A Down Time Is Still A Boom Time For Business Education

Bruce Ellis
(Bruce Ellis is administrative director of Undergraduate Programs in Penn State's Smeal College of Business.)

The government has officially admitted to a recession, major companies are announcing large layoffs, and a recent survey from the Collegiate Employment Research Institute shows a decline in hiring. If you think this isn't the best time to apply to a business school, you're wrong.

The so-called warning signals are the beginning of a new cycle and, traditionally, the reaction of prospective undergraduate students is to shy away from applications to business schools, because of the fear that the jobs will not be available after graduation. Currently enrolled students or students considering a switch to a business major begin to question those decisions and the flight away from business schools begins. As a result, past experience indicates that business schools correspondingly see fewer applications and their entering freshman classes start to shrink.

If you are in a business program or in high school considering business as an option, do not let this news influence or change your decision. What you are experiencing is the natural expansion and contraction of the job market as influenced by the national and global economies. The economy is currently contracting and logically the job market does the same. The key thing to remember when you read about the decline in hiring is that the decline is only 10% or 15% and they are often in specific disciplines and not across the board declines. The job opportunities will still be there. Quality graduates may only have two offers instead of four or five offers, and middle of the road grads may not get the first job until six months after graduation.

Don't follow the crowd if you have a genuine intellectual curiosity about business and are confident in your desire to study business. A downturn in the market and a sagging economy are the perfect times to be in business school. Why? About 25 % to one-third of the students enrolled in hot jobs majors are only in it for the jobs. They are the classic quick buck artists. They treat college like vocational school, and not a career, and will shift with the hot market winds. They are also the ones who will be out of business in one to two years after graduation due to unrealistic expectations or unethical behavior.

Another reason to stay in business programs is admissions. If the application numbers drop off enough at some business schools, your chances of getting into your number one school increase dramatically -- assuming you have the grades to be in the hunt. Next, the hot job marketers mentioned earlier are off chasing the next hot wave major. If you think that it is exciting to be with those hot marketers just say this mantra continually, "dot-com….dot-com…dot com." You will quickly come to your senses.

As the hot marketers leave to find the next hot job market they will not be in the classroom with you to pollute your experience. I have found those students to lack the real zeal for business knowledge and they are willing to cut corners in their courses for the grade. And they will use you, the system and the faculty any way they can to get that grade. They will also typically whine and complain about how bad things are and approach college as if it is a right and not the privilege that it really is. As those students leave the classroom you will have the benefit of smaller class sizes, increased opportunity for internships, networking with your business school's corporate partners, and even greater access to faculty and staff.

So don't let the newspaper headlines panic you. Stay focused on a career in business if that is where your skills and interest lie. Take advantage of the professional staff that can help you with career planning and college search strategies and stay focused on your goal. Just like the stock market you get in when the price is low because the economy with expand again as it always does and you will be well positioned to sell high.