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Could tech jobs oust traditional MBA favorites like consulting?
Are tech jobs the new Wall Street? Which clubs are harder to join than Harvard Business School? What’s the hidden cost of networking? Learn the answers to these questions and more in our roundup of top business school news.
MBAs flock to tech jobs
That giant sucking sound you hear is the booming tech industry bringing in all the MBA talent. That’s bad news for the traditional beneficiaries of business school graduate know-how, like finance and consulting. Consider this: The percentage of MBA graduates from top-ranked business schools who accept positions with large companies like Amazon and Apple has increased by 50% since 2011. The percentage of Harvard Business School graduates who accepted tech jobs reached 20% of the class, a figure not seen since the dot-com bubble busted 15 years ago. Conversely, the percentage of HBS students flocking to Wall Street has dropped by 50% over the same period. (BusinessBecause)
The cost of networking
Here’s an ROI you should be aware of: Research shows that the more prestigious a business school you attend, the more money you will spend on the non-essentials. Non-essentials can include anything from spring break vacations and weekend socializing to networking. As part of their ranking of the best full-time business schools, Bloomberg Businessweek found that students at Columbia Business School spent money on such things as gourmet club participation, pricey Manhattan restaurants, and networking memberships, totaling $15,000. As one Chicago Booth student put it, “There are definitely a lot of people who come from finance backgrounds and from affluent families, but no one’s going out every night and buying bottle service.” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Consulting still strong
Despite the increasing popularity of tech jobs, consulting still remains a strong favorite among MBA career paths. Case in point, look to Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. For its Class of 2015, McKinsey & Co. was the biggest single hirer, signing on 24 graduates, compared to just 12 in 2014. In 2013, that number was only seven. Fuqua also announced that its new graduating class saw an 8% increase in median starting salaries over 2014—from $110,000 to $120,000. Total median first-year compensation for Fuqua graduates was a record $144,130. Yes, it’s a great time to be a graduate of an elite business school. (Poets & Quants)
More data in the curriculum
Ask for it and they will teach it. Increasingly, that’s the case in business school, as students and companies are gaining influence in shaping MBA programs’ curricula. One important trend we’re seeing is that data science is being thrown into the mix. “Analytics and big data have to be a bigger part of the story. Better leaders are people who make better decisions, and that means better-informed decisions,” says Geoffrey Garrett, dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. (The Financial Times)
Harder than Harvard Business School
We know that Harvard Business School is one of the most exclusive “clubs” in America, but did you know that some places are even harder to get into? Walmart, for example, received more than 23,000 applications but hired just 600 associates last year. That makes their acceptance rate 2.6% —almost twice as selective as HBS. Want to work at hedge fund giant Citadel? Their hiring rate is just 3%. Citadel’s CEO (notably a Harvard Business School alumnus) says the firm planned to interview 10,000 candidates but would only hire 300. (Business Insider)
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