For some context, this was the state of play in 2000 (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/01/business/a-matter-of-degree-not-for-consultants.html?pagewanted=all&src=

For some context, this was the state of play in 2000 (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/01/business/a-matter-of-degree-not-for-consultants.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/01/business/a-matter-of-degre... ): "Consulting firms are especially hungry [...] consulting firms still hire hundreds of M.B.A.'s and say they would sign up even more if many of the most desirable candidates were not instead joining dot-com companies that can lure them with equity stakes." "'Frankly, business is in some ways not that difficult to learn,'' said Rajat Gupta, McKinsey's managing partner. ''We can pick up people who have not studied business and can teach them, if they have the intellectual firepower.'" "STILL, from some perspectives, these are not the best of times for the M.B.A. [...] many potential students [... are] eager to join start-ups. If Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos didn't need an M.B.A., some people wonder why they do, either. Also, with technology rapidly and fundamentally changing so many industries, other people worry that two years spent outside the work force is too long." "Indeed, at a time when technology is changing the rules for many industries, the skills of scientists and physicians are especially attractive to consulting firms looking to develop new theories. ''Oftentimes, the problems they're trying to solve really do require a deeper level of analytical skills'' than many M.B.A.'s have, said Laura D'Andrea Tyson, the dean of the University of California's Haas School of Business..."