MBA Students Forced To Find Backup Plan Amid Recession

Reuters:

CAMBRIDGE - For decades, investment banking was a well-worn path to affluence for business-school graduates. But as Wall Street teeters, many are scrambling to find alternate routes into a brutal job market.

Facing one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, some Masters of Business Administration students are lowering expectations. Aspiring investment bankers are looking elsewhere, while international students wonder if they will have better luck at home than in the United States.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[WorkingClass]

"More than 150,000 MBA degrees were awarded in United States in the 2006 to 2007 academic year"

Wow! That seems like a lot.. Do you masters of business know that if you don't repay your student loans you will be hounded for the rest of your life.

Watch the birds y'all. Anything they eat is safe for masters of business administration.

[oakley9]

Have the tables turned?
Maybe they should become artists, you know something to fall back on. LOL

[Stirner]

There is only one reason that anyone would obtain an MBA degree: to make money. Well, money is a means, not an end. It is sad that so many talented young people have been led to choose an education that is, in essence, "servile".­.. that is, it is done for something or someone other than itself. The "Liberal Arts" are scorned as being "useless". -- but as Aldous Huxley said, "If we only did that which is useful we are but animals". Well, I am sorry for these MBA types, not because they can't find work, but because they have wasted so much of their youth.

[drymartini1]

get over yourself stirner.

A career is a means to pay your bills, put food on the table. MBA seems to do well in that (unless you get it from University of Phoenix or Devry Univ. that is !!). its not an means to discover yourself.

you mean to say people who study basket weaving, american history, african american history and take on 40 grand (or any debt) are smart?

[popizzy]

drymartini1

I hate to agree with you on this point but you are exactly correct: "MBA seems to do well in that (unless you get it from University of Phoenix or Devry Univ. that is !!). its not an means to discover yourself."

I got a Master's degree in business from UOP two years ago and it has done nothing...­.I repeat NOTHING to aid in finding a really good job. What makes it so bad is that I worked for this organization for about a year and (at the campus I was based at) they don't even pay you for advanced education. So imagine this.... some people who had a high school diploma or GED or even Bachelors were in positions making more money than me....once I found that out I left!

[perk]

I love this quote:
"Now, she would consider a summer job at a start-up company, ideally in corporate finance."

Um, I have never worked in a start-up with a corporate finance department. Nor, have I heard of a corporate finance start-up. Good luck on that one.

[kellygrrrl]

I hear Taco Bell is hiring.

or maybe they should switch their major to Journalism -- seems to be all the rage of late.

[pompous]

There is no group whose value is more overrated than the MBA. The current financial crises has demonstrated the value of the Wall street MBA and economist. These two have certainly put an end to the popular notion that you get what you pay for.

[drymartini1]

i think internet posters and bloggers are the most overrated. heheh

[gcallaghan]

If they put aside their blackberries and figure out how to wield a pipe wrench or hammer, they can't go wrong.

[KillTheMessenger]

Oh, pleeeeeease, cry me a river.