In the global economy you would think that a bright European student who has three languages and a degree from an Ivy League university would be snapped up by employers.

It did not happen for Tamara Bobakova when she applied for jobs with management consultancies in France and eastern Europe because they wanted graduates with masters degrees. “They were scared of a degree from Penn because it was just a bachelors, even though it took four years and covered a lot of ground,” she says.