In an Anemic MBA Job Market, Who You Know Really Matters
By Anne VanderMey
In today's tough job market, with stacks of flawless MBA résumés flooding the mailboxes of cash-strapped companies every day, alumni connections are playing an increasingly important role in the job search. Knowing people on the inside—whether they're giving you interview tips or helping to rescue your application from online oblivion—can make the difference between big bucks and unemployment.
To identify MBA programs with the most active alumni networks, BusinessWeek has compiled the most recent statistics reported by the top 45 schools. The result isn't a ranking, but a portrait of the size and strength of the alumni base—everything from its geographic reach to how many make financial contributions (and how much) in the name of school spirit. The list is ordered by the size of the average alumni donation; several top schools that don't release that data are found at the end of the slide show.
While it's hard to convey a comprehensive picture of alumni quality, some schools appear to turn out particularly dedicated alums. Several claimed dozens of active MBA alumni clubs throughout the world. In the 2007-08 academic year, Dartmouth reported that 68% of MBA graduates gave back to the school. The University of Chicago recently received a world record-breaking donation of $300 million. And hundreds of Brigham Young University graduates gave back an average of $4,939 to aid their future MBA counterparts.
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