A good investor or entrepreneur understands the full cost of an investment before making it, and has a realistic expectation of what the returns may be based on available data. The same holds true if you’re considering investing in a graduate management degree. A savvy prospective student understands that the full investment of business school is more than merely the cost of tuition; it’s also opportunity costs in the form of forgone wages that he or she may not earn while enrolled. There are other, nonfinancial expenditures to account for, such as time and energy — finite commodities that may be limited if you’re also juggling a family, friends or even running your own business. Just as the cost of b-school includes nonfinancial variables, so do the returns. In addition to increased earnings, you must also consider how an advanced degree will impact your professional knowledge, skills and abilities; not to mention your personal development, career acceleration and job satisfaction. To help you gain a better sense of both the financial and nonfinancial returns associated with investing in an MBA or another master’s degree in business, the Graduate Management Admission Council(GMAC) surveyed more than 14,000 business school alumni on their salaries, employment, skill development, professional satisfaction and their assessment of the value of their degrees. Financial Returns Coming out of business school, alumni report significant boosts initially in base salary and timely investment recoup times, although they do note it varies by program type. Opportunity cost and the length of the program are major factors affecting investment recoup time. For example, alumni of full-time two-year MBA programs tend to have the largest investment costs because they typically miss two years of employment while in school. Graduates with lower opportunity costs, including those who attend shorter (typically one-year) specialized business master’s programs, tend to recover their investment faster. Overall, 81 percent of alumni agree their graduate management education increased their earnings power and 75 percent agree their business education was financially rewarding. Business school alumni earn a median of $2.5 million in cumulative base salary in the 20 years that follow graduation, the survey also found. This is a half-million dollars more in median cumulative base salary than they would earn if they did not go to business school and had consistently earned 5 percent annual salary increases, and $1 million more than if they did not go to business school and had consistently earned 3 percent annual salary increases. Nonfinancial Returns There are also personal and professional benefits to earning a business school degree. The survey found that overall, 93 percent of alumni agree their graduate management education was personally rewarding, while 89 percent agree it was professionally rewarding. Specifically, a majority of alumni agree that business school prepared them for leadership positions (80 percent of respondents), offered them opportunities for quicker career advancement (73 percent), and developed their professional networks (70 percent). From a skills perspective, more than 3 in 4 alumni agree attending business school developed their qualitative analysis skills (88 percent of respondents), quantitative analysis skills (84 percent) and soft skills (76 percent). About two-thirds of alumni (or 68 percent) are satisfied with their current job and employer. Like the financial returns of business school, how alumni assess their personal and professional returns vary by program type. Using GMAC’s interactive tool to determine the value of a graduate management education, you can filter the data by the program types you are most interested in. Would Alumni Make the Same Investment Again? The survey found that when looking back on their decision to invest in a graduate management degree, 9 in 10 alumni (93 percent) say they would do it again, and they are very likely to also recommend it to their peers as well. Overall, the Net Promoter® score (NPS®), a widely used metric of customer loyalty, is strong among graduates of all types of business programs. Scores range from -100 to +100, and any positive NPS score is thought to be good. An NPS score of +50 is thought to be excellent. The overall NPS score for graduates of business programs is +45. Want to experience the returns on a business school investment for yourself? Start your journey ！ | 
