Financial quake felt at biz schools

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- California students headed for graduate degrees in business are contemplating job hunting in an era of serious international economic turmoil.

Bangaly Kaba, a 29-year-old former teacher, is a student in his second year at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Last summer, he had a coveted internship at Lehman Brothers, which collapsed three days after he returned to school this fall.

"People come to business school to shoot for the stars," Kaba told the Los Angeles Times. "At some point, you have to look at what's in front of you because the stars aren't available."

In the meantime, Kaba is enjoying the California life and flying to New York for job interviews.

Jim Ellis, the Marshall dean, hopes that the financial crisis will do less damage on the West Coast than the major financial centers in the East.

"We're lucky that we're 3,000 miles away from the epicenter of this shake," Ellis said. "When you're back there in the maelstrom, you talk about it breakfast, lunch and dinner. We think our students will have a

better chance, but we don't know that."