BUSINESSWEEK 2019 MBA PROGRAM RANKINGS RELEASED TODAY 11/4/19

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Mon, 04 Nov 2019 21:14:16 +0000

The most elite MBA programs are referred to as the M-7 group (Harvard, Stanford, Penn-Wharton, Northwestern-Kellogg, Chicago-Booth, MIT-Sloan & Columbia).

UCal-Berkeley is an outstanding program as well–as are Michigan-Ross, Virginia-Darden, NYU-Stern (especially for finance), and a few others.

Unless determined to switch industries, the most important factor, arguably, when considering MBA programs is cost of attendance (COA).

Tuition, fees, books, room& board exceeds $200,000 at about a dozen elite MBA programs (about $230,000 at the priciest school = Stanford). Add in opportunity cost of lost earnings for almost two full years and the COA can exceed $450,000 for an elite, fulltime MBA program.

In my opinion, the soaring cost of earning a brand name MBA should encourage those eyeing a career in the business world to major in business at the undergraduate level which minimizes or eliminates the need for earning an MBA in favor of a one year specialty masters degree.

Nevertheless, recently minted MBAs from elite programs are averaging well over $150,000 in first year salary & signing bonus (usually about $25,000).