Business and economic degrees give graduates not only a variety of options for their career path, but also a good return on investment (ROI). Business majors are valued members of existing organisations or may be entrepreneurs. Economics majors studying applied economics can secure high level jobs with companies, Wall Street firms, and government. Theoretical economics can lead to high level work in the world of academic world.
According to Bloomberg Business, the average age of people attending business school is 26.5 years, which means someone with a bachelor’s degree could be five years into their career before taking a two-year break to pursue a business degree. That means losing two years of salary and paying two years of tuition, all with the hopes of a return on investment in the future.
The reported median salary of full-time workers ages 25 and older with bachelor’s degrees in 2016 is $58,970. The schools are ranked according to the difference between the graduates 10-year new salary and their 10-year pre-MBA salary. Numbers are not adjusted for inflation, bonuses and other qualitative gains.
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Total out-of-state program cost: $123,100
Average salary of graduates: $126,300
10-year ROI: 326 percent
MIT’s Sloan School of Management represents teaches the interdisciplinary application of mathematics to economics which has had a significant impact on modern economic thought. MIT has produced eight Nobel laureates in economics, and its business program has seen alumni in positions including CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. Treasury Secretary, and high level executive positions at many of the biggest firms on Wall Street.
2. Stanford University: Stanford, California
Total out-of-state program cost: $119,100
Average salary of graduates: $125,000
10-year ROI: 325 percent
The university is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, a prime location for budding entrepreneurs looking for opportunity. The combined annual revenue of all the companies that have been founded by Stanford alumni is over $2.7 trillion, equivalent to the tenth largest single economy in the world. The economics program at Stanford is also devoted to revolutionizing the way we think about the subject. Stanford has seen three alumni of the school become Nobel laureates.
3. Harvard University: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Total out-of-state program cost: $122,450
Average salary of graduates: $125,000
10-year ROI: 320 percent
Harvard Business School, previously the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration introduced the world’s first MBA. Just as impressive as the Harvard business programs are their economics programs which have produced thirteen Nobel laureates in economics throughout the school’s history.
4. UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
Total out-of-state program cost: $119,443
Average salary of graduates: $120,000
10-year ROI: 300 percent
The University of California Berkeley is the only public university in this ranking and the only one in the Academic Ranking of World Universities’ business and economics ranking. Berkeley has produced five nobel laureates in economics, and many notable alumni of its business programs. Alumni include Bank of America President Barbara Desoer, and Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe.
5. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Total out-of-state program cost: $141,740
Average salary of graduates: $125,000
10-year ROI: 297 percent
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has made a goal of becoming the most comprehensive source of information about the business world. While no alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania has won a Nobel prize in economics, several researchers and professors have been awarded the Nobel prize while at UPenn. The school’s economics programs are considered to be among the best in the world.