The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#1

Post by richardburton » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 12:55 AM UTC

The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit
economist.com

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#2

Post by ryanwaggoner » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:23 AM UTC

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles.

Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#3

Post by mnemonicsloth » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:27 AM UTC

If The Economist can use the word bullshit, in the technical sense -- self-conscious jargoneering intended to inflate the speaker's perceived importance -- then the rest of us can too, right?

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#4

Post by noelchurchill » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:28 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles. Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

Also, I don't think it's the MBAs that are the problems. Rather, the job market was sending the wrong signals by paying people with MBAs far more than they're worth. Due to the inflationary monetary supply enabled by the federal reserve, the finance industry was able to grow and become extremely profitable, attracting lots of talent with large salaries. These people would have naturally gravitated to many different career choices if the pay scales weren't so lopsided.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#5

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:33 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles. Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

[deleted]

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#6

Post by antonovka2 » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:33 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles. Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles.

The submission title is a direct quote from the article: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit at source

Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

I don't have the statistics to support or refute this claim, but the article discussed a massive glut of graduating MBAs, not just the top of the class from "top schools". I'm not sure if you actually read the article, or simply penned a knee-jerk defensive response to the harsh wording.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#7

Post by loganfrederick » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:35 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles. Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

To be fair, it was almost a verbatim quote from the article.

Editorializing the headline, yes, but still surprisingly representative of the article's content.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#8

Post by logjam » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:43 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

First, Please avoid editorializing story titles. Second, this article has the facts wrong. MBAs from top schools aren't having trouble finding jobs, nor have those jobs started paying way less.

First, the title wasn't editorializing, and second, you are the one with the facts wrong about the MBA job market:

MBAs Confront a Savage Job Market The MBA Class of 2009 was hit harder than expected by the recession. At some top schools, 1 in 5 are jobless 3 months after graduation....For many programs, it marked the first time since the tech bubble burst that salaries didn't increase. Signing bonuses, too, fell both in value and quantity.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/oct2009/bs20091...

And now for some editorializing: the MBA is a completely bullshit degree.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#9

Post by sethg » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:49 AM UTC

[I]f fewer bright, ambitious people go into business, economies may suffer. Instead the talent will go increasingly into the public sector, the law, medicine—which are already bursting with bright people as it is.

This must be some new definition of “suffer” that I was not previously aware of.

Re: The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit

#10

Post by btilly » Fri, Dec 18, 2009, 1:49 AM UTC

I've been waiting for this.

Clayton Christensen predicted the coming decline of the MBA several years ago in The Innovator's Solution (very good book BTW). The financial bubble has extended the popularity of MBAs, but it is a net loss to take several years out of your career to gain information that you could gain on the side while continuing working with an executive MBA. Eventually the market is going to come to accept that.