Graduate Management Admission Council
MBA career promises: Behind the fancy job stats
September 13, 2011: 11:25 AM ETThey sure sound lovely, but prospective MBAs should not view the school-reported salary averages as a guarantee of a sweet paycheck come graduation day.
By Anne VanderMey, reporter
FORTUNE -- Professional schools have had better years. Facing a brutal job market, underemployed graduates have begun to speak up, some even suing their former institutions, claiming they were duped into acquiring massive debt loads based on the promise of a secure, six-figure-salary job.
That promise is particularly critical at business schools, where graduates expect a quick financial payoff as well as an education. At these programs, the standards for reporting employment statistics, in true B-school fashion, are rigorous and involve accountants (a system some law schools are considering). But even those career statistics can have their flaws. Prospective students take heed: The six-figure school-reported numbers are not a guarantee of a sweet paycheck come graduation day.
The current system has its roots in 1994, when the MBA Career Services Council (CSC), the professional association for MBA career services professionals and recruiters, started developing a set of reporting standards to allow for uniform career reporting across the top schools.
"We all sat around in a room and we hashed it out," says Jackie Wilbur, career services director at MIT's Sloan School of Business who was co-chair of the MBA Career Services Council's standards committee at the time. Those standards were officially adopted by the CSC in 1999. In 2006, it established a set of agreed upon procedures to allow for auditing. The result was a uniform set of extensive, enforceable rules.
In many ways, B-schools have led the charge in employment reporting standards, Wilbur says. She expects other types of programs will likely follow suit and double down on reporting standards.
"Given the rising cost of education, every piece of the equation of the educational offering is going to have to go more and more this way," Wilbur says -- including undergrad programs. "Parents are going to demand better information about return on investment." More
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Want to get an MBA? Buyers, beware.
While an MBA can open significant professional doors, B-school hopefuls ought to look long and hard before they leap, says Graduate Management Admission Council's David Wilson.
Interview by Mica Bevington, contributor
(poetsandquants.com) -- In 2010, prospective business school students sat for the three and a half hour GMAT exam 263,979 times, suggesting that there is a healthy appetite for management education despite the rising costs of attending a traditional MBA program. David MORE
Aug 19, 2011 1:07 PM ET -
B-school rankings outrank academic quality for job recruiters
Forget about quality teachers or strong curricula, corporate recruiters are all about the rankings, according to a new survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council. By John A. Byrne
May 12, 2011 2:28 PM ET -
Biz school rankings leave minorities behind
Top business schools have become focused on improving their rankings to the point of sacrificing their diversity, says the head of a major MBA scholarship fund. How can they get back on track?
By John A. Byrne, contributor
(poetsandquants.com) -- Why has minority enrollment at the nation's 50 top business schools remained so persistently low, with virtually no improvement in more than a decade? Peter Aranda, the chief executive of The Consortium MORE
Mar 31, 2011 2:43 PM ET -
The diminishing dominance of the American MBA
While the U.S. has long dominated the world of business education, European and Asian schools are ratcheting up the competition. Graduate Management Admission Council CEO Dave Wilson explains why he'd rather his child head to China for biz school over Harvard.
By John A. Byrne, contributor
(poetsandquants.com) -- If Dave Wilson's own son or daughter were accepted into just two schools -- Harvard Business School or the China Europe International Business School MORE
Feb 4, 2011 5:00 AM ET -
Online MBAs heading to the ivory tower
While online MBA programs are nothing new, elite business schools are starting to offer the option to students, with UNC's Kenan-Flagler school the latest to join the party.
By John A. Byrne, contributor
(poetsandquants.com) -- When the dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School first broached the idea of launching an online MBA program, his faculty and students were highly skeptical.
"Many of our full-time MBA students are not convinced this is MORE
Jan 27, 2011 11:43 AM ET -
MBA hiring: Back with a vengeance
While U.S. unemployment remains stubbornly close to 10%, job prospects for this year's class of MBAs are looking considerably brighter.
By John A. Byrne, contributor
(poetsandquants.com) -- While U.S. unemployment remains stubbornly close to 10%, job prospects for MBAs in the class of 2011 are looking considerably brighter. At Stanford Graduate School of Business, job postings are up 85% year over year.
Boston Consulting Group, one of the largest employers of MBA graduates, MORE
Jan 14, 2011 10:00 AM ET
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