10 Business Schools That Lead to Jobs

At these schools, an average of 95 percent of 2011 graduates had jobs three months after graduating.

March 29, 2012 RSS Feed Print

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.

With the Graduate Management Admission Council's recent announcement that the number of GMAT tests taken dropped from 263,979 in 2010 to 258,192 in 2011, there's been a decline in applicants to graduate business programs. The decline in applications may be tied to the job market, which isn't as likely to reward the vast quantity of M.B.A. graduates who are seeking jobs.

There are a variety of reasons why students apply to M.B.A. programs, but two of the major motivators are job advancement and changing careers. M.B.A. students can explore student loans, savings, scholarships, and other options to pay for business school, but their ultimate goal is to land a job after earning an M.B.A. With a very competitive job market facing M.B.A.'s when they graduate, they may want to pay particular attention to the employment data that their prospective schools report.

[Read three reasons to choose a part-time M.B.A.]

On average, the 135 business schools that reported graduates' employment data to U.S. News and had at least 20 graduates seeking jobs had 57.7 percent of their graduates employed at graduation. The number of newest alumni who were employed leapt to 78.7 percent, on average, three months after graduation. The three-month alumni employment rate at the top 10 business schools that lead to jobs was much higher: 95.3 percent. (Employment data for graduates of part-time business programs were not included.)

Both the class of 2011's average employment rate at graduation and the average employment rate three months after graduation for the top 10 schools for jobs represented an increase over the previous year. Members of the class of 2010 were employed at graduation 73 percent of the time, and 94.8 percent of the time at the 10 schools with the highest employment rates.

[Learn how to determine when the time is right for an M.B.A.]

The Freeman School of Business at Tulane University topped the list, with 98.1 percent of the members of its class of 2011 employed three months after graduation. Five of the top 10 schools on the list are ranked in the top 25 of U.S. News's Best Business Schools, and no school on the list was ranked lower than 65th.

Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs because the program did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

Below are the 10 schools that reported the highest job placement rates for full-time 2011 M.B.A. graduates three months after graduation:

Business school (name) (state)	Full-time students employed three months after graduating	U.S. News b-school rank
Tulane University (Freeman) (LA)	98.1%	43
Ohio State University (Fisher)	97.6%	25
Iowa State University	96.7%	64
Temple University (Fox) (PA)	95.3%	52
Georgia Institute of Technology	95.1%	32
Northeastern University (MA)	95.1%	56
Emory University (Goizueta) (GA)	94.0%	19
Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)	93.8%	4
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)	93.8%	22
Dartmouth College (Tuck) (NH)	93.6%	9

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find data on employment rates and much more.

U.S. News surveyed more than 400 schools for our 2011 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.

Tags:: Emory University,; Tulane University,; Iowa State University,; Ohio State University,; careers,; graduate schools,; Northwestern University,; Washington University in St. Louis,; education,; Dartmouth College,; business school,; Northeastern University

Reader Comments Read all comments (14)

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

BTW, I'm not necessarily stating that Tulane & Co. MBAs are mostly interested in jobs rather than in careers, but my gut tells me that the Harvard & Co. MBAs (like myself) are willing to wait to find the right position and that a "job" simply isn't enough. In the grand scheme of things, three months is too short a time period to make any judgment calls.

David Scott Lewis 12:34PM May 19, 2012

So, would any credible soul trade an MBA from Tulane, OSU or Iowa State for an MBA from Harvard, Stanford or Chicago? I doubt it.
Perhaps the expectations from Tulane & Co. MBAs are not quite as grand -- and perhaps the jobs they sought don't necessarily entail a lengthy interview process. Microsoft interviewed me three times over three months with initial contact the month prior to the first interview and an offer two months after the last interview, with a start date one month later. Christmas Eve day 1996 initial contact from a SBU head to starting almost six months later. And McKinsey interviewed me over a dozen times over several months, but ultimately no offer. In contrast, Oracle, Samsung and META (now owned by Gartner) made almost lightning speed hiring decisions (in my case).
My point: Some of it may be a matter of expectations, some of it may be a result of the hiring process, some of it may be a matter of pure luck, e.g., having an open req. I received TWO offers from two different groups at Oracle within just two weeks from sending a resume, but both had open reqs. Microsoft didn't really have an open req, but still hired me. They had to create a req.
Don't underestimate the power of being in the right place at the right time and managing expectations. The higher you aim, the tougher it might be to find a job. (Not always, as in the case of Oracle for me, but often, as in the case of McKinsey. And I really wanted the job at McKinsey, although that group, to the best of my knowledge, has since been dissolved.)
(I shouldn't add a comment before I've had my first daily cup of coffee!)

David Scott Lewis 11:21PM May 15, 2012

So, would anybody trade an MBA from Tulane, OSU or Iowa State for an MBA from Harvard, Stanford or Chicago? I doubt it.
Perhaps the expectations are not quite as grand -- and perhaps jobs are chosen that don't necessarily entail a lengthy interview process. Microsoft interview me three times over three months with initial contact the month prior to the first interview and an offer two months after the last interview, with a start date one month later. Christmas Eve day 1996 initial contact from a SBU head to starting almost six months later. And McKinsey interviewed me over a dozen times over several months, but ultimately no offer. In contrast, Oracle, Samsung and META (now owned by Gartner) made almost lightening-speed hiring decisions (in my case).
My point: Some of it may be a matter of expectations, some of it may be as a result of the hiring process, some of it may be a matter of pure luck, e.g., having an open req. I received TWO offers from two different groups at Oracle within just two weeks from sending a resume, but both had open reqs. Microsoft, didn't really have an open req, but still hired me.
Don't underestimate the power of being at the right place at the right time and managing expectations. The hiring you aim, the tougher it might be to find a job. (Not always, as in the case of Oracle for me, but often, as in the case of McKinsey.)

David Scott Lewis 11:04PM May 15, 2012

10 Business Schools That Lead to Jobs

At these schools, an average of 95 percent of 2011 graduates had jobs three months after graduating.

Related Articles

Reader Comments Read all comments (14)

Grad School Search

Knowledge Centers

The GRE® Tests: Get the Facts

Answer: True

Find Online Programs

Editor's Picks

The GRE^® Tests: Get the Facts