The Cox B.B.A. in Demand
Enhanced by Dallas’ “Ya’ll Street” status, climbing enrollment in the Cox School’s B.B.A. program reflects a national trend.
When he talks about the challenges ҽCox School of Business administrators face in preparing undergraduates for the workforce, Jim Bryan, associate dean of Cox B.B.A. programs, tells the story of a recent grad who launched a business involving a smartphone app aimed at reducing texting while driving.
It’s a textbook success story. The student began working on the idea while at ҽCox. Within a few years of graduating, she was running a growing company, leveraging the core business skills she learned at the Cox School along with the entrepreneurial mindset fostered by the school.
“When this student was born, there was no such thing as a smartphone; there were no apps,” Bryan says. “If you had told her parents when she was born that her first job would be that she’s created an app that will exist on your smartphone that will keep you from texting and driving, they would have said, ‘What is an app? What is a smartphone? What is texting, and why am I doing it while I’m driving?’”
The story encapsulates the challenge of building an educational program that equips graduates with the skills they need to thrive in an uncertain and evolving future. Striking the right balance is particularly important now, as business school enrollment surges nationwide—including at ҽCox.
At the beginning of the 2024–25 academic year, the Cox School welcomed 675 first-year B.B.A.s—nearly double the enrollment numbers of a decade ago. The reasons for this growth tell a larger story, both about the macroeconomic climate and a business program that has found the right mix of culture and academics, enhancing its reputation for placing graduates in successful careers.
“Our relationship with the corporate world has made us pretty good at anticipating future trends for which we need to prepare our students, but there are always going to be curveballs,” Bryan says. “Creating future business leaders that are adaptable to ever-present change is really the key.”'
More undergrads are choosing programs that offer clear pathways to high-paying careers in sectors such as finance and real estate.
Riding a national trend
The growth of the Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) program at ҽCox mirrors a national trend of rising demand for business education. More students across the country are gravitating toward pre-professional programs that offer clear pathways to stable, high-paying jobs in fields such as finance, consulting and real estate.
Bryan, who has been with ҽfor 24 years, 19 of them at the Cox School, attributes this demand to several factors, including the lingering effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Any time you see a downturn in the economy, you start to see an increase in students interested in more pre-professional programs,” he says. “And we’ve had a few downturns in the last few years.”
The uncertainty of the job market has made many prospective students and their parents prioritize degrees that offer a strong return on investment, making business schools like ҽCox an increasingly attractive option.
A key driver of the Cox School’s growth is its geographic advantage. Despite recent economic uncertainties, Dallas has bucked some national trends. Given SMU’s location within a national hub for finance, real estate and corporate relocations, the Cox School is well-positioned to attract students from across the country.
“We’re really fortunate to be in North Texas,” Bryan says. “Dallas is an incredible area, and the business climate is very enticing. We have a lot of students from the West and East coasts who are coming here, and, in a lot of ways, they’re following national [relocation] trends.”
The uncertainty of the job market has made many prospective students and their parents prioritize degrees that offer a strong return on investment, making business schools like ҽCox an increasingly attractive option.
Many students are drawn to ҽCox by the college’s renowned finance program. In 2008, about 34% of Cox School undergraduates majored in finance. Today, that number has swelled to 55%.
“The increase in students wanting to study finance is a national trend,” Bryan says. “But it’s especially exacerbated here because of the success of some of our top finance programs and where we’ve been able to place those students.”
The school has also proved successful placing recent graduates in large business consulting firms, which has driven increased interest in that program, says Brandy Dalton, senior director of B.B.A./ M.S. career programs at ҽCox.
Another increasingly popular program is the Cox School’s business analytics and supply chain management curriculum, launched in December 2019—on the cusp of the global pandemic that ground supply chains to a halt, driving home the role effective supply chain management plays in the overall economy.
“I think within the next few years, it could be one of our largest majors,” Bryan says.
Administrators say Cox B.B.A. students tend to be career-minded from the day they step onto campus.
A career-focused generation
Dalton cites a noticeable shift in the mindset of many incoming first-years she sees at the Cox School’s Career Management Center, which may also reflect a factor driving B.B.A. enrollment growth: a more career-minded new generation.
Dalton says many incoming students enter the Cox School already knowing where they would like to focus their studies, what kinds of internships they want to pursue and what their future career goals look like.
“You would think first years would come to campus still just figuring out what it’s like to be a college student,” Dalton says. “Not an ҽCox student. They are on it, and we start working with them early.”
ҽCox has established programs that help nurture this career-driven mindset from the moment students enter college. Career development begins from day one: First-years undergo mock interviews in their first semester and are required to take a course that teaches essential job skills, such as building a résumé, networking and becoming certified in Microsoft Excel.
Our students start thinking about their careers on day one. We work to help each one chart the path they want to take to achieve their career goals, starting with that first job after, or even before, graduation.
Jim Bryan, Associate Dean of the B.B.A. Undergraduate Program
Even though students often know what they want to study, Dalton says the program is designed to expose new students to the broad range of options, calling attention to the strong demand for trained graduates in fields such as supply chain management or accounting.
“We develop a curriculum around understanding the job market, the career paths, the majors that align with those paths, and the technical and soft skills needed to succeed,” Dalton says. “We ask if those majors align with their values, motivators and skill sets. That’s the journey we take them on.”
For many ҽCox undergrads, that journey has already begun by the time they set foot on campus. Lindsay Davis, director of B.B.A. admission at ҽCox, says she has noticed a shift in college applications, with some incoming B.B.A. students demonstrating that they have begun their business education well before they start their college careers.
“Even when reviewing students’ applications, gone are the days of, ‘The one thing I did in high school was captain the tennis team,’” Davis says. “These students are holding internships and creating businesses. You could meet a student who started a company as a high school junior. It’s a reflection of the shrinking world we live in and the resources [students] have access to. It’s created a much savvier consumer on the college front.”
Students’ precocious interest in seeking out job opportunities early in their college careers mirrors another trend, Bryan says. Companies are increasingly recruiting B.B.A. undergraduates at earlier grad levels. Students need to be on top of their résumé and job interview skills by the end of their first year, he says, because sometimes the opportunities they are offered sophomore year lead to long-term careers.
“Some of the big investment banks, private equity firms, consulting firms and accounting firms are recruiting earlier than they used to,” Bryan says. “Many students will have an internship interview in the spring of sophomore year that turns into a junior year internship, which then leads to a full-time job. In many cases, they’re interviewing for their first postgraduate job before they’re even halfway through school—and that gets earlier every year.”
Although this growing demand for hiring ҽCox B.B.A. students early demonstrates the school’s strong reputation and performance, it also puts new pressures on students and school resources, necessitating more faculty, new facilities and expanded career services. ҽCox has responded by adding resources in its career center to focus on working with younger students and helping them to start their job search as early as the first day of their first year.
“Our students start thinking about their careers on day one,” Bryan says, pointing to the school’s emphasis on early engagement with career management services. “We work to help each one chart the path they want to take to achieve their career goals, starting with that first job after, or even before, graduation.”
Even as B.B.A. enrollment balloons, ҽCox strives to maintain the individualized student experience for which the school is known.
Enhancing the student experience
One of the reasons ҽCox has been so successful in launching B.B.A. graduates’ careers is the school’s proactive, hands-on approach to career mentorship. But the resulting growth presents a key challenge for the future: How can the Cox School strike a balance between its growth and the individualized educational experience that has bolstered its reputation?
One solution is to invest in more resources that can enhance the ҽCox undergraduate experience. The expanded career center represents one such investment, as does the new David B. Miller Business Quadrangle, which provides state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities for both graduate and undergraduate students.
The facility leverages new pedagogical technologies that allow ҽCox to expand its reach while enhancing the educational experience and a culture of increased collaboration. This culture, Bryan says, is at the heart of the school’s academic and professional success.
“We’re not going to increase enrollment at the cost of the student experience,” Bryan says. “When we increase enrollment, we still have to provide that Cox School of Business experience—which means high-quality academic advising and career management that offers an individualized experience.”
Maintaining that individualized experience will place some necessary restrictions on growth, even as B.B.A. applications continue to surge. Bryan adds that growing demand shifts pressure back on administrators, who need to ensure that each incoming class is as diverse and dynamic as possible.
“We know that to get the best students in the country, scholarships are vital,” Dalton says. “The applicants put their best forward with a solid application, but then it’s on us to reward their achievements with the best financial package we can. If we don’t keep pace with our competition in the scholarship arena, we’ll lose these savvy students to other universities.”
“That also sometimes means that, from an admissions standpoint, we’re leaving talent on the table,” Bryan adds. “As much as we’d like to, we simply cannot teach everyone who wants to study here.”
We know that to get the best students in the country, scholarships are vital ... If we don’t keep pace with our competition in the scholarship arena, we’ll lose these savvy students to other universities.
Brandy Dalton, Senior Director of B.B.A./M.S. Career Programs
Being able to, or not being able to, offer high-potential students solid scholarship packages can make or break the Cox School’s admissions ability to maintain a strong B.B.A. program. (Editor’s note: Read about new B.B.A. and MBA Cox School scholarship drives on page 45).
Nurturing the continued growth of the Cox School’s B.B.A. program requires close attention to another key constituency: employers. To fulfill this promise, ҽCox ensures its curriculum evolves alongside the broader business world. The growth of the supply chain management program, for example, demonstrates how the Cox School stays relevant by responding to market dynamics.
One evolution Cox School administrators are closely monitoring is Dallas’ emergence as a stronger financial hub. With the planned introduction of the Texas Stock Exchange and a new Goldman Sachs campus downtown, some observers have dubbed the city “Y’all Street.” As corporations and banks continue relocating to Texas, Dallas is solidifying its status as a major center for finance and investment.
“We have two customers: students and employers,” Bryan says. “We constantly listen to students to understand their needs, and we do the same with employers. We stay on the front line with our corporate partners. ‘What types of students are you looking for? What could they be doing better? What industry needs can we address in our classrooms?’”
As Dallas continues its Y’all Street evolution, ҽCox will likely remain a popular destination for students seeking to break into the financial sector. Ultimately, the school’s ongoing success will depend on the same values it instills in its students: adaptability, clear communication and staying ahead of market trends without overreacting to short-term shifts.
“We’re not fortune tellers. We don’t know where the market is going any more than you do,” Bryan says. “We have to teach our students about adaptability. We’re not training our students to do just one job. We’re training our students to adapt to a corporate world and get into the boardroom on day one.”
