Women, B-School, and Career Gains
Women B-school graduates are making considerable gains in today's economy. Here's what the research shows.
2011 GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey Highlights
- 92% of respondents considered their degree an outstanding to good value.
- The majority of women graduating in 2011 felt their graduate business school had more than adequately prepared them to meet the challenges of the economy and improved their chances of finding a job.
The 2012 GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey Highlights
- Nine in 10 of women graduating in the Class of 2011 rated the value of their business degree as good to outstanding.
- Alumnae of full-time MBA programs also strongly or somewhat agreed that their graduate business degree was essential for their first job after graduation (70%).
- 82% of the women in the Class of 2011 who responded to the survey were employed at the time of graduation.
- Employed women and men in the key 28- to 34-year-old age group—key because they constitute more than half the class of 2011 alumni—reported earning salaries that bore no statistical differences on comparison. Men in this age group who graduated in 2011 earned starting salaries averaging US$87,000; women reported starting salaries averaging US$84,133.
- Women MBA's and management degree-holders in the Class of 2011 reported taking their first jobs after graduation in the following industries and functions, according to the Alumni Perspectives Survey:
Industry of Employment for Women in the Class of 2011
- Products/services, 25%
- Finance/accounting, 18%
- Consulting, 13%
- Nonprofit/government, 12%
- Health care/pharmaceuticals, 11%
- Manufacturing, 9%
- Technology, 6%
- Energy/utilities, 2%
Job Functions for Women in the Class of 2011
- Marketing/sales, 25%
- Finance/accounting, 23%
- Consulting, 13%
- Operations/logistics, 12%
- Human resources, 7%
- General management, 6%
- IT/MIS, 4%
- Other job function, 11%
