What MBA Alumni Say

What if you could talk to some recent MBA graduates and alumni and learn what they think about the value of the degree?

You may still be wondering if a graduate business and management degree is a good value to you. You have read articles and looked at some schools, but you would like to have insider knowledge about the value of an MBA degree. What if you could talk to some recent graduates alumni and learn what they think about the value of the degree? Are they satisfied with what they learned and with the jobs they are doing? What would they do differently if they could?

Twice a year the Graduate Management Admission Council® surveys alumni who have been in the post-degree job market for six months to ten years to find out what they think about their graduate business degree and what it is doing for them in their careers.

In general, graduate business alumni report higher salaries than before they earned the degree, high rates of job satisfaction, confidence that they did the right thing by earning a graduate business degree, and satisfaction with the career opportunities that their management skills bring. This article summarizes key findings from the 2009 Alumni Perspectives Survey.

Career Progression, Placement, and Advancement

The majority of alumni felt well prepared for their professional careers as a result of attending their graduate business school, A majority of alumni work in mid-level positions. In addition, about one in two alumni received a promotion with their current employer. Similarly, four out of five alumni were satisfied with their career progression since leaving graduate business school.

For the class of 2009, twenty-five percent of the alumni got their first post-degree job after graduating from business school. Forty percent worked for their post-degree employer during business school, and another 13% had an internship or work project with their post-degree employer. Five percent of the alumni were self-employed when they graduated.

Three out of four alumni indicated their ROI expectations were met or exceed.. Of the alumni from the class of 2009, 66 percent indicated their salary has met or exceeded their expectations.

Most alumni say they could not have gotten their current jobs without the management education training they received as part of their graduate management degree.

The Why, Where, and What of Alumni Jobs

For employed alumni, excelling at communication skills most relevant to their job can help with their career progression. For unemployed alumni, recognizing the communication skills needed for a desired industry or job function can provide a competitive edge in a tough job market.

Alumni say the most important communication skills they use on the job were the following:

• Ability to work with others
• Listening skills
• Ability to influence others
• Communicating with diplomacy and tact

The large majority of alumni work in their countries of citizenship (84%). Fifty-nine percent work for multinational companies, 24% work in national companies, and 17% work in regional or local companies.

The following list shows what percentage of alumni are working in various major industries:

• 19% work in products and services 
•  21% work in finance and accounting 
• 13% work in the consulting industry
• 13% work in the technology industry 
• 11% work in the nonprofit or government industry 
• 10% work in the healthcare or pharmaceuticals industry 
• 9% work in manufacturing 
• 5% work in energy and utilities

Most alumni say they definitely made the right decision about pursuing their graduate business degree (67%). They were less sure about their choice of schools; 53% said they definitely made the right decision about their schools, and 32% said they probably did. Ten percent said they probably or definitely did not make the right decision. (Don't be like them—see Schools and Programs for help in making the best school decisions for you.)

With regard to choosing the right type of program (e.g., full-time, part-time, or executive), the large majority of alumni—70%—say they definitely did. Finding the right degree concentration is another matter; only 49% say they definitely chose the right concentration, and 35% say they probably did. This result suggests that these alumni may not have had a good enough sense of what they wanted to do with their degrees when they chose their concentrations. To ensure that you choose the right degree concentration when the time comes, see Start Smart-Self Assess.

Alumni generally express a high level of satisfaction with the benefits they gained from their graduate management education. Eighty-four percent were satisfied that their education was personally rewarding, 72% say their education was professionally rewarding, and 57% say their education was financially rewarding.

These hindsight observations by alumni can help you make better educational choices in your graduate business program so you will have fewer—or, we hope, no—regrets about what you should have learned when you were in school.

The good news for the alumni is that management learning never stops; with new degree and non-degree programs being offered all the time by business schools and corporations, graduates can gain the knowledge and skills they need to continually stay ahead of the knowledge curve in their jobs and industries.