The Best Long Angeles MBA Return on Investment Bets
Return on Investment (ROI) is one of the most important factors a prospective MBA can take into consideration when choosing the right business school.
Of course, the true value of each MBA program may ultimately be something impossible to measure. The kind of connections made through professional networking, the soft skills that students attain which help them navigate through both their personal and professional life—these aren’t things that can be easily quantified. But, thankfully, factors like average salary increase, rate of post-graduate employment and the overall tuition of a program are. And these numbers can help students start to better see an overall picture of what each MBA is worth.
The Best Long Angeles MBA Return on Investment
The Marshall School of Business – USC
The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California is consistently one of the top ranked MBA programs in the state of California and even throughout the country. Specific ROI aside, these sorts of honors should also be a factor when considering the overall value of the program: for example, Marshall has been named the third best program for “Most Satisfied Business School Graduates” by Forbes and sixth on The Economist’s ranking of “Best Alumni Networks.”
Based on tuition for the 2017-18 school year, the total expense (tuition, fees and living expenses included) to pursue a full-time MBA at Marshall would be $95,881 for the first year and $82,522 for the second, for a total of $178,403.
Now take into consideration the fact that the average salary for graduates of Marshall’s full-time MBA program within three months of graduation is $115,309, and that the large majority of job offers (38 percent) for MBA students came from on-campus recruiting or job postings through the university. The second highest source of employment (21 percent) came from internships held while in the MBA program. Furthermore, a number of top organizations—such as Apple, AT&T, and Walt Disney Studios—hired the graduates of Marshall’s 2016 MBA class. All of these factors boost the overall ROI of Marshall’s program, making it one of the top valued programs in L.A.—even with the high price tag.
Anderson School of Management – UCLA
The Anderson School of Management at UCLA is another program which offers a high ROI when considering the types of opportunities and salaries available to students after graduation. While the tuition cost is certainly high—roughly $194,220 (including fees and living expenses) for the the two years of the program, the benefits to students are undeniable.
A look at the full-time employment report for the most recent MBA class finds that 92.4 percent of students were offered full-time employment within just three months of graduation, with 87.7 percent acceptances. By far (72.2 percent) , students found their employment opportunities through Anderson-facilitated resources, such as internships, on-campus recruiting, or from UCLA Anderson alumni and classmates.
The salaries for graduating Anderson students also reveals a positive trend: the average post-graduate compensation was $118,150, with 70.6 percent of students earning signing bonuses of up to $89,500. The connections sewn by Anderson internships and alumnae also reveal a significant payoff in the types of organizations hiring Anderson alum: companies like NBC Universal, IBM, Barclays, Google, and other major corporations now have Anderson MBA graduates on staff.
The Paul Merage School of Business – University of California, Irvine
The UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business is one of the top business schools in the Los Angeles metro area, as evidenced by its consistently high rankings from various publications, such as the Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.
With the program’s recognition for its high lifetime earnings combined with the relatively low cost the degree, it’s no surprise that that the program at UC Irvine produces a high return on investment. The estimated total annual cost of an MBA at Merage ranges from $67,422—$83,967, depending on if you whether or not you are a resident of California and whether or not you will be using campus. This is compared with an average post-graduate salary of $97,808 for the 2017 graduating class. About 50 percent of all students were employed by graduation, and 81 percent held full-time jobs within three months.
Graziado School of Business and Management – Pepperdine University
One of the reasons Pepperdine’s Graziado School of Business boasts such a high return on investment is the many different formats in which students can pursue a full-time degree. With the opportunity to take the full-time MBA over the course of 12, 15, or 20 months, the Graziado MBA typically costs less overall ($74,250 for the 12-month program, $99,000 for all others) and means less time away from a full-time paycheck.
Combine this with the success rate of 82 percent of students accepting job within three months after graduation and a $120,000 starting salary (at highest), and its understandable why Graziado graduates find incredible value in their degree.
Finding Your Dream MBA Career at Barclays
For over 300 years, Barclays has been one of the leading international banks for both consumer corporate investments. MBA candidates are drawn to Barclays not only for its stature in the global finance industry but also for the vast array of professional opportunities it offers. Within business banking, corporate banking, customer banking solutions, marketing, investment banking, and technology career paths, Barclays’ training, mentorship, networking, and travel opportunities are often unparalleled in the financial industry.
Barclays’ MBA Recruitment Program
At Barclays, one major key to continued growth and success consists of building strong interdisciplinary business networks. As part of Barclays’ ongoing development opportunities, the company maintains a robust campus recruiting system. Barclays makes a point to develop relationships with their future prospects as early as possible in their educational and professional careers.
For students pursuing an MBA, Barclays offers the MBA Ambition Diversity Program, a summer internship program dedicated to talented and motivated MBA candidates. Within the MBA Ambition Diversity Program, Barclays initially gives a candidate a “condensed version of our on-campus recruiting process during the summer before you start your MBA, culminating in interviews at our New York office.” Successful candidates will then be offered an internship position the following summer after the first year of business school is completed. Once a candidate has been accepted, Barclays offers a fellowship program that “provides $45,000 toward first-year tuition and academic expenses.”
Barclays prides itself in seeking out women, men, and non-binary individuals of all backgrounds to cultivate a diverse environment for employees to learn from one another. The idea is that this multifaceted workspace will help employees expand their cultural perspective as they embark on a career in global finance.
As of October 2017, Barclays has begun to offer free accommodation for graduates taking job interviews in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. This is for all graduates—not only Barclays applicants.
The Barclays Career
In 2016, Barclays’ head of banking associate recruitment, Kristi Robson, explained in an interview that MBAs are commonly hired into their banking division where Barclays has its largest intake. Banking interns and employees generally move into a product or coverage role within Equity Capital Markets or Technology, Media & Telecommunication, for example. Robson explains, “We do hire a small number of MBAs into our research business but this is dependent on business need.”
According to the 2017 WSO Investment Banking Industry Report, first-year analysts earn between $70,000 and $150,000 USD based on experience and by year three average between $120,000 and $350,000. “At the analyst level, it is not uncommon to work between 80 to 120-hour weeks at some firms. Most analysts start in the summer and receive their first investment banking analyst bonus around June or July, approximately one year after the analyst starts working. Analysts also often receive a signing bonus from $5,000 to $20,000, as well as a moving bonus if they are transferring laterally to a different bank.” For these reasons and more, Barclays strives to provide their candidates with every opportunity to grow professionally.
Education Opportunities
The following London MBA programs are reputable feeders for roles at Barclays. They are all remarkable schools for distinct reasons but each provides a formidable mix of business education and valuable alumni networks:
- Ashridge Executive Education
- Cass Business School – City University London
- Cranfield School of Management
- Henley Business School – University of Reading
- Imperial College Business School – Imperial College London
- Judge Business School – University of Cambridge
- London Business School
- Saïd Business School – University of Oxford
If you’re driven and wish to work for a large organization that still believes in “small-business”-style relationships and offers unique opportunities to develop business skill-sets and global perspectives, then Barclays could be the perfect fit.
Georgetown McDonough MBA Career Center Releases 2017 Employment Stats
No surprise: Georgetown MBAs are making bank!
According to the most recent employment report from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, the average starting salary for graduates was $112,501, which is a 4 percent increase from the previous year.
“Every year, we deepen our commitment to applying a personalized approach to our students’ job searches, and every year, the results exceed our expectations,” Doreen Amorosa, associate dean and managing director of the MBA Career Center, said. “From the expanded and customized approaches to the job search in the MBA Career Center to curricular offerings like our Executive Challenge, our MBA students are prepared to excel in their careers.”
Additionally, the report stated that the average signing bonus of recent McDonough graduates were $28,516, a 13 percent increase from last year. Job offers accepted within three months of graduation also rose from 90 to 92 percent.
The report provide some addition, equally interesting information. For example, the top four industries of choice for Georgetown McDonough MBAs are financial services (33 percent), consulting (28 percent), technology (13 percent), and non-profit/social impact sector (7 percent).
MBA graduates in the consulting industry are the highest earners among recent McDonough alums, pulling in over $124,000 annually, followed closely by those employed in the healthcare industry, which earned nearly $121,000 per year. In all, McDonough MBA grads included in the report earned lucrative positions at well-known companies, like Amazon, Bank of America, Barclays, Citi Group, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, EY, Google, PwC, and Verizon.
As far as internship data goes, 99 percent of first-year students secured an internship, with 85 percent of those paid positions. The average monthly compensation for internships was $6,501. Perhaps most impressive was that 81 percent of these internships were facilitated by the MBA Career Center, which is up 13 percent from 2016.
The Georgetown McDonough MBA Career Center is home to student organizations, Career Days and Treks, and on and off-campus networking events. The center partners with McDonough School of Business alumni to connect the future business leaders of America with today’s movers and shakers.
“We have invested in numerous strategic initiatives in recent years, including customizable search technologies, alumni mentoring tools, and offerings designed to individualize each student’s career outcomes,” Amorosa added in the press release. “Those, combined with our staff of certified career coaches and career curriculum that begins the summer before students arrive on campus, we equip our students with the strategies and experiences to be successful in their search.”
Cambridge Judge Announces New Barclays Partnership Course
Meet the Barclays Scale Up UK Programme.
It’s a 36-week long course by the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge in partnership with British multinational mega-bank Barclays.
The new course plans to help businesses address core growth problems, according to a recent press release. Professors Stelios Kavadias and Hanadi Jabado of the School’s Entrepreneurship Centre will lead the course—and they’ll get help from other industry experts, too. Both instructors carry impressive resumes: Kavadias is the Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies in Innovation & Growth, and Director of the school’s Entrepreneurship Centre. Jabado is Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre.
“Small businesses face many hurdles in successfully scaling up, so Cambridge Judge Business School is offering companies the opportunity to upgrade their managerial skillsets to get access to capital and scale their organization up,” Cambridge Judge Dean Christoph Loch said in the press release. “The new Barclays Scale Up UK Programme will provide a clear framework for addressing these issues, and the business school is delighted to provide its expertise.”
Company founders and senior executive teams at the bank will now have access to essential lessons in tapping into growth that’ll only benefit the business. Barclays clients that still have room to grow can take the course. That means any business, from startups to those making more than £20 million in annual sales. The course will take in no more than 20 leadership teams.
The course is made up of several different major components including marketing, operational excellence, recruitment, and funding. These, among others, are essential to building growth in new businesses.
“From talking to our clients, we recognize there is a knowledge gap when it comes to leadership skills, especially for ambitious businesses growing at speed, and we see this partnership with Cambridge Judge as an opportunity to help bridge this gap for our clients and to further cement our commitment to supporting the eco-system beyond traditional banking,” Richard Heggie, Head of High-Growth and Entrepreneurs at Barclays, said.
