@going down - I just do not see difference between 2009 and 2012 as it relates to the Bay Area's economy - sorry, on the contrary, I'd venture to say there the trends are mildly positive - yet, that's not at issue here so I'll drop the subject. I am, also, not arguing that Heald graduates are facing tough job finding prospects - I agree with you on that one. I am not aligned with your statement that only Berkeley and Stanford graduates will find jobs in the business sector - take a look at this, I'll focus on accounting and finance here:
http://campusapps2.fullerton.edu/career/students/accountingexpo.aspx - t doc was published in August 2011 (see the footer) announcing a Sept 2011 pre-recruiting event at Cal State Fullerton - now, here you have six top notch audit firms sending recruiting managers and practice partners to talk to students about "Building Your Career in Public Accounting" from 10AM to 1PM - why would they spend scarce partner time on an event if they have no interest in bringing the kids on board? In addition, the following companies, many of them well known, are listed as presenters during the Accounting Career Expo: BDO USA, Blaine Convention Services, California Franchise Tax Board, California State Auditor, Defense Contract Agency, Deloitte (ERS), Employment Development Dept., Ernst & Young, Enterprise rent-A-Car, KPMG, Parker, Hannifin, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Thompson National Properties and "White, Nelson & Co., LLP". I've done quite a bit of campus recruiting for my former employer (UCLA, SC and Cal State LA) and during the 2001/2002 downturn we stayed as far from the campus as possible as we simply did not have positions in the pipeline and demand projections were dismal. I can assure that no firm will show up at a campus if they do not have a clear idea how many resources they need to hire and for what positions. In addition, many, many companies do not show at the expo but still post on campus interview requests - typically those would be smaller companies targeting to fill one or two positions with recent graduates. Keep in mind, public accounting in particular is a high attrition business as most folks do it for the experience and they leave after three to five years once they learn the trade (that gives you roughly 20% attrition rate). Now, public accounting, while well respected and with starting pay in 50K+ range, is a tough trade with long hours and ton of travel to often forgotten Mid West cities with decaying manufacturing facilities where you are expected to sit on the shop floor and count beans. You'd agree, this is not something that would typically appeal to the young over-achieving genius from Berkeley (Stanford kids just don't have access to Accounting classes - so, this trade is not an option for them) which typically finds home in an investment bank, management consultancy or a high flying firm. So after all, you'd have to agree that it's not that bad for Cal State Accounting grads.