The New York Times [registration required] reports that increasing numbers of college graduates working in finance -- particularly hedge funds, private equity firms, and investment banks -- are foregoing their MBAs.

This makes a significant amount of economic sense to me -- as long as their employers keep making enormous sums of money. At funds that manage $1 billion to $3 billion, people with just a few years of finance experience make $337,000 -- and those with five to nine years of experience average $830,000. So an MBA for a person with a few years experience would cost $774,000 -- the loss of two years' income plus the $50,000 a year in MBA tuition and living expenses. And that doesn't take into account how much more money that person could have made by staying put.

If an individual wants to manage an organization, an MBA can help them get the skills they need. But to manage money, on-the-job finance skills put the most successful college graduates on a path to massive wealth. If the hedge fund industry goes bust in a year or two, many of those hedge fund babies will probably have enough money that they won't ever need to work again.

If the industry goes bust, those who got MBAs in 2007 so they could get into private equity and hedge funds will probably be the ones who need their degrees the most.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Oh, the places you'll go! (Oh, the things you'll screw up!) Dr. Seuss probably didn't have the second credo in mind when he penned his popular (and final) book nearly 20 years ago. But today's college graduates, young and eager and with the whole world in front of them, are prone to some big mistakes.

Fortune reports that as Baby Boomers retire, more jobs are becoming available to America's youth, making it a great time to have a fresh college diploma. According to a new survey from CareerBuilder.com, 79% of 2,500 companies surveyed expect to hire new graduates this year, up from 70% in 2006. Starting pay is also on the rise, which should help with those building student loans. But easily preventable mistakes can prevent a new graduate from earning the job of his or her dreams.

The article seeks advice from Anna Ivey, a consultant who formerly served as dean of admissions for the University of Chicago law school. She says the five common mistakes perpetrated by Generation Y job-seekers are:

1. Allowing parents to dominate the job search. A new graduate should be independent, reflecting maturity and professionalism.

2. Posting racy photos or inappropriate language on MySpace, a blog, or any other publicly accessible web site.

3. Failure to network. Every new grad has a fairly wide network, when he or she considers friends, family, family friends, friends' parents, etc.

4. Poor manners. Those employers who grant a job interview or provide help with an employment search appreciate a thank-you note; they rarely get them from new graduates.

5. Sub-par voice mail greetings. Be professional and not too casual.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.