What Graduates Say About Their Degrees

Business school graduates stand out in a competitive job market.

Every year, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) conducts global surveys to learn what graduate students thought of their experience. Here is what we learned from 3,000-plus students about to graduate from the class of 2015:

• Business school provides a competitive edge: More than 4 out of 5 (85%) students felt their degree gave them a competitive advantage and prepared them for today’s job market.
• Business school opens the door to career opportunities: 59 percent of job seekers across all program types had received at least one offer of employment at the time of our survey, nearly twice the rate of graduates from the class of 2010 (32%).
• A business school degree boosts salaries: Typical graduates of both MBA and specialized business masters' programs enjoyed significant increases from pre-degree to post-degree salaries:
  • 90 percent for those across all graduate business programs, significantly higher than the 80 percent increase seen by graduating students in 2014 and 73 percent increase seen in 2013.

Internships Lead to Job Offers

Participating in an internship is one of the most successful methods, i.e., yielding the most job offers, for finding postgraduate employment.  Here, in order of success rate, are the top three job search methods used by class of 2015 graduates:

• Career services (50% success rate)
• Internships (48%)
• School job boards (38%)