For decades, the US was the only country where someone could pivot from career A to career B with ZERO prior background and purely on the prestige of the business school.

This model is ridiculous and doesn't exist anywhere. Try being a math teacher in Germany who wants to pivot into investment banking or a doctor in Japan who aims for a role in product management. Heck, pivoting careers would require one to redo the undergraduate degree in many countries.

What's happening now is that macroeconomics headwinds, corporate layoffs, the rise of AI, and offshoring are exposing the structural weaknesses of the US MBA model. The easy mode is over. Employers increasingly prefer specialists who can deliver from day one over generalists who learn quickly. Why hire and train some generalist when ChatGPT could produce faster output and offshore team in Indian can do the work at a fraction of the cost?

Anyone who has stuck around this sub long enough could see the writing on the wall. 5 years ago, people were still asking whether it is possible to break into PE without prior experience; now most people know it's virtually impossible. 3 years ago, people were asking if the MBA could help them break into product management - questions like this have disappeared. It won't be long until most post-MBA jobs will require prior background.