By Nathaniel Luce
Publication: BUSINESSWEEK
Yields are up at full-time MBA programs, and B-schools are enrolling larger-than-ever classes. But not everyone is sharing in the bounty.
MBA programs were braced for the worst this fall. A damaged brand, a shortage of jobs, and questions about return on investment all threatened to send admitted students away from business school and into the relative stability of the workforce.
“That was the biggest difference between this year and last year, people’s personal financial situations coming into play,” says JOHN ROEDER, admissions director at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, where melt was on the high end of normal. “We had multiple students who couldn’t sell their houses.” Other programs reported students who weren’t able to secure the loans, didn’t want to lose their job, or didn’t think their spouses would be able to find work in a new location.
