“I wondered if they would say, ‘Maybe this isn’t the time; I don’t want to spend the money if the salary is not going to be there,’ ” she said. “But instead they’re even more interested in finding exactly what they need to get into a top business school. Everyone’s worried about their prospects, but it’s translated into, ‘How do we get better credentials?’ ”

Image Jian Yang, a second-year business graduate student at the University of Chicago, expects to graduate with $200,000 in debt. Credit... Amanda Rivkin for The New York Times

She added, “Now they feel, if they want to go to business school, they need to be from one of the top ones.”

Even at Harvard, students were more attentive at sessions and résumé round tables, said Robin Mount, interim director of career services. In previous years, they often spent these sessions sending text messages; this year, the sessions have been purposeful and heavily attended. Ms. Mount said she could have heard a pin drop.

Beverly Principal, assistant director of employment services at Stanford, said she had already seen a reduction in campus recruitment by banks, though a spokeswoman at J. P. Morgan Chase said it would continue recruiting at target universities throughout the semester.

When students do receive offers, they come under more scrutiny, before and after hiring, said Ronald Storch, a partner at Marcum and Kliegman, a large accounting firm. “A couple years ago there was too much work and not enough bodies,” Mr. Storch said. “We were hiring just to get bodies, and people could bounce from firm to firm. Now they’re not getting the same opportunities.”

Jian Yang, 25, who is in his second year at the University of Chicago’s graduate business school, recently considered his prospects in this new climate. Mr. Yang said he had friends who had lost jobs or taken internships at Lehman and Bear Stearns expecting to land full-time jobs, only to watch the companies fail. He expects to graduate with $200,000 in student debt.

“It’s definitely impacting the mood of the student body,” Mr. Yang said. “We’re all watching the news every day.” Where students in past years set their course on a single field, like investment banking, now they are looking in several areas to improve their chances, he said.