With the job market still waiting to see the light of day, the class of 2009 is eyeing graduate school as their graduation date approaches. Along with these soon to be graduates, many new grads who are either out of work or looking to get a leg up on their competition are also signing up for the GRE.

In order to apply into an MBA program, most schools accepted the GMAT, not the GRE. The GMAT is specific in scoring a student based on their management skills that are learned both through work experience and school, while the GRE covers a range of subjects that are learned at the undergraduate level. It is apparent that these programs could be accepting the GRE in anticipation of more students applying right out of college or with little work experience.

That leads us to wonder, between the economy and more programs accepting the GRE, what will this do to the value of an MBA degree?

Recent attendance numbers at local universities have shown an increasing number of new graduates (and even past graduates) enrolling back into school for advanced degrees or specialty training. Most of this comes from the lack of jobs for new grads, and it seems to be a good way to pass the time during our economic downturn. But is this really a smart way to spend a period of low employment?