October 6, 2003

Forbes: UConn MBA Offers Grads
Speedy Return On Investment

The School of Business is now ranked among the nation's top 50 for one of the fastest returns on investment from an MBA, according to this week's issue of Forbes magazine.

With more than 1,200 business schools in the nation, UConn is ranked 23rd among all public universities. It is one of only five business schools in New England to be ranked: the others are Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and Yale.

According to Forbes, UConn's MBA graduates nearly triple their salaries, and break even on their investment of tuition, fees, and foregone salary, within three years of graduation. The survey also showed that UConn graduates realized an 84 percent return on their investment. The school with the biggest bang for the buck, Forbes says, is Harvard.

The biennial Forbes survey was designed to determine the return on investment for an MBA by tracking the progress of graduates from the class of 1998 during a five-year period. The survey concluded that business schools paid back quite nicely for the class of 1998, a class that has worked through the economic boom and bust since graduation.

The Forbes rankings come on the heels of Business Week magazine's ranking last fall of UConn's School of Business as among the best in the nation. And recently, The Wall Street Journal elevated UConn to its list of Top Business Schools for 2003. U.S. News & World Report also cites the UConn business school as the number one public business school in New England.

"When some of the most respected business publications in the country recognize the value of a UConn MBA, we know we are on the right path," says Richard Dino, associate dean of the business school.

The breakthrough into the upper echelon of business schools recognizes what has been a dramatic rise in the quality of business education at UConn. The School of Business now occupies one of the most technologically advanced research and learning facilities in the nation. Its brand new, state-of-the-art home, which opened in fall 2001, includes nearly 1,800 network connections in its classrooms, research labs, cafés, and student kiosks.

The school is becoming known for its innovative curriculum, which incorporates opportunities to leverage traditional learning with high-profile corporate partnerships that work to solve real business challenges, explains Dino.

"Although rankings do not drive our educational and research mission," he adds, "they do help us fulfill it by strengthening

the brightest students. Prospective MBA students do consider rankings in their choice of an MBA program, consequently we are delighted to be recognized by Forbes as one of the best business schools in the nation for return on investment."

The School of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting, finance, management, marketing, and operations and information management, in addition to the MBA, the executive MBA, and specialized master's and Ph.D. programs.