Tuition Cost vs. Starting Salary: Atlanta
One of the most important things a prospective MBA can look for when choosing a business school is the program’s return on investment. Return on investment, or ROI, is the most common profitability ratio, and an easy way to determine if an MBA is “worth” your time and money.
According to a recent review of 129 schools from U.S. News & World Report, graduates from a third of the institutions earned an average starting salary and bonus of more than $100,000, with the overall average for all schools coming in at $91,940. MBA Class of 2015 graduates typically left school with just over $50,054 in debt, according to the same data.
Most business schools publish employment records with average salaries for different industries, so prospective MBA students can use these numbers to project future salaries. Lucky for you, we’ve compiled these figures some of the Atlanta metro‘s premiere business schools.
The Atlanta MBA Return on Investment
Clark Atlanta University School of Business
A full-time MBA at the Clark Atlanta School of Business requires 60 credit hours of study, which totals up to $53,220 in tuition. Other costs also apply, including $1,008 in annual fees as well as books and supplies. To save some money for sibling students, Clark offers a Sibling Discount to a biological or legally adopted sibling currently enrolled at Clark Atlanta University. Siblings will receive a 33.3 percent discount after submitting a copy of both birth certificates, parent’s federal tax return and a simple application.
According to employment statistics provided by the school, MBA graduates earn an average base salary of $79,000 with a signing bonus of $12,250. Most graduates took marketing/sales jobs (59.7 percent), with finance/accounting (29.7 percent), human resources (7.4 percent), and operations (7.4 percent) following behind. In order to help place MBAs, the Atlanta University Center Consortium Career Planning and Placement Service (AUCC CPPS) offers students career planning and placement resources, plans on-campus recruiting events and hosts a database of contact information for over 1400 corporate, government and educational partners. They also host several on-campus recruiting sessions and career fairs.
Eugene W. Stetson School of Business & Economics – Mercer University
Full-time MBAs at Mercer’s Eugene W. Stetson School of Business & Economics pay $818 per credit hour, with total tuition for the program coming to $29,448 with some additional minimal costs, such as a technology fee. Students can visit the university’s Office of Student Financial Planning to receive updated financial assistance information, including information on federal student loan programs.
According to U.S. News, Mercer MBAs earn an average base salary of $57,500, with 23.8 percent of full-time graduates employed at the time of graduation. Mercer students can visit the Office of Career Management Services on the Macon or Atlanta Campus to receive specialized career guidance, job search, internship search, résumé and cover letter assistance, developing personal brand information, interviewing information, and salary negotiating.
Goizueta Business School – Emory University
Students enrolled in Emory University’s Goizueta Business School two-year, full-time MBA program pay a base tuition of $59,000 per year, while those enrolled in the one-year program pay about $89,500. These cost account for tuition only, so students must consider additional expenses for textbooks and other fees. To offset some of these costs, financial assistance is available in the form of Federal Stafford Loans, graduate plus loans, private loans, international student loans, research and assistantships, merit-based scholarships, fellowships from the Goizueta Business Fund for Excellence and fellowships at various constituent centers.
According to Goizueta’s most recent MBA employment report, the school’s alumni are among the top for post-graduate employment nationwide, with nearly 95 percent of students receiving job offers within three months after graduating and an average full-time base salary of $113,295. Goizueta Business School’s Career Management Center (CMC) offers assistance to full-time MBAs in their job search. Students can receive professional development and interview training within both core and elective courses, preparing students for both the internship and job search processes. Most Emory MBAs were offered post-graduate employment following an internship (56 percent), with another 19 percent getting job offers thanks to School Scheduled Interviews.
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Scheller College of Business – Georgia Institute of Technology
Tuition costs for Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business full-time MBA students are about $29,232 a year for Georgia residents or $40,180 a year for out-of-state residents, as well as $2,010 in mandatory fees. Financial assistance is available in the form of federal loans, graduate assistantships, and a limited number of fellowships.
According to the school’s MBA Compensation Overview, 95 percent of Scheller MBAs are employed within three months of graduation. These students are paid an average starting salary of $108,088. Meanwhile, 90 percent of graduates earn a signing bonus, which average to the amount of $15,830. Scheller MBA students are guided along the path to employment at the Jones MBA Career Center, where they learn about opportunities for internships and employment through one-on-one advisement, an eight-week career development workshop, self-assessment tools, interview preparation, and a series of conferences and career fairs
Terry College of Business – University of Georgia
Terrt’s in-state students pay about $15,670 in annual tuition, including student fees, for the Terry College of Business‘ full-time MBA. Non-residents pay $34,378 per year, including student fees. The school also awards approximately one-third of its students with graduate assistantships to help make the program even more affordable. Some students may have their tuition drastically reduced per semester, get 40 percent of their student health insurance premiums paid by UGS, and receive a monthly stipend for working 13 hours per week in the Terry College of Business. Additional scholarships are also available, such as the Terry MBA Leadership Scholarship. Given out during the spring semester, the scholarship awards between $1,000 to $2,000 to a student who has shown promising leadership skills.
According to the school’s MBA Employment Statistics, 90 percent of University of Georgia full-time MBA students receive a job offer within three months of graduating with an averaging starting salary near $90,250. Terry helps its students gain employment at the MBA Career Management Center (CMC), which helps students and graduates connect with networking events, information sessions, interviews, and much more.
How Wharton Prepares MBA Graduates For The Workforce
Going back to business school to pursue an MBA is an important step to getting that high-paying dream job. However, the path to graduation and employment can be a little overwhelming for some. In order help students out and ultimately increase their likelihood of being hired post-grad, schools prepare their students for various careers and industries through internship programs, career services and counseling, hands-on projects and sprawling alumni networks.
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MBA Hiring Projections: It’s Time To Go To Business School
If you’re growing weary of all the MBA data forms and essays and interviews and anxiety—keep your eyes on the prize! That light at the end of the tunnel? Well, recent hiring projections from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) suggests it just keeps getting brighter.
Each November, GMAC conducts a short year-end poll of employers, asking them to reflect on what business school graduate hiring actually looked like that year and what they anticipate hiring to look like in the year ahead. GMAC’s most recent Year-End Poll of Employers Report, released yesterday, paints a promising picture of hiring trends for upcoming crops of graduating MBAs.
“We continue to see optimism—companies are still optimistic about the future, and they are expressing that in their desire to hire business school graduates,” says GMAC Director of Research Gregg Schoenfeld, one of the report’s author. “The overall message here is that it is a good time to go to business school and, from prospective candidates’ perspectives, it’s a good time to move forward on that goal to apply.”
Indeed, nearly eight out of every 10 employers (79 percent) say they expect to hire MBA graduates in 2017. That’s up from the 68 percent who hired MBAs in 2016. Of those planning to hire MBAs in 2017, almost as many (78 percent) say they plan to hire as many or more MBAs as they did the year before.
Not only do more employers expect to welcome MBAs into their ranks—the majority plan to pay them more as well. More than half—58 percent—said they expect to increase starting salaries for MBAs in 2017 at or above the rate of inflation. Another 40 percent report that they will maintain 2016 salary levels.
Explaining this bullishness, in part, is employers’ confidence in the value MBA graduates bring. In the most recent poll, 96 percent of responding recruiters said that hiring recent business school graduates creates value for their companies. And 71 percent cite bringing on MBAs and non-MBA business master’s graduates as a priority in their hiring plans.
GMAC’s 2016 Year-End Employer Poll surveyed 167 recruiters representing 140 companies in the United States and 26 other countries around the globe. Among the respondents were 36 companies in the Fortune 500, including 21 Fortune 100 firms. The majority of respondents—71 percent—were U.S. companies, which is typical for this survey, according to GMAC’s Schoenfeld.
The good news extends beyond MBAs—in fact, more employers plan to hire new employees in each candidate type they were asked about than they did in 2016. This includes candidates with master’s in accounting and management, as well as other business master’s, non-business master’s, bachelor’s and experienced business hires. Roughly a third (31 percent) expect to hire candidates with master’s degrees in management (31 percent) and accounting (29 percent).
Source: GMAC 2016 Year-End Employer Poll Report
MBAs and Google: How to Get an Inside Track
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But what about all the time, effort and business-savvy that goes into a company like Google? Plenty of that comes from new MBAs hired by Google each year. Continue reading…
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