ABSTRACT
The kinds of management programs reflect the heterogeneity of the students who constitute the demand on the educational system. As in the US, the three types of management programs,—undergraduate, postgraduate, and non-degree executive programs—draw students with different profiles of age, socioeconomic condition, work experience, and educational expectations. Data from both Rio de Janeiro confirm that choice of career and hence of a university program is strongly influenced by the socioeconomic status of the student's family. With respect to students of Administration, the evidence from a number of empirical studies establishes that they come predominantly from the middle class. Of middle-class students, the preponderance continues for Science except among Brazilians, where Social Sciences move ahead in preference. For lower-class students, Administration and Economics becomes the first preference of the Japanese and Latins and the second for Brazilians.
