The phones of the admissions office at the School of Business at Stanford University are not as busy as before. The number of applicants who come to the briefings has also dropped. For Derrick Bolton, director of admissions, this has meant having to work harder than normal to increase the interest.

However, he believes that the main problem is that businesses are suffering a backlash. “If you pay attention to Meg Whitman’s campaign for the state of California or Curly Farina for his Senate seat, all the negative publicity about them revolves around business. It comes down to how external hired, how they received large pay packages and how many people fired. People are being attacked for it, “he said.

The first round of admissions at Stanford ends today, and Bolton expects this year’s competition improves. When all is said and done, he believes that requests to enter the best business school could fall up to 10% this year, and it is like to have a strong impact on the school given their admission standards.