"New Graduation Skills"

The Economist's perspective on reshaping MBA programs ...

As a hopeful applicant, I'm not excited to see business school applications approaching 2001/2002 levels. But as a buyer, I'm very happy to hear that the perceived value of an MBA has rebounded.

Still, I agree with Paul Danos, Tuck's dean, when he suggests that recent application trends track economic cycles, not curriculum reform. To his point, the "Going back to school" graph seems to negatively correlated with the health of the US economy. In other words, as people were losing their jobs in 2001 and 2002, business school applications were "significantly up" and in 2000 and 2005, when the economy was strong, applications were flat. Business school is a great time to ride out a recession if you're job is in jeopardy, so the simplest explanation of the the application trends align with Mr. Danos' theory. While I'm encouraged by the changes, reforms simply haven't had enough time to impact the overall demand for MBA's.

So what? Well, predictable supply and demand trends like these suggest that the value of the degree flows from more established perceptions, not short-term operational corrections. In other words, most people are applying to business school based a long history of return-on-investment, not because the degree has become inherently more attractive. While curriculum reform may one day drive demand for the degree upward, today and for several years to come, perspective students will rely on decades of employment trends to decide whether to get the degree.

While the current wave of reforms won't alter my decision to go or not go, it will effect where I apply. I'll want to see programs taking real steps to address the concerns raised by this article, particularly around practical experience and ethics. Schools that haven't devised creative, aggressive ways to improve these areas will undoubtedly fall off my list. Luckily, the top programs seem to universally acknowledge the need for change. Tuck's Global Consultancy course or Kellogg's Global Initiatives in Management, for example, send students abroad to help companies solve pressing issues. That sounds pretty real to me.