Nishant Banore got one step closer to his dream of attending a business school in the U.S. when he received an offer of admission this fall from UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Banore, founder of I-Alive, a nonprofit that educates Indian youth about healthy living, was even more excited when the school told him he'd landed a lucrative $30,000 fellowship, a coup in an especially competitive year for B-school admissions. The Indian applicant's enthusiasm quickly waned though as he considered his job prospects in the U.S. after graduation. With limited H-1B job visas available, a shaky economic climate, and new restrictions on hiring foreign workers in the financial services sector, attending an American B-school all seemed all of a sudden too big a risk to take.

"I don't think I can leave my family's future on luck and hope," says Banore, who lives in Mumbai. He turned down Anderson this week to attend one of the top B-schools in India, the Indian School of Business.

For years, American business schools have effortlessly attracted a diverse body of international students, eager to come for a top-rate business education and the chance to work in the U.S. after graduation. But diversity at top B-schools across the country may take a hit this year, as a growing number of international students put off plans to attend school or decide to attend schools in their home countries instead. Though it's still too early to tell what the impact will be on next year's class, a growing number of students from China, India, Europe, and the Middle East say they are considering, or have already decided, to decline their acceptance offers to prestigious U.S. business schools.

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