When students contemplate pursuing a degree in a STEM field, biology or chemistry might come to mind. However, Emory University recently added an additional subject area to the list: business administration.
Last month, Emory approved Goizueta Business School’s Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree for a STEM designation, starting with 2024 graduates. Specifically, the University labeled the program as a management science, meaning it “focuses on the application of statistical modeling, data warehousing, data mining, programming, forecasting and operations research techniques to the analysis of problems of business organization and performance,” according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Following a thorough review of Goizueta’s curriculum, the business school’s administration sent the STEM-designation proposal to the University’s Academic Review Committee and the Office of the Provost, according to Goizueta Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Admission Andrea Hershatter (05G). The Goizueta administration asserted that the business school’s courses significantly focus on technology and analytics.
“The degree should match the reality of the education they’re receiving,” Hershatter said.
The new designation is a byproduct of Goizueta’s revamped curriculum that rolled out in early 2023, according to Hershatter. The curriculum now allows sophomores to matriculate into the business school during the fall semester as well as established new statistical and technological competency requirements, which Hershatter believes pushed the program over the threshold required to receive a STEM designation.
“It became increasingly apparent that the curriculum itself was infused with enough of the necessary criteria that the entire program could be certified,” Hershatter said.
The change especially impacts international students, Hershatter said. According to Emory’s International Student and Scholar Services, 90% of Emory’s international students study in the United States under F-1 visas. Once they have graduated, students with an F-1 visa can work in the United States for one year if a company hires and sponsors them under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.
If a company wants to permanently hire an international graduate after their first year, the graduate can enter a “lottery” for an H-1B visa, which can last up to six years. Hershatter said there is only about a 30% chance of securing an H-1B visa through this process.
However, graduates with STEM-designated degrees can apply for a two-year extension after their first year in the workforce, giving international students more chances to stay longer in the United States, according to Hershatter.
“It’s a very big risk for a company to hire a student who doesn’t have a STEM degree and put them through all of that training and development and want to keep them and not be legally eligible to keep them,” Hershatter said. “If the student has a STEM-designated degree, one year changes to three years, so now the odds work such that with three bites at the apple, it’s much more likely that an individual student will be somebody that the company can retain if they choose to do so.”
Prior to acquiring the designation, many international Goizueta students double majored in a STEM-designated field through Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences so they could have the STEM OPT extension after their graduation, BBA Council Vice President Liam O’Sullivan (24B) said.
“It allows for less creativity and free will in terms of classes and how you want to structure your remaining time at the school,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s really big and really helpful to allow students to take that weight off their shoulders and now transition into potentially more passion projects or classes they actually think are of interest.”
Santiago Gonzalez del Solar (26C), who is an international student and plans to major in business, said the extra time to find a job before having to leave the United States is “very beneficial.”
“It just brings me more hope in regards to my job opportunities and lets me know that I can stay in the U.S. longer,” Gonzalez del Solar said of the designation.
BBA Council President Michael Chan (24B), who described the STEM designation as a “lifeline” for international students, said the change “couldn’t have come at a better time.” He explained that many students are increasingly worried about their ability to find jobs after graduation in today’s economy, especially international students who have a limited amount of time to find a job in the United States.
Additionally, the new STEM designation is just the tip of the iceberg in Goizueta’s plan to have the BBA degree match contemporary analytical and technological business trends, Chan added.
“This designation is a sign that it’s not going to slow down,” Chan said. “We’re going to keep going in that direction. I’m excited to see how it plays out.”
