Employment Reports

Question

Employment reports are a valuable source of information on the relative strengths of different MBA programs. I wanted to share some observations that GMAT Clubbers might find useful when selecting schools. 

1) Pay attention to the regional distribution of graduates. Even schools of similar stature can have large difference in where their respective graduates are employed. 

Consider, for instance, UCB, UCLA, and NYU. While some people refer Haas,Anderson, and Stern as "national" schools they are more properly regional domestic schools with a strong international presence. 

Nearly three quarters of the graduates of UCB and UCLA were placed in the West region for 2005. More than four of five NYU graduates was placed in the Northeast in 2004. This is a very high level of regional concentration compared to fellow Elites such as Duke (highest region was 36% Northeast in 2005) or UVA Darden (highest region was Northeast 33% in 2005). 

This is, I hope, of more than academic interest to most candidates since there is a risk that these regionally concentrated schools can leave you "stranded" without a strong alumni base outside of the school's home region. UCB and UCLA combined place only a handful of students in such important regions such as the Midwest and the Mid Atlantic. While UCB and UCLA are both strong Elite cluster schools, students should recognize the potential limitations of the alumni base when they add these schools to their portfolios.

TeHCM · Answer

Hjort,

That is valuable information. I'll keep that in mind.

Thank you

arsenicdoped · Answer

That really makes sense. Unless one wants to be confined to West coast, it may not be a good idea to invest all energy in applying to UCLA or UCB...would rather go to other schools such as Duke or Darden. 
Thanks HJort for throwing light on this subject.

Hjort · Answer

I get a number of questions about the placement strength of US schools in different geographic regions of the globe. 

First, it is worth stressing that the ultra elites tend to have the strongest international placement. In terms of the percentage of the class and especially in terms of the count of students placed, the ultra elite schools tend to be the leaders. As usual it it important to keep the scale of many of the ultra elite schools in mind - in some years a school like Penn has placed more students in Asia than Stanford, UCLA, and UCB combined.

Second, at least among the elite/transelite, there appears to be a connection between the location of a school and its placement strength in Asia. For instance, the California schools UCB and UCLA are often the strongest elite schools in Asia and USC is easily the leader of the transelites.

Third, the leaders in placement in Western Europe (among US schools) tend to be on the East Coast of the US. Schools like Columbia, HBS, and MIT have strong placements in this region. However, the Midwestern ultraelites were strong in Western Europe as well.

pelihu · Answer

Those are definitely interesting stats about UCLA, Berkeley and NYU. However, as with all stats, I think there could be many different interpretations.

The most obvious explanation why such a large percentage of graduates from those schools stay within their regions is because that people choose to attend those schools are predisposed to working in the area. In other words, it's a question of cause or effect. I think that many people decide that they want to work in the region, so they apply to the schools that do best in those regions.

Also, I think these stats indicate a tight relation between the schools and those particular regions; and also that those regions have particular appeal. For example, I think it would be commonplace for someone to want to work in LA or New York or San Francisco; and it's no surprise that students from schools in the region choose to remain there. It's less common for people to state that they want to work in the Mid-Atlantic, or the Midwest. Those regions are less-specific, so it makes sense that schools in those regions are no as closely tied.

So, I guess that the conclusion that could be drawn from the stats might indicate that graduates from certain schools choose to stay in certain regions, and may not necessarily indicate that graduates stay because they aren't able to land jobs in other regions. Of course, I do agree that alumni bases will be much weaker in other regions.

I don't think you'll be trapped in those regions, but it probably makes sense to like them ahead of time.

Hjort · Answer

I largely agree. My main point is that even nominally national schools can have surprisingly thin alumni bases in important regions of the country. This does not mean, for example, that a graduate of NYU could not find employment in Chicago. Such as assertion is clearly untrue and would be easy to falsify.

ChinaChao · Answer

I need some advice. I have been at my current job for one year. This February I will have fulfilled the 2 years of work experience. I was at a previous employer for a year in the same career field, homeowner's insurance. I feel that insurance is not something I want to pursue and that the work experience I do have at my company is irrelevant to what I plan on doing, Business Analysis. I am studying for the GMAT, I want to take it in June or July. Then, depending on my score, I plan on going abroad, to China, for one year to experience the culture and pick up my native tongue (reading and writing it, etc.) When I come back, I plan on going straight into whichever is the best Business school that will accept me. MY PROBLEM is... I really HATE my current employer and feel that I'd be better off trying to find a 6 month INTERNSHIP in the Business Analyst field and getting the WORK EXPERIENCE from them prior to applying for Business school. I feel wasted and unappreciated at my current job for various reasons. Would doing the internship make my resume/application for Business school look bad because I've "bounced around" with different employers? In my defense and reasoning, I have finally REALIZED that insurance is not for me and neither is the experience (or lack of it) and I'd be better off pursuing experience in my intended career path, BUSINESS ANALYST. Please let me know what you think concerning how a Business school would judge me on this. If it just looks bad and if I do need to "stick it out" with INSURANCE. Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Lucy Wong

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