RESTON, VA--(Marketwire - Jan 12, 2012) - Alumni from graduate management programs report a stellar return on investment (ROI), with a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) finding that graduates recouped one-third of the financial investment in their degree within the first year after graduation, and 100 percent four years out.
The GMAC survey also found that the wage gap between men and women is noticeably smaller among alumni from MBA and other graduate management programs than it is among the general U.S. population. For example, female graduates of full-time MBA programs who responded to the survey received starting salaries equivalent to 85 percent of the earnings their male counterparts drew, on average. By contrast, women earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men when the entire U.S. workforce is taken into account, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Anyone considering a graduate management degree should do a thorough economic analysis, including an evaluation of the potential return on their investment," said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council. "These results demonstrate that a graduate management degree is, in fact, a solid investment in your future, both in good and bad economic times."
Other key global findings from the GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey include:
- 86 percent of class of 2011 graduates were employed after graduation, which is about the same as the class of 2010 (88 percent).
- Three out of four alumni of the class of 2011 with jobs report they could not have obtained that job without their graduate management degree.
The GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey includes responses from 4,135 alumni who graduated from 2000 through 2011, including 963 members of the class of 2011.
The 2012 GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey Report is available at gmac.com/AlumniPerspectivesSurvey. Visit the GMAC News Center (gmac.com/newscenter) to access an interactive tool with data from the survey.
About GMAC and the GMAT exam
The Graduate Management Admission Council (www.gmac.com) is a nonprofit education organization of leading graduate business schools and owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT® exam), used by almost 5,300 graduate business and management programs worldwide. GMAC is based in Reston, Virginia, and has regional offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. The GMAT exam -- the only standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide -- is continuously available at more than 550 test centers in over 110 countries. More information about the GMAT is available at www.mba.com.