Patterned after professional oaths taken by attorneys and physicians, about 400 of 889 Harvard business grads took a new "MBA oath" before yesterday's graduation ceremonies, pledging to act ethically in their future careers as corporate leaders.

"As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone," reads the student-inspired oath.

The voluntary oath, taken on Harvard's Class Day on Wednesday prior to yesterday's commencement ceremonies, goes on with a list of specific pledges, including the first one: "I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner."

The oath was drafted by students last month, amid growing criticism that Harvard and other business schools haven't done enough to ethically prepare students for the corporate world.

"My hope is that at our 25th reunion our class will not be known for how much money we made or how much money we gave back to the school, but for how the world was a better place as a result of our leadership," Max Anderson, who graduated yesterday, wrote in an organizing message last month.

Rakesh Khurana, a professor at Harvard Business School, said that he's proud of the students.

Khurana, author of a new book called "From Higher Aims to Hired Hands," said business schools started a century ago to produce both better managers and a better society. But the mission of business schools and business leaders shifted over the years toward an emphasis on "maximizing shareholder value," he said.

"There's been a broad-based failure of our business system, and business schools have been part of that," he said.

Students at other business schools have already expressed interest in taking similar MBA oaths.

Suffolk University professor Mariam Weismann, who teaches business and law, praised the oath concept. But she warned that it professionally has no regulatory teeth.

"Who's going to enforce it?" asked Weismann, a former federal prosecutor.