<p>While most MBA hopefuls expect their employability and salary to rise after earning a degree, some business schools are turning the tables on applicants. Career and placement representatives are sitting in on the applicant review process and, in some cases, trying to weed out applicants who might have above-average difficulty in finding a job after graduation.</p>
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For example, for an applicant with a stated interest in consulting, she may pay particular attention to whether he or she can manage ambiguity. She also seeks out candidates with strong interviews and leadership potential, a plus in both classroom and corporate realms.
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<p>While in one respect this seems like a way to boost each school's placement stats, it may also benefit students who have unrealistic expectations. Even elite MBA degrees aren't an automatic ticket to success, particularly if the student is focused on a single career path.</p>
<p>What do you think - self-serving for the schools, or a benefit to all?</p>
<p>I admit that I’m cynical, but I’ve always felt that a number or professional degree programs (e.g., MBA, MPP) merely accept those who hold the highest positions and that most prestigous places (and then fill the remaining seats with full-pay students) and legitimate their later promotions by granting them a degree.</p>
<p>The professionals, who were on an upward track as it was, then reflect well on the school who can then claim they got those great jobs /because/ they attended that program.</p>
<p>“Even elite MBA degrees aren’t an automatic ticket to success”</p>
<p>I think students from Wharton, Harvard, and Stanford (even Booth, Kellogg and Tuck) won’t have any trouble finding a job post-graduation from these programs. </p>
<p>The average earnings for the top MBA programs are pretty incredible. They’re in the $200,000’s, with an average increase of about 100% over time. </p>
<p>$400,000=Success. Success is average at these schools.</p>
<p>I was recently accepted into a top 25 mba program, and I was directly asked “Why will an employer hire you after you graduate?”</p>
<p>And aigiqinf I do not think that you are cynical at all. Mba programs look for individuals who are already succeeding, and either want to accelerate that success or want to change career tracks.</p>
<p>MBA schools are a scam. Of course they are self-serving. The fluff they teach can be self-taught easily. The top schools take successful people who would have gotten jobs after business school despite their MBAs, I assure you.</p>
<p>It’s a scam. Money is better spent learning a real skill and acquiring more useful knowledge that would be difficult to learn on one’s own.</p>
<p>The link is invalid so I can’t read the total article. However, interviewing will always involve a great deal of subjectivity and tends to be more ‘art’ then ‘science’ regardless of the what the HR professionals may claim. Some people are very glib and well-spoken during an interview setting but subsequently can’t manage their way out of a paper bag once on the job. While an MBA from a prominent institution may help you land the job, your future success once on the job will be determined more by what you accomplish vs. where you got your degree.</p>
<p>Unless an MBA is a natural part of your career progression or you want to re-brand yourself for a different industry, I don’t think getting one is worth it. </p>
<p>I really like this concept, but I’m afraid that all this will do is mostly fill each class with future bankers and consultants and leave out the rest. Which is already a problem now.</p>
<p>I have to ask your advice for the current situation that I am in. </p>
<p>In late November, I was waiting to hear back from a job application. I waited too long to transfer to the college I wanted to, and I am stuck at the college I was at before.</p>
<p>The problem is that they do not offer anymore classes to my major, I just signed up not to avoid the consequences of not being in school </p>
<p>Over this break I was thinking of just taking the semester off and working. I have roughly E4,000 saved in a bond, but I cannot touch it. Also, I am very low in cash on the amount that I use on a regular basis. </p>
<p>So, with receiving some money from student aid the past two semesters; would taking a semester off cause any problems? Would I have to pay it back full before I could re-apply again? </p>
<p>Would you suggest getting a job, or staying in the school where I am at now.</p>
<p>I graduated in 1992 from my elite MBA program into a nasty recession. Prior to enrolling, I had a great paying job in Japan and I actually had to take a pay cut to get a job here in the US after graduation. I moved up fast in a corporate setting and worked for some elite companies. But, I only started making real money when I started my own financial consulting practice.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, you will always make less money and have far less job security working for someone else. I never felt more vulnerable when I was making solid six figures in a corporate consulting setting. At that salary level, it was never, “What have you done for me lately?” It was more like, “What have you done for me in the last 10 minutes?” I was constantly reminded that I was replaceable by someone younger and cheaper fresh out of an MBA program if I stumbled even for a moment.</p>
<p>Now, I make more and work less. There is stress, and sometimes big stress. But it is all self-generated or caused by my own mistakes as opposed to externally imposed on me.</p>
<p>Was the MBA worth it? As a life experience and a networking tool definitely. Much of the knowledge that I gleaned in the program put me on track for my current career as well (although it was outdated almost immediately upon graduation). Every job that I have had including my current business somehow was connected to the school that I graduated from. Overall, yes it was worth it.</p>
<p>Somewhat I agreed with you. In few case your MBA degree gives best fruit, if you don’t have management skill then you can’t get high-package salary even having MBA degree.</p>
<p>Top B-schools give you access to a top tier network. But, if you’re looking for happiness and fulfillment on the other side of the success of a new and bigger salary, I’d tread carefully.</p>
<p>Also, if you have an MBA from a top 5 b-school, every job you interview for is yours to lose.</p>