[cosmie]

The reasons are mixed. In some cases, it's a shift in entry requirements. One institution's admissions standards is another institution's market opportunity. Which is partially a regional thing, due to the sickening willingness of unsustainable institutional growth on the back of ever increasing amounts of student loan debt (which has special status in the US that makes it both incredibly easy to qualify for and almost impossible to ever discharge via bankruptcy).

But a more globally-applicable path is sideloading into an MBA. Many institutions offer "dual degree programs", where you get an MS in Finance or Management or what have you. And because the requirements overlap so heavily with an MBA, for an additional semester or two of classes you can get an MBA as well. So you get in for just the MS, then after you start you switch to the dual degree track. By that point you're already past the general qualifications, already within the graduate school, and already a student. It's mostly an administrative change internally, and as long as your faculty like you it's pretty easy for them to push through.