MBAs with a Social Conscience

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With applicants and recruiters demanding change, business schools have taken heed, developing programs, courses, and activities designed to ready MBAs for the brave green world. "The administration in the old days would say, 'That's the idealism of the MBA student,' " says James Ellis, dean of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business (Marshall Full-Time MBA Profile). "Now, administrators say, 'This is the reality.' "

Starting in January, Sloan MBA students have been able to earn a certificate in sustainability, which includes specialized courses and "sustainability internships," according to the school's Web site. In 2008, the USC's Marshall School opened the Society & Business Lab for students and faculty interested in social and environmental work. Career services offices are also reaching out to new recruiters in these sectors to show them how MBAs can be of service, and they're seeking opportunities for students in traditional MBA companies that might have departments dedicated to social enterprises and the like. Some schools, including Columbia, have career placement liaisons who focus only on nontraditional, socially minded employers.

Lower Salaries

While schools are scrambling to make nice with nonprofits and other nontraditional employers of MBAs, everyone is concerned about how these new career goals will affect the average starting salaries for graduates, and ultimately the schools' standing in the rankings. "I don't know how they're going to support themselves," says Miller, who adds that many of the most successful applicants with these interests have taken time off from work to spend months in impoverished parts of the world to help people in need.

Lower salaries are not stopping the most dedicated MBAs, however. Rob Brawner, who graduated from Emory's Goizueta Business School (Goizueta Full-Time MBA Profile) in 2006, says after eight years in the private sector, including a stint at McMaster-Carr, a private distributor of industrial supplies, he wanted to learn how to apply his business skills to global challenges. Today, he is the program director of the BeltLine Partnership, which is part of an urban renewal project in Atlanta. Brawner admits that he took a 50% pay cut from his pre-MBA program salary. "It's worth it for me knowing I'll have a meaningful impact and create tangible solutions for future generations," he says.

One of the fellows in the USC Marshall Society & Business Lab, Breana Teubner, is focused on wealth disparity and poverty. Like Brawner, she isn't looking for a pot of gold at the end of her rainbow. "While we may not be multimillionaires two years out of school, we believe there will be a market for this work," says Teubner. "There will be a component of what I'm learning in whatever I do."

By offering scholarships, fellowships, loan forgiveness, and internship subsidies for MBA students who are taking lower-paying jobs for good causes, many business schools, including Goizueta and Columbia, are alleviating some of the financial burden. But in other areas, change is coming slowly. "Faculty don't change as fast as students do," says Peter Roberts, associate professor at Goizueta, who adds that convincing faculty to incorporate these issues into the coursework and finding effective career placement strategies are challenging. But the revolution is already under way, so there's not much business schools can do but go with the flow.

Di Meglio is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Fort Lee, N.J.

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