In a tough economic climate, even graduates of elite Business Schools may be hard pressed to find jobs. Dip into the second or third tier of B-schools, and the picture is far less rosy.

A New York Times piece sheds light on the MBA Consortium, a group of 16 B-schools that have joined forces to help their students get jobs. These schools fall just below the top five or ten "core" programs from which many "prestigious" employers recruit. So if you're a student at the University of Rochester or Wake Forest, don't despair. The Consortium has your back.

But with so many graduates competing for so few jobs, is attending a second-rate B-school worth it? You could come out tens of thousands of dollars in debt (possibly heaped on your undergraduate debt), and will have foregone two years of full-time employment. And here's the kicker: You don't need an M.B.A. to succeed in business. The Apprentice's Troy McClain proved that you don't even need a college degree.

Some experts believe that B-schools serve only to sort talented people, separating the truly ambitious from the simply smart. One dean even suggested to the Times that people admitted to Harvard should use their acceptance letters to get jobs and forget the B-school altogether.

In other words, if you're really smart and ambitious, attending business school may be just a waste of time and money, even at the elite programs.

Did you enjoy this article?

AddThis Social Bookmark Button