And even for consulting, investment banking or Fortune 50 positions, Kaufman says, the benefit is ephemeral. “The effect (of the degree) is strongest immediately after graduation,” he says, “then largely wears out within three to five years. After that, you’re on your own. Hiring managers no longer care so much about where you went to school. They care more about what you’ve accomplished since then.”
That’s a perspective, of course, that many dispute. “If that view were true, why on earth would we continue to get nearly 10 applications for every slot, given that more than half of our MBA graduates do not do one of those three things,” counters Richard Lyons, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California in Berkeley. “Strange, isn’t it, that the recruiters continue to value these people as well, particularly outside these three areas?”