Best MBA Graduate Schools in Value for Money
The best MBA schools are ranked based on many factors. But which schools offer the best ROI to their alumni?
Return on investment, or value for money (in other words: MBA salaries and compensation), should probably be the most important factor to take into account before investing your resources on a top MBA program, specially since nowadays 100’s of MBA graduates are lured out by the minute and we are still in the aftermath of the worst crash since the great depression.
Top MBA US Schools: The Usual Suspects
In 2006, Harvard University lead the way for return on investment with a five-year gain of $149,000 over tuition and foregone salary, Harvard Business School graduates were getting the most value for money at the time of the audit. In the same year, the No. 2 school, Columbia, had a five-year gain of $147,000.
For this study pre-MBA graduate school salaries as well as wages in three of the first five years out of school were taken into account. Salary and total earnings after graduation are compared with both costs of attending: 1-tuition and 2-foregone salary.
Top MBA Colleges offer great value for money
The yearly salaries of graduates of the US five top-ranking M.B.A. institutions hover around and above $200,000 five years after graduation, on average. Even though the ROI for the best ranking MBA programs seems to be taking a little longer to convert, over the past few years, due to rising tuitions and higher pre-MBA graduate school enrollment salaries, the value for money continues to be in great shape.
Practical Case: an MBA Program Value for Money
The best U.S. business school in value for money in 2009 was the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Stanford climbed up from second in the 2007 US ranking. Stanford has produced many of the most successful entrepreneurs known in the world of business nowadays. Individuals like Charles Schwab, Philip Knight (Nike) and Scott McNealy (Sun Microsystems). These companies have a combined worth of well over $50 billion.
The Stanford MBA graduates of 2004 had an average yearly wage of $82,000 before enrolling. Average investment made by each student was around $235,000 total (the sum of two years of forgone salary plus the cost of tuition). Five years after graduation, their average yearly salary has hiked up to $225,000. How is that for a good ROI?
Good times to enroll in a top MBA school?
The economy is somewhat still feeble and job markets are in dire straits all over (but getting better). About 50% of MBA graduates-to-be receive a job offer within three months prior to graduation, not a bad figure at all, but lower than the 67% who used to receive it 5 years ago. Nonetheless, the worst is over and top ranking graduate MBA programs in the US (and worldwide) continue to offer great value for money and excellent professional projections for those who dare to take on the challenge. And general projections only seem to be getting better.
