Schools with the Highest Immediate ROIs

In First Place: HEC Paris When determining an MBA’s return on investment (ROI), it makes a big difference whether you’re considering the short-term or long-term gain. The Economist recently released data that measures the ROI (measured by taking the difference between pre- and post-MBA salaries and dividing it by the total cost of the program, including forgone salary plus tuition fees). For some programs (like Wharton) the short-term payoff is very low, but long term it’s much greater. Other programs, like one-year program HEC Paris, will give you a much more immediate positive ROI. It also depends on YOU – if you had a low paying job, especially if you come from a poor country and then land a job in a country with a stronger economy, then you’ll have a better chance of leaping to a significantly higher salary post-MBA, thereby influencing your ROI. Here are the top ten b-schools with the highest ROI from the Economist report: School ROI after One Year HEC Paris (France) 66.5% Aston (Britain) 64.5% U. of Hong Kong 60.2% SDA Bocconi (Italy) 55.5% International Uni of Japan 52.4% York Schulich (Canada) 52.0% Mannheim (Germany) 51.9% Vlerick Leuven (Belgium) 51.9% Grenoble (France) 51.0% Dublin Smurfit (Ireland) 48.9% As you’ll see, if you check out the Economist article, the list is dominated by European programs, and the top ten are exclusively non-U.S. programs (and almost the top 20 – U. of Pittsburgh Katz came in at 19th place). Those programs are almost all one-year programs with lower out-of-pocket costs (like tuition) and lower opportunity cost because you are out of the workforce for a much shorter period of time. Wondering where top U.S. schools come out on the chart? All the way at the bottom, with ROIs like this: School ROI after One Year Harvard 14.8% Stanford 13.5% Columbia 13.0% Kellogg 9.8% Wharton 6.3% A Poets Quants article elaborates on the absence of U.S. programs from the top of the list, by opening with â€Å"Looking to get rich quick after graduation? Don’t go to Wharton, Stanford, or Kellogg†¦Go to HEC Paris (or the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business), instead.† In short, the PQ article explains, average first-year salaries pitted against two-year U.S. tuitions and lost earnings, don’t compete with the â€Å"winners† early on in the game. Wait it out, however, and a degree from Wharton will certainly be a coveted item with a rocket high ROI later on in your career. Furthermore, there are many people who would love to have the bottom-of-the-barrel, short-term returns on their tuition investment, especially given the anticipated long-term uptick. Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best