Invasion of the Helicopter Parents

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Close Connections

The rising cost of tuition at business schools likely plays a role in the millennial generation's continued dependence on their parents as they move on to graduate school, says William Strauss, a generational historian and the author of the book Millennials Go to College. "But it isn't just economics. It's also reflective of the fact that the millennials get along with their parents better than any generation in the history of polling, going back to the 1960s," Strauss says.

This group of students consults with their parents on whether they should attend business school, and again when deciding which school to attend, Strauss says. Many live at home before attending graduate school and communicate with their parents via cell phone or e-mail several times a day.

"It just shows the closeness of the families. They get along with their parents, and that's the good news," he says. "The bad news is that people who deal with them have to deal with their parents, too."

Joint Venture

Indeed, admissions and student affairs officers at MBA programs say they have seen an uptick in parents' presence on campus in the past year or two. They're showing up at group information sessions, attending receptions for admitted students, and requesting to sit in on classes, says Linda Baldwin, director of admissions at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Grandparents and even in-laws are popping up at the admissions office, too, she says.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. "The young people are including them in the process and making it a collective, joint type of activity," Baldwin says. "That can be very invigorating for someone who's older, particularly the grandparents."

Yale's DelMonico says he has noticed more parents calling the admissions office on behalf of their children and asking for catalogs. One mother recently came to campus and spent the entire afternoon in the visitor center knitting a sweater while waiting for her daughter to return from interviews and a campus tour. "She got pretty well along in that sweater while her daughter was here," he notes.

Parental Investment

At Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, 75 students attended this past weekend's welcome event for admitted and confirmed students. Ten parents also came, said Brian Lohr, Mendoza's director of admissions.

These students, who average about four years of work experience, wouldn't have considered bringing a parent a decade ago, says Lohr, who has overseen the event since 1997. But now, parents are even calling the school to set up appointments with financial-aid officers.

"Oftentimes, I think the parents are supplementing the experience by paying for tuition and housing, so it's an investment for them as well," Lohr says. "They're very involved."

Mortified Offspring

Students themselves aren't afraid to use the term "helicopter parents" even of their own parents. John Steck, 26, a first-year Darden student, says people in his age group are used to having their parents involved in their lives. Most don't mind the extra attention and lean on their parents for important advice, he says. "I know from my own experience my mother has always been a helicopter parent. Nothing changes there," Steck adds. "She still enjoys doing whatever she can to kind of be a part of my life at this point in time."

Helicopter parents are usually up front with their children about their involvement, but some choose to work behind the scenes, admission officers say.

Dawna Clarke, director of admissions at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, recalls two recent cases where parents called her office after learning their children didn't get into Tuck and proceeded to complain about the school's decision. "I would say I think that the applicants would be really mortified if they know how their parents had handled it, and in both cases the parents didn't want the applicants to know they had contacted us," Clarke says.

New Trends

In some instances, parents are pushing their children to try to get them access to events that are normally closed to them—causing administrators to draw boundaries. One recently admitted Yale student informed the admissions office that his parents wanted to accompany him to a welcome dinner for new students that will be held later this month, DelMonico says. The student was told his parents couldn't accompany him to the event, but the school made special arrangements for the parents to have dinner on campus—separately.

A mother of a Boston University School of Management student asked the admissions office last year if she could attend an open house for admitted students in place of her child, says Chris Storer, BU's associate director of admissions. The school refused to let her attend the event, he says. "It's really designed for students to connect with each other and other admitted candidates," Storer adds. "It sort of defeats the purpose if we were to allow random parents to come."

School officials have begun talking about how this new generation of students—and their parents—will affect business schools in the coming years. They expect different trends in behavior, expectations, and even learning styles. "It's something we even discuss in faculty meetings now, how [the new generation's] arrival is going to affect graduate business education," says Ken White, Darden's vice-president for communications & marketing.

MBA officials agree that it's hard for anyone to predict how large a role these parents will play in the future. Most plan to sit back and watch how the situation develops, dealing with each parent for now on a case-by-case basis. One thing's for certain: The helicopters are beginning to take up some of the airspace at these schools.

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.