The Return of Investment on Your Education

As we have often said at Transcend Admissions Consultants, education is an investment in your future, and can lead to amazing personal and professional growth opportunities. But with the sometimes staggering cost of tuition for undergraduate and graduate programs, how can you determine whether the Return of Investment (ROI) on your education will be worth it?   

Recent studies have shed some light on this issue and released statistics on potential earnings for those with various levels of education. A recent report by the Pew Research Center tells us that college graduates will earn about $650,000 more than high school graduates over a 40-year career; and that workers with Master’s degrees will earn about $1.6 million over their work life compared to $1.4 million for those with a Bachelor’s degree only.  This study goes on to show that workers with Master’s or Doctoral degrees can expect mean earnings of $100,000 – $120,000 by the time they reach 45 years of age, compared to $40,000 for those with only a high school education.     

The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has also visited this issue in 2011, and enthusiastically concludes that higher education is a sound investment that will net graduates 84% more earnings over a lifetime than those without higher education. This report states that the most popular course of study is business, accounting for 25% of all students, and that median earnings of those with graduate degrees in business are $80,000. People holding graduate degrees in engineering fields command the highest median annual income, at $99,000.   

In the end, pursing higher education is a very personal decision and many factors must be taken into consideration. But while tuition can be very expensive ($100,000+ for top MBA programs), these studies seem to indicate that investing in education at all levels will lead to a solid ROI over the course of a career.    

MBA Hiring has Diversified in Recent Years

The economic crisis hit MBA recruitment particularly hard as major players Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns collapsed, financial giants Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Bank of America slashed hiring, and big employers of MBA grads like Johnson & Johnson and Kraft cut back as well. 

However, despite all of the doom and gloom MBA placement statistics have remained relatively strong, largely because firms that had not traditionally recruited on MBA campuses like Apple, Inc., Amazon.com and IBM sensed the opportunity and starting hire more MBA graduates.  This has resulted in a more diversified job market, where mid-sized companies, government institutions and educational groups can pluck prized MBA talent.

In the meantime, hiring by major financial firms has been surprisingly stable - but there has been a shift in hiring across various departments and geographic regions.  There has also been increased MBA hiring by hedge funds, boutique and mid-sized financial services firms.           

Transcend Admissions Consultants 2010 Results

* 96% client interview success rate
* 91% client admission success rate

Many thanks to our clients for their trust and support this application season!

	MBA Programs	Status
Ms. L.	IESE Business School	Accepted
	NYU (Stern) Business School	Waitlisted
	London Business School (LBS)	Waitlisted
	INSEAD	Pending  Accepted!
Ms. R.	Rochester (Simon) School of Business	Accepted	Scholarship
Mr. K.	Georgetown (McDonough) School of Business	Accepted
	Duke (Fuqua) School of Business	Waitlisted
	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Waitlisted
Mr. S.	Washington University (Olin) Business School	Accepted
	UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Business School	Accepted	scholarship
	Georgetown (McDonough) School of Business	Accepted
	University of Illinois College of Business	Accepted
Ms. C.	Rochester (Simon) School of Business	Accepted
	Michigan Ross School of Business	Accepted
	Purdue (Krannert) School of Management	Accepted
Mr. A.	Arizona State (Carey) School of Business	Accepted	scholarship
	Ohio State (Fisher) College of Business	Accepted
	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) School of Business	Waitlisted
	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Waitlisted
	Washington (Foster) School of Business	Waitlisted
	Washington University (Olin) Business School	Waitlisted
Ms. P.	Michigan (Ross) School of Business	Accepted
Mr. L.	Boston University School of Management	Accepted
	Michigan Ross School of Business	Accepted
Mr. L.	Thunderbird School of Global Management	Accepted
	Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead) School of Management	Accepted
	University of Pittsburgh (Katz) School of Business	Waitlisted
Mr. S.	Penn State University (Smeal) College of Business	Accepted	Full scholarship
	GISMA Business School	Accepted	Full scholarship
	Notre Dame (Mendoza) College of Business	Waitlisted
Ms. E.	University of Toronto (Rotman) School of Management	Accepted
	UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Business School	Accepted
	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Waitlisted
Ms. S.	Boston University School of Management	Accepted
	Rochester (Simon) School of Business (MSF)	Accepted
	Washington (Foster) School of Business	Waitlisted
	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Waitlisted
Mr. S.	Hult International Business School	Accepted
	Hong Kong University Faculty of Business and Economics	Waitlisted
Mr. C.	University of Illinois College of Business	Accepted	scholarship
	University of Maryland (Smith) School of Business	Waitlisted
Mr. C.	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Accepted	scholarship
	Hong Kong University Faculty of Business and Economics	Accepted
	Northwestern (Kellogg) Graduate School of Management	Waitlisted
Mr. J.	University of Illinois - Chicago Graduate School of Business	Accepted
Ms. T.	Washington University (Olin) Business School	Accepted	scholarship
	Indiana University (Kelley) School of Business	Accepted	scholarship
	USC (Marshall) School of Business	Waitlisted
Mr. D.	Georgetown (McDonough) School of Business	Accepted
Ms. I.	UC San Diego (Rady) School of Management	Accepted
	UC Irvine (Merage) School of Business	Accepted
	UC Davis Graduate School of Management	Accepted
	Master of Science Programs	Status
Mr. J.	Harvard Graduate School of Design (MUP)	Accepted
	Michigan (Taubman) College (MUP)	Accepted
	Duke (Nicholas) School of the Environment (MEM)	Accepted
	Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (MSCP)	Accepted
	Cornell Department of City and Regional Planning (MRP)	Accepted
	UPenn School of Design (MCP)	Accepted
Ms. A	ESCP Europe Master in Management (MSc)	Accepted
Mr. A.	Boston College (Carroll) School of Management (MSA)	Accepted
	University of Pittsburgh (Katz) Graduate School of Business (MSA)	Accepted	scholarship
Mr. M.	University of Illinois College of Business (MSF)	Accepted
	Rochester (Simon) School of Business (MSF)	Waitlisted
Ms. C.	University of Illinois College of Business (MS in Technology Management)	Accepted
Ms. S.	Northwestern University (Medill) (IMC)	Accepted
	Texas A&M (Mays) Business School (MS in Marketing)	Waitlisted
Mr. K.	Tulane University (Freeman) School of Business (MSF)	Accepted
	George Washington University School of Business (MSF)	Accepted
	Illinois Institute of Technology (Stuart) School of Business (MSF)	Accepted
	Rochester (Simon) School of Business (MSF)	Waitlisted
	Purdue (Krannert) School of Business (MSF)	Waitlisted
	Law Programs	Status
Mr. R.	American University (Washington) College of Law (LLM)	Accepted
	University of Maryland School of Law (LLM)	Accepted
	Tulane University Law School (LLM)	Accepted
	Cardozo School of Law (LLM)	Accepted