Whether it means working for a dotcom is a different story. Last spring, a national survey by Duke University s Fuqua School of Business found that one-quarter of students at top business schools sought jobs at Internet startup companies. Respondents said they were attracted by the dotcom culture as well as the potential for high financial rewards. But students who are set to graduate this spring say they re being more careful.
Corporate recruiters can t help but notice the new skepticism among students.
They re taking more time to evaluate what the company s story is. The number of students who plan to pursue Internet jobs has fallen by 25 percent since last spring, when the survey was last conducted. The training that American doctoral students receive isn t the training they want, nor does it prepare them for the jobs they take after graduation, according to a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison study. But research shows that no more than half of them will ultimately reach that goal. Half to three-quarters of doctoral students say they re not prepared for the various teaching and service activities that most college and university faculty members spend the majority of their time on.