Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School

There is an interesting article in the latest Business Week about the downturn in MBA applications and what that means for schools. Apparently the widely accepted cause of the drop in applications is a combination of rising costs, a leveling off in post-MBA salaries, and a reduced dependance on new MBA's in traditional MBA industries (consulting, I-banking, etc.). In other words, people who would have applied for an MBA 5 years ago are now looking at the costs and benefits and deciding to stay where they are and advance within their current company.

I have to say that I agree for the most part with people who decide to forego an MBA. I think the cost of a program has gotten out of control, and you don't really learn that much relative to what you would learn in the working world for two years. I'm fortunate in that I have a lot of assistance in terms of covering my tuition, and if I didn't have that help I'm not sure I would be here. If I had studied business in undergrad and also didn't have help with my tuition, I think it would be really unlikely that I would take two years to come back to school.