The recession has unleashed a wave of articles about the job market for MBAs. First came the bad news that hiring was down, then we saw articles explaining how it’s getting better again. We also saw MBAs expanding their career goals, from casinos to health care.

Now, US News reports that 2010 grads are faring better than the class of 2009. This is good news: with hiring more or less back on track, it looks like b-school graduates are out to get a job in what they want, not what they can find.

The Financial Times reports that because students are finding more jobs than last year, they are holding out for what they specialized in. Rob Weiler, the director of the career services center at UCLA Anderson School of Management, says, “The students have learned to expect the worst after all they’ve gone through, but from what I’ve seen most are ploughing ahead and are optimistic that they will get what they want. There’s not a ton of people settling.”

The takeaway? Go after what you trained for. Things are looking up!

MBAs are famously high earners, but a new breed of grads is getting serious about doing well by doing good. According to this article at Business Week, there are more opportunities than ever for b-school students who want to make a difference. While socially conscious MBAs once toiled away at non-profits, making a fraction of their classmates’ salaries, today’s grads are betting they can turn a profit tackling society’s ills. “Today’s problems are massive”and they represent tomorrow’s opportunities,” says John Woolard, Haas MBA and CEO of BrightSource Energy, which builds solar-power plants. Companies cited in the article are taking on big issues like recycling, childhood obesity, and affordable higher education.

But while the new possibilities for a big payday are certainly appealing, money isn’t grads’ number one concern. Many say they just want to contribute to a cause they’re passionate about. “If you believe in something, you go for it because it makes you happy,” says Ron Gonen, who burned through his savings and strained his credit cards to launch his business, RecycleBank.

We’re always quick to point out the multitude of options offered by an MBA. Isn’t it nice to know saving the world is among them?

We’ve heard a lot of bad news about the job market recently “ articles have been popping up about the difficulties MBAs are having finding jobs (though that may be starting to change) and more MBAs are exploring alternate careers. With all this news, should you still go to business school?

This CNN article gives several major reasons, from employers who expect an MBA, to how an MBA can show your dedication to the field. Elizabeth Freedman, author of “The MBA Student’s Job-Seeking Bible” and “Work 101: Learning the Ropes of the Workplace Without Hanging Yourself,” writes that “Having an MBA — as opposed to just a bachelor’s degree in business “ is sort of like traveling someplace by plane instead of taking the train. With either business degree, you may eventually wind up at your final ‘destination’ “ but the MBA will get you there faster.”

Overall, the article makes a good case for why you should still elect to go to business school.

Job prospects for MBAs are picking up thanks in large part to the diligent efforts of business schools’ career offices, according to this Wall Street Journal article.

Career services officers at MBA programs nationwide have been working extra hard this year. HBS, for example, boosted their recruiting budget 50 percent and engaged employers more actively at conferences in Shanghai and Paris. The school also started a fellowship to cover students’ travel costs for interviews. The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business tripled its employer development staff. Stanford started an online forum allowing career services to act as a matchmaker between students and potential employers. “We are almost able to act like an eHarmony between students, alumni and companies,” says the director of the school’s career management center.

The numbers suggest that all that work is paying off: At the end of the year, 85 percent of Harvard grads had offers, along with 80 percent at Booth. Meanwhile, at Stanford, job postings for students were up 70 percent over last year. Heartening statistics, to say the least. They’re also a good argument for picking a school with solid career counseling.

With the national number of GMAT test-takers rising to 267,000 last year, India is clearly a big source of b-school applicants. We wrote about the GMAC’s new office in the country a couple of months ago, but that’s not the only US-based institution looking to India for expansion. According to this article, several American business schools hope to build campuses on the subcontinent.

Why now? Historically, foreign schools haven’t been allowed to operate in India. Instead, they’ve had to partner with native institutions. But the Indian parliament is currently considering a bill that would open the country’s educational system to outsiders. American institutions including Duke’s Fuqua School of Business are marshalling forces to open new Indian outposts as soon ASAP if the legislation goes through. They’re talking to local officials, shopping for land, and drawing up building schematics.

The bill comes in response to ever-increasing demand for spots at the nation’s top universities and business schools. Application rates are simply too high for existing schools to accommodate, and many students don’t want to go abroad. The numbers are staggering. One figure estimates India will need 600 more universities and 35,000 more colleges over the next 12 years. India has 14 million enrolled students; the Parthenon Group, an educational consulting firm, estimates economic growth will boost that number to 22 million by 2014. “The volume of students looking for education is just unbelievable,” says Eileen Peacock, VP for the Asia office of the Association to Advance Collegiate Studies of Business.

Lots of details aren’t clear yet, like the tuition and fees schools could charge and how the admissions process will work. Plus, universities will have to cough up an $11 million fee to enter the country. And there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to attract Indian students in large enough numbers, especially the less well-known institutions. But they’ve certainly got plenty of demand to work with.

With all the recent discussion about teaching ethics in business schools, some of us may have started to forget another factor involved in choosing to attend business school: moving up the pay scale.

It’s good to remember that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau , there is about a 20% increase in salary between a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree, and that’s taking into account all of the Master’s degrees out there!

Yet it seems that to make a lot of money you may have to spend a lot of money. A new study commissioned by Bloomberg BusinessWeek has found that there is in fact a correlation between an MBA’s average salary and where he or she went to business school.

Harvard, where students spend an average of $106,000 for their two years of education, comes in first. According to the study, the median income for HBS grads over a 20 year period is $3,867,903. Wharton is second and has the highest average salary at graduation: $137,000.

But if you’re looking for a large percentage increase in salary over time, check out George Washington University, where the average salary increase in 20 years is 114 percent.

It looks like  getting an MBA from a top school has its benefits. Added incentive to get a great GMAT score!

Sometimes, we like to take a Friday here on the blog to spotlight fun, exciting, or unusual career paths open to MBAs. Today’s edition: Ever considered a career in gambling?

No, we’re not suggesting you follow in Maverick’s footsteps.  According to this Business Week article, casinos have begun to see the appeal of candidates with MBAs. Once upon a time”say, in the 50s”casino managers got their start as dealers in the pit, and many didn’t even have a college degree. But as corporations have taken over and competition has intensified, things like marketing and human resources are increasingly important. So the industry wants fresh blood with the kind of formal business skills acquired in MBA programs. Meanwhile, business schools are stepping up their gaming-related offerings. “The employers are just waking up to the education of business students,” says Chris Roberts, director of DePaul University’s School of Hospitality Leadership.

Students have responded to the ramped-up recruiting efforts. And why not? As Harrah’s marketing analysis manager Dan Wyse tells the magazine, “We are selling fun, and we’re an entertainment option.” Attendance at Harrah’s most recent Stern recruiting event jumped sharply, attracting more than 100 students. Meanwhile, many of those already in the gambling business are returning to school for an MBA.

The bottom line:  even if you’re not in a traditionally MBA-heavy field, you still might benefit from a business school degree.

It’s easy to forget how complicated a world-class business school really is. But if you want a good look at one’s inner workings, watch as Johns Hopkins gets the Carey School of Business off the ground. This Business Week article is a revealing look at what goes into a top MBA program.

Known primarily for its medical and public health schools, Johns Hopkins’ business offerings have traditionally been limited. But a $50 million gift from banker William Polk Carey has the university dreaming big. They aren’t simply going to start a business school; they aim to create one of the world’s best.

But the obstacles they must surmount first are considerable”and enlightening. First, the school needed a dean. They chose Yash Gupta, who brings more than a decade of experience and a proven knack for fundraising. Then Gupta began to gather building blocks: students, faculty, and funding. Students had reservations, but Johns Hopkins’ cache won over enough applicants. Gupta has wooed 31 faculty members to the school and hopes to triple that number in 5 years. And then there’s the issue of the curriculum. We’ve already written a bit about the program’s plans to integrate ethical education more thoroughly than other schools. A new program is an opportunity to do things differently”but the development process isn’t easy.

Finally, to meet their goal of recognition as a major, top-choice international business school, the Carey School of Business will have to clear one more difficult hurdle. The program needs accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The Johns Hopkins brand weighs heavily in Carey’s favor, and by leveraging the university’s expertise in public health and medicine, they already occupy a valuable niche. But the school also needs to launch a major fundraising campaign, while boosting its alumni network and career services offerings.

It’s worth a look if you’re considering places to apply. Johns Hopkins’ efforts demonstrate all the moving parts in a business school”and all the important features you should take into account.

A recent piece at Forbes.com argued that because business schools focus on succeeding in large financial institutions, they tend to ignore some of the issues faced by would-be entrepreneurs. The article concluded that business schools need an overhaul to be useful for entrepreneurs. But is this really the case?

An article published several days ago in Tech Crunch says that it is not. The author, Professor Vivek Wadhwa, explains how his MBA helped him move up through the ranks as a programmer and ultimately succeed as an entrepreneur. My MBA classes seemed to fit our business needs like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Even obscure topics like corporate finance came in handy, in IPO discussions with investment bankers and later, in raising capital for my own company, he writes.

In another insightful blog post, entrepreneur Steve Blank says the decision to go back to school is a little more complicated. He argues that at the beginning an MBA might not help you as much, but as a company matures, it becomes an essential tool for running a business smoothly. He writes, as startups grow, []the skills people need at each step of a company’s growth evolve and change. The skills required when they were an 8-person startup trying to ˜search for the business model’ wasn’t the same set of skills needed now that they were a 70-person company ˜executing the business model.’

Wadhwa ends his article explaining that The point is that education is the best investment that one can make. Unlike stocks and bonds, education never loses value; and when you add experience, it gains even more value. Perhaps he has a point.

As you may have heard from our partners at MBAmission, HBS has announced its new dean: Nitin Nohria, a professor of business administration. As this Washington Post article points out, one especially interesting aspect of Harvard’s pick is that Nohria has long advocated administering a voluntary MBA oath to create responsibly and ethically. He’s at the forefront of a push to provide MBAs with a more solid background in ethics. Harvard President Drew Faust called Nohria’s appointment an important moment for the future of business. It certainly marks a turning point for business school curriculums.

For years, voices in academia have called for greater emphasis on ethical education for MBAs, but now they seem to be entering a new era of influence.  The Wall Street Journal reports that a recent survey of business-school administrators ranked ethics as currently the most important subject for students. An overwhelming majority of schools surveyed advocated a stakeholder approach to inculcate a sense of corporate responsibility. That growing consensus has translated into new courses and, in some cases, made a significant impact on the entire program. In building the curriculum for Johns Hopkins’ Carey Business School, dean Yash Gupta chose to weave ethics into many courses, rather than cordoning the subject off into a single semester. “We’ll teach students about decision making ” behavioral, rational, how the brain functions ” in the first year, but we’ll also give them chances to make decisions,” he says.

This isn’t simply an academic notion, either. Companies are looking explicitly for ethical qualities in their new hires. According to the Journal, Pascal Krupka, MBA director at France’s Rouen Business School, “Companies, when they used to come to the school, they used to start with ‘We want talented people,’ but now they start their speech with ‘We need people with very good ethics.’

Plus, as the USA Today suggests, the financial crisis has energized this movement in business management education. “If we don’t teach people to sort of look around and have greater peripheral vision, then we’ve just set ourselves up for the next crisis,” says Stephen Spinelli, president of Philadelphia University (and co-founder of the Jiffy Lube).

Whatever the impetus, look out for changes in MBA programs across the world.