29.5%	47.7%	48.2%	NA
24. Minnesota-Twin Cities	36.5%	41.9%	49.0%	71.2%
25. Notre Dame	24.9%	41.7%	NA	NA

NOTRE DAME HAS LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN OF ANY TOP 25 B-SCHOOL

The top 25 business school with the lowest percentage of women? Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business where just 24.9% of the full-time MBA students are women. Also on the low end are Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business (26.7%), North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School (27.7%), Emory’s Goizueta School of Business (28.2%) and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business (28.6%).

WHARTON HAS HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN OF ANY TOP 25 B-SCHOOL

The top 25 business schools that have done the best job of attracting more women? University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with 39.7%, followed by New York University’s Stern School of Business (36.9%), the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School (36.5%), Stanford Graduate School of Business (36.3%), and Harvard Business School (36.1%).

DON’T MISS: WHY MEN OUTPERFORM WOMEN AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL or MORE WOMEN GETTING MBAS BUT …….