Tuesday’s Headlines: Does Working Before B-School Cost Grads $112,000?

You know the stock advice: Work three to five years, get some experience, figure out what you want to do, then apply to business school with a stoked resume. But a new book is challenging this notion, and the author/researcher claims that this path costs bankers an average of $112,466 by age 30 for the crime of working a mere two years after finishing an undergraduate degree. Businessweek reviews Ronald Yeaple’s MBA Myths Unlocked, which contends:

The upshot of their argument is that by delaying graduate business education, students forgo several years of higher post-MBA salaries, while driving up the opportunity cost of attending the program. At the same time, pre-MBA work experience does not command the kind of premium with recruiters that would make waiting worthwhile, something that Yeaple cautions may not be true at top-tier business schools where graduates fetch the highest salaries.

To counter this, the story points out that recruiters often require real-world work experience and pay a premium for it. Meanwhile, newer programs at Harvard and the University of Rochester are making it easier for younger applicants “to get a foot in the door,” and the percent of GMAT test takers under the age of 25 has risen to 44 percent worldwide from 37 percent five years ago.

 

Other News:

Goldman’s Q1 earnings fell 23 percent on its repayment to Buffett. [DealBook]

TD Ameritrade's fiscal Q2 earnings slumped 20 percent on a “difficult” operating environment. [WSJ]

JPMorgan Chase’s Dimon earned 67 times the average compensation for investment bankers and traders at his firm. [Bloomberg]

HSBC considers issuing a maiden offshore yuan bond. [WSJ]

Barclays’s corporate coverage and deal-making teams are now a “corporate finance mergers and acquisitions group.” [NY Times]

Standard Chartered’s private equity unit will complete deals worth up to $100 million this year. [Reuters]

Chinese wealth manager Noah Holdings hopes to raise a $2.85 billion real estate fund. [Reuters]

Swiss hedge funds face stricter regulation. [Financial Times]

A jobs bill provision means hedge funds may move into marketing to the masses. [WSJ]

Japan will contribute $60 billion to the IMF. [WSJ]

Genworth launches a service that matches advisory firms with sellers and arranging financing. [Investment News]

Edelman Financial made a surprise move to sell to a Lee Equity Partners for $265 million. [Investment News]