Business schools boom in the bust
As we learn that the U.S. has lost 438,000 jobs since January, we’re also hearing about a winner in the downturn: business schools. Linda Livingstone, dean of Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, tells me that she’s seen a 29% increase in applications for her school’s full-time MBA program this year.
The draw is more than the Malibu surf. (Pepperdine’s campus, in the Malibu hills, overlooks the Pacific.) Interest in MBA programs typically goes up during recessions. The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reports that applications to MBA programs nationwide are rising (applications for full-time MBA programs were up 36% this year from last year) as applicants look to enhance their resumes or pursue career changes—at least until companies start hiring again.
I also checked in with Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America, whom I profiled last year. Kopp says that applications to TFA have increased 36% this year. If anything, the downturn is showing today’s young talent that the best route to success may be the patient one.
P.S. Last week, I wrote about Starbucks (SBUX) hitting the wall on growth. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart (WMT) is reviving. It’s the best-performing stock in the Dow 30 in the past year. So who else is doing well these days? Dollar Tree (DLTR), the deep-discount retailer, is thriving on penny-pinchers; the shares have risen 43.9% this year.
There is an awesome list of Business Week’s Top 50 Undergrad Business Schools on blist. Check it out.
http://app.blist.com/#/blist/aamitchell/
Top-100-Undergraduate-Business-Schools
It will be interesting to see how the student loan crunch affects the flood of students into business schools during this economic downturn. I tend to think that the government called the banks bluff and they’ll suck it up and get back into the student loan game. Student loans are unsecured but they’re also not dis-chargeable in bankruptcy so I’d imagine the banks will stop their complaining and get back to business eventually. Through their tears they’ll see the opportunity.
Well admissions might be up but who says admitted students will go to college? Lets not forget students DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO GO TO SCHOOL THEY BORROW IT and in this economy borrowing is not that easy. Most banks have stopped lending money to students so applications can go up but will students ever actually go to the college is a totally different issue.
I’m glad I applied last fall! The competition this year is going to be ridiculous.
Esther Wojcicki: The last newspaper generationJournalism teacher and newspaper adviser at Palo Alto High School
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Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
Jessica Shambora started with Fortune as a reporter in June of 2008, following a stint as assistant editor at Travel+Leisure Golf. Shambora has written for Sports Illustrated, SI Latino, Women's Health, and Triathlete. She is a frequent contributor to Postcards. 
It appears that none of the MBA programs in America teach anything about leadership. This period of meltdown in the financials, investment institutions, and congressional paralysis seems to point to the lack of vision everywhere. The bottom line seems to be that decisions are all about greed and nobody cares about the institutions, the country, or the future of our children. Basically, our MBA programs don’t appear to have any moral or ethical premises. There just seems to be no leadership anywhere anymore.