Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business made a new list of the top 75 schools that give MBA students the highest return on their investment in a graduate business degree.
Forbes magazine produced the ranking, which placed the Terry College’s full-time MBA program 50th overall for the return on investment graduates had achieved five years after completing their degrees.
Forbes based the ranking on the rate of return for the graduates of the Class of 2004. The magazine surveyed the grads about their earnings during those five years and compared them to their “opportunity costs,” which included two years of forgone wages, plus the cost of tuition and fees.
Five years after graduating, the typical Terry MBA graduate was $23,000 ahead, according to Forbes’ calculation. And Class of 2004 alumni had recouped all their opportunity costs in less than 4.5 years, on average.
In the survey, Terry MBA graduates reported a median, pre-MBA salary of $45,000 and a post-MBA salary for 2008 of $108,000.
“A top 50 ranking is an important benchmark, considering the thousands of business schools available to students interested in an MBA degree,” said Robert Sumichrast, dean of the Terry College. “However, it’s our intent to improve the reputation and quality of the MBA program in the next several years. As Rich Daniels begins his first year directing all formats of our MBA program offerings in Athens and Atlanta, he has some good ideas for improvement and will be working with our faculty, staff and alumni to implement them.”
Stanford University topped the Forbes ranking of U.S. business schools, and 23 public business schools made the top 50. Forbes’ sixth biennial ranking of business schools is available online.
For more information on MBA program options from the Terry College of Business, go to the Terry MBA web site.
