Recent M.B.A. Graduates having Difficult Time Finding a Job

January 20, 2025

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal last week describing the fact that over 28% of the recent M.B.A. graduates from Elite Business Schools like Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, etc., are finding it difficult to find employment. One graduate, supposedly, has applied to 1,000 job opportunities and has yet to find a position.

I wonder whether it is the applicant or the recruiter? That seems very far fetched.

This story brought back memories of when I decided to apply to graduate business school for an M.B.A. degree. I admit, it was over 40 years ago and many things have changed academically.

But first, some background!

I was not the typical college student. Most of my college education was done in night school while I was working, and raising a family. My first undergraduate business degree was in accounting, from Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, D.C., a Bachelor of Commercial Science (B.C.S.) in 1960.

After graduation I joined the Virginia National Guard and began my compulsory military service. In late 1961, I got married and started work with a public accounting firm in Washington, D.C. The firm, Main & Co., was among the ten largest public accounting firms in the nation. At the same time, I decided to continue my college education. I was accepted at American University in Washington and I began studies to obtain a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) with a concentration in Accounting. I attended American at night, three nights a week, while working full time in public accounting and beginning a family.

In the 1960’s, the C.P.A. exam was given twice a year, November and May. It was a standard exam ( 4 sections) in all 50 states, however some states had a 5th section. Maryland had an Economics section. Most all states required two years of experience with a public accounting firm doing attestation work (auditing).

The exam consisted of four parts: auditing, law, theory and practice.

Main & Company wanted their employees to take the exam by their third year with the firm. If you didn’t pass by the fifth year, they would try to place you with a client.

I continued my studies, while working, and decided to take the November 1964 C.P.A. exam. I took a semester leave of absence from American, so that I could enroll in a C.P.A. Review course (CADES). This course ran from May through October, and met four nights a week, for 4 hours each night, and Saturday morning for 4 hours.

This program was very intensive, and the owner and principal instructor was Seymour Kaufman. Seymour was an attorney and C.P.A. and had a full time law practice as well. He also had special instructors from the business world for some of the classes. His first instruction was for us to tell our spouse, or partner, that she or he would have to take over all of the household duties for the next 6 months.

I can tell you, that in those 6 months, I learned more accounting then I ever had in college.

I was fortunate, in that I passed the C.P.A. exam on my first sitting. Thank goodness, I didn’t have to do it again.

I returned to my studies at American the next semester, and when I learned the results of the exam in March 1965, I met with my advisor. The University granted me a waiver from any further accounting courses, but I still had to complete the required credits to receive my degree. I decided to take graduate level courses to complete my degree. Fortunately, most of my instructors were full time business men and women, and part time college instructors. They brought the real world into education.

I completed all of my requirements in 1965 and received my B.S.B.A. degree. I was planning to continue my education by going to law school in the evening, but an opportunity to go into industry was too good to not take. As a result, we moved from the Washington area and a new chapter began.

From 1966 until 1975, I worked for a number of aerospace firms in senior financial positions. From 1975 until 1980, I was a real estate entrepreneur in North Carolina. I enjoyed that phase of my development, and I also taught real estate at the local community college.

I enjoyed teaching, and an opportunity developed in late 1980, at the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC) at Fort Belvoir, Va. DSMC operated under the direction of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and was headed by a three star Air Force General. Its purpose was to provide management education to those in Senior Program Management Positions in all services. I was hired to teach Financial Management to these students. Most were of the rank of Lt. Colonel and up, including General. This was an appointed position, and I decided to take it as a transition back to Corporate America.

I also decided that I would apply to Graduate Business School to study for the M.B.A. degree. I was accepted at both American University and George Washington University. I decided to go to George Washington as to experience a different school in the Nation’s Capital. The M.B.A. program was a 60 credit hour program, 20 courses, but because I had taken over 30 hours of graduate courses at American, I only had to take 30 credit hours.

I took 2 courses a semester and 1 in the first summer so that I could complete my degree in 2 1/2 years. My first course was a required course, and it was an analysis course, using quadratic equations. It was not realistic in the real world but I managed. The instructor was analyzing a balance sheet and income statement using equations, when all that was necessary was to understand how they worked. What a disaster.

My M.B.A. program had a concentration on Finance & Investments. My first investment course taught one how to look at a company, financially, as well as operationally. You had to pick a company on one of the major stock markets and analyze it and write a paper discussing both components and predicting its stock price over the next 5 years.

I also took an International Monetary Economic course that was taught by a Korean Professor who was a full time employee of the World Bank. This was an interesting course. and gave one a perspective of the international business world. We spent a great deal of time discussing EuroBonds. The European Economic Community wasn’t established yet.

One other interesting course was an Ethics Course taught by the Dean of the Business School. She was a retired Colonel in the Air Force and had different perspectives.

The personal computer was just being introduced and the internet had not arrived. As a result, all research had to be accomplished through the library and the card catalog. Obviously, the internet has changed ,significantly, how one does research in college today.

George Washington University had an evening program for a Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.) degree. I decided to apply because I decided that I might like to teach at the University level when I eventually retired. My advisor told me that I was more than qualified but that I probably would not get accepted because I wasn’t theoretical enough. We had a long discussion, but I applied anyway. I had to meet with a number of senior leaders of the business school. They had to give their approval to all candidates. It was obvious that my advisor was correct. At my first meeting, I was told that they were looking for candidates that could be available 5 days a week and participate in significant theoretical research projects. Obviously, I did not fit the mold, and my advisor was correct. I wasn’t selected.

My experience, doing the work for my M.B.A., was more academic than practical. Most instructors had never worked in industry, and had always been in academia. The case study method was utilized in many of the courses but again, the instructor had never held a position in industry.

Obtaining an M.B.A. was never an advantage in my professional life, and was of no benefit, other than to say I had one. The cost in the early 1980’s to get an

M.B. A. , assuming that you had to have the full 60 credit hours, was approximately $45,000. in tuition alone. Today, that number is probably double. Is it worth it, you decide!