MBA programs 'stacking the deck'?

I find this trend of business school admissions committees' putting more weight on a student's ajudged post-MBA employability ass-backwards. It reinforces the stereotype that the "best" b-schools are obsessed solely with their rankings, which are largely a function of graudates' post-MBA salary and job placement statistics. This phenomenon isn't new, but it sounds like more than ever, in this tough economic envioronment where employment stats at even the best schools are slipping, that b-school adcoms are trying to "stack the deck" before matriculation to show how "they" made these students into highly employable, highly paid recruits.

As one reader noted in a BusinessWeek.com forum, the success of the top U.S. b-schools is a "no-brainer:" they select the cream of the crop of dynamic, already successful students with great work experience, and then they present these students to the best companies. Voila! Great placement and starting salary figures for the school. But this trend calls into doubt what is the real value added by a b-school? Is their only value simply in playing match maker between students and companies?

It just goes to show that going to a top b-school is just a game -- albeit a very expensive game -- where students pay to play with the most desirable employers. And surely the top recruits realize it. I wonder what kind of cynicism this arrangement breeds in these future business leaders?

The big losers in all this are the career switchers, typically those with a liberal arts or non-business background, who may not compare as well, employment-wise, on Day 1 of class to the candidates who already have a track record of success in business, but who do bring new insights to the classroom, and fresh ideas and experiences to the business world. All b-schools pay lip service to diversity in their marketing materials, but according to this article, diversity is a "would like to have" and not a "must have" for b-schools. Likewise, admission of international students, who are usually at a disadantage when it comes to U.S. employment, is probably also at risk.

As more prospective U.S. MBA students who don't fit the mold for a top-20 full-time program catch onto this game, they are going to demand other, less expensive "pay-to-play" options -- like a one-year MBA, which is becoming the norm in Europe, or distance/online MBAs -- which yield a better ROI for them personally (not for the school).

The New Criterion for MBA Admissions

Amid a tight MBA labor market, B-school admissions decisions increasingly hinge on applicants' ability to land a job upon graduation

By Anne VanderMey

July 9, 2009 | BusinessWeek.com

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2009/bs2009079_054049.htm