MBA's Bounce Back

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Robert J. Ginn, Associate Director of OCS-OCL commented on the improved job prospects for liberal arts college graduates in the December 9 Crimson. He was quoted as saying, "B.A.'s are brighter, less expensive and harder working than business school graduates."

As graduates of liberal arts colleges and Business School students, we kind Mr. Ginn's comments to be shallow, inaccurate and condescending.

His analysis is shallow in that he fails to identify the very different job markets in which B.A.'s and M.B.A.'s compete.

His analysis is inaccurate first when he states that B.A.'s are brighter. The admissions standards at graduate business schools are at least as strict as those for undergraduate colleges. True, M.B.A.'s are more expensive, but this is a function of their greater immediate productivity. Finally, anybody who thinks that M.B.A.'s do not work hard should take a walk across the Charles and observe how their kindred live.

His analysis is condescending in his implicit assumption that business school graduates gain nothing from their training that liberal arts graduates do not already have.

A liberal arts education is one of life's most precious experiences for its own sake. The appreciation of culture and world perspective it offers cannot be given a monetary value--in the thruest sense of the word they are priceless. However, to claim that an envigorating liberal arts experience prepares one for commerce better than graduate business school education is to value the liberal arts experience for the wrong reasons and deny the expertise of the professional. Anish Mathai   B.A., 1968, Delhi University   M.B.A., 1977, Harvard Business School   Mark Filippell   B.A., 1975, DePauw University   M.B.A., 1977, Harvard Business School