Why are B-schools trending younger? Is 25 the golden age?

Question

Why are American B-schools such as Harvard and Stanford with the exception of Wharton trending younger? They are coming up with innovative programs such as Harvard 2 + 2 program to attract younger students. Some interesting excerpts below on this issue of which all do not explain the reason. From HBSguru Dee Leopold MD at HBS " She also mentioned a shift towards younger applicants - this year, HBS admitted close to 40 college seniors, thought most them took advantage of the deferral option, and only 12 admitted students actually enrolled this year." The New Age Tyranny at HBS: 28+ need not apply??? "HBS AND AGE: IF YOU ARE ~28 AND IN BANKING, PE, CONSULTING, OR WORK FOR MNC, YOU GOT PROBLEMS. HBS has been trending younger for the last 3 years, and now has two programs which are geared to get admit kids after two years of work experience, soooo, that is Exhibit A. " "TWENTY-FIVE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER. HBS will reach for a 25 year old, and turn away quickly from a 28 year old. Dunno what they do w. 27 year olds. " https://hbsguru.com/blog/2008/02/09/the- ... not-apply/ Can somebody explain this shift in applicants?

terry12 · Answer

OK, thanks... the Stanford numbers didn't look quite right to me.

As a side note, is HF as demanding as MC/IB/PE? I don't mean this in an accusatory way, I just have no idea.

agold · Answer

Yes. HF hours and compensation are about on par with private equity. HF compensation can really skyrocket if you're a superstar though (the best hedge fund managers in the country have pulled down in excess of $1 billion/year over the past few years). Yes, that was with a B.

terry12 · Answer

Knew about the compensation (though I still find it insane), didn't know about the hours. Clearly HF does not occupy a prominent position on my radar screen

agold · Answer

Yeah it's fairly vulgar. Most HF investors are very quant-oriented and you need to be very quant in order to break in.

TFN · Answer

Also, you must be able to stay calm in a high pressured atmosphere. The job is very risky. However, all investments are suppose to be protected from the downside from sort of hedge. Hence the name hedge funds. However, this is hardly the case with many hedge funds.

Notable collapses:

Ex.

Infamous Longterm capital management, amaranth advisor's,....many more!

Notable collapses:

Ex.

Infamous Longterm capital management, amaranth advisor's,....many more!

sm332 · Answer

I am just about through with 'When Genius Failed' by Roger Loewenstein.

I really recommend it for those who want to learn more about how Hedge Funds operate - not saying that all of em make mistakes of the magnitude of LTCM. But it is still an interesting insight into this world, especially for those of us who havent worked in Finance.

Darden2010 · Answer

yey I am golden !!!

I am starting my MBA program 10 days after my 25th b-day

ok, but I will let you know how golden my job search is going to be, given the lack of WE

... probably not so golden :cry:

I actually think 27-28 is the golden age because by then you would have had enough of WE to compete for all jobs posted on-campus

sm332 · Answer

but dont you think that being younger is a big advantage when it comes to the more typicaly post MBA track i.e. MC and IB? where they want you young so that they can work you like slave drivers?

Darden2010 · Answer

hmmm what does age have to do with slavery?
Actually I think the newer generation (the millenians or sth like that) is very not cool with working overtime. We are not so obedient and we know we have options so therefore we are not cool with being slaves to a company. I think that the new generation is much more difficult to deal with than the 'slightly' older people, who have 'slighlty' different values.
And about being able to mold people, I think that sucessfull people get molded and re-molded all the time, and that is one of the reasons they are sucessfull. So no matter what age you are you have to be open to being molded if you want to be sucessfull. And therefore I think a sucessfull 25 y.o and 30 y.o would both have the same 'molding coefficient'

It is not like 27-28-30 are less likely to be slaves than 25 y.o.

sm332 · Answer

alright -- hyperbole was used for effect -- I think this whole generation difference is overplayed a little too much these days. Besides I think there are tangible differences between being 25 vs. 28 in terms of what your expectations of work life balance are.

kryzak · Answer

i think there are two differences between a 25 yo and a 28-30 yo:

- the "slightly" older person may have gotten married or have kids by 28-30, which would limit their desire to work like slaves
- for someone like me, I worked like a slave from 24-28 yo and got burned out, which is why I highly doubt I would apply to MC/IB jobs just because I don't want those slave like work hours again.

Just my 2 cents, might not apply to most "slightly" older people, but that's simply my observation.

Raabend · Answer

Hmmm, so being married can hurt your chances of entering MC? I will be 27 at matriculation and married for 1.5 years already. Plus, doesnt being married make people WANT to work like slaves????

Does being married help/hurt chances of getting into b-school? Anybody have good info on that?

sm332 · Answer

as someone who is 25 and has already been married for 1.5 yrs I looked into this issue and the overwhelming response was that it doesnt really matter as far as your chances of admissions are concerned. Obviously some schools seem to attract older students and hence the ratio of married people goes up.

As far as wanting to work like slaves go -- agree fully!!

kryzak · Answer

no, I don't think being married or not matters for b-school admission. All I'm speculating is the reason for why older (and/or married) people might not want to work 80-100 hour weeks or be on travel all the time versus younger and single people, that's all.

rsrinivasan · Answer

I agree. At 24/25 I seriously considered a MC job and would have been OK with the long hours. At 30, after 3+ years of a 35-40 hour/ week job and on the verge of married life, I dont think I will ever accept a job which involves working more than 45 hours a week.this obviously would make me a very undesirable candidate for a MC/IB firm.

bherronp · Answer

Well, while I would like to say otherwise, that is going to make you undesirable to almost all post MBA positions. I would say that the average work load of the people I talk to is about mid 50's to mid 60 hours per week (this is in industry, not MC/IB). It seems that part of our value as MBAs is our willingness to kill ourselves for our jobs.

rsrinivasan · Answer

I agree it would take me out of the reckoning for most typical post-MBA opportunities . I am looking at part-time MBA programs and not looking for a career change and I should be at least at a Director level by the time I graduate. All of senior management in my company and in other companies that might be a good fit have the kind of hours that I mentioned. I think at general management type roles, the money is more for knowledge and judgment and less for the hours put in. Of course in a work environment where hours are billable - legal, consulting etc- this does not hold good.

bherronp · Answer

What industry do you work in, if you don't mind saying? I agree that in most fields the value of an MBA manager should come from their knowledge, training and expertiese, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to generally be that way.

rsrinivasan · Answer

I work in Interactive Marketing. Maybe I am looking at a small sample size, but looking at the enrollment of part-time MBA students in Chicago, it seems there are a number of people with time to spend on school which would be pretty impossible with a 60+ hour work week.

sonibubu · Answer

I don't think the MC is too bad if you can fly out Monday, be back Thursday night, and get regular office hours on Friday. That way you can spend the weekend with the significant other. I think 2-3 years of this isn't terrible, anything more than that would be a stretch for me.

*Married 3 years

Why are B-schools trending younger? Is 25 the golden age?

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