Class of 2010 graduates from the best international one-year business schools had a median 5-year gain of $125,500 versus graduates of the best international two-year business schools, who had a median gain of $64,000, and graduates of U.S. two-year schools, who had a median gain of only $42,500.
The advantage of giving up only one year of salary also meant less time paying back the cost of an MBA. It took only 2.4 years for the 2010 MBA class to pay off an international one-year program. Two-year international programs took 3.4 years to pay off; their U.S. counterparts took 4 years to pay off.
Insead earns the No. 1 spot in our ranking of The Best International One-Year Business Schools. Alumni of its class of 2010 realized a 5-year gain of $171,200 and it took the typical graduate 2.4 years to pay back their MBA investment.
In comparison, graduates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the top-ranked U.S. program that led all two-year programs, had a 5-year gain of $89,100 and it took them 4.2 years to pay back the investment. Both schools’ cohorts’ pre-MBA salary was around $85,000. Stanford graduates can’t cry poor though. Five years out they are banking $255,000 in salary, the most of any business school students.