Foster tops elite schools with 99% job placement, moves to #21 in U.S. News MBA ranking
Foster’s Full-time MBA Program led the top 40 schools with 99.1% job placement in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Business Schools 2020 ranking. Moving up from #22 to #21, Foster continued to deliver outstanding career results for graduates, who reported an average salary and bonus of $147,763, on par with graduates from #6-ranked University of California, Berkeley (Haas). Only 97 of 367 accredited business schools nationwide were included in the U.S. News MBA numerical ranking.
Foster’s Evening MBA Program also rose from #13 to #12 in the nation and both programs continue their rank of #1 in the Northwest. The school’s Executive MBA Program earned the #23 spot in the country. In specialty rankings, the Foster School was recognized among the best in Entrepreneurship (#24).
Competitive earnings
Foster MBA graduates’ average salary and bonus increased from $143,674 last year to $147,763—surpassing higher ranked schools, such as UCLA (Anderson), University of Texas, Austin (McCombs), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), and University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler). The majority of Foster MBA graduates accepted positions in technology, consulting, financial services, and retail. More than two-thirds of graduates with jobs received a signing bonus averaging $38,695.
High ROI, low debt
In addition to high salaries and rewarding careers, Foster MBAs saw strong return on investment with the lowest average debt levels in the top 25. U.S. News business school profiles show that average debt exceeded $100,000 in several MBA programs and averaged more than $86,000 at the top 25 schools that reported debt. In contrast, Foster graduates carried an average debt load of only $28,968 and benefited from some of the most affordable nonresident tuition, generating a salary and bonus to average debt ratio of 5.1, more than double the closest school.
| School | Salary & bonus/ avg. debt ratio | Average salary and bonus | Average debt | Out-of-state tuition & fees | Employed 3 months after graduation |
| University of Washington (Foster) | 5.10 | $147,763 | $28,968 | $50,046 | 99.10% |
| University of Minnesota (Carlson) | 2.26 | $131,677 | $58,165 | $49,944 | 85.20% |
| Indiana University (Kelley) | 2.21 | $125,929 | $57,079 | $49,955 | 95% |
| University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 2.01 | $129,427 | $64,529 | $54,120 | 90% |
| Emory University (Goizueta) | 1.89 | $145,815 | $77,053 | $62,000 | 92.90% |
| Rice University (Jones) | 1.81 | $129,950 | $71,793 | $58,000 | 94.50% |
| Harvard University | 1.76 | $159,314 | $90,298 | $73,440 | 89.30% |
| University of Texas–Austin (McCombs) | 1.69 | $141,771 | $84,043 | $54,394 | 85.90% |
| Stanford University | 1.65 | $162,704 | $98,690 | $70,590 | 88.10% |
| Vanderbilt University (Owen) | 1.60 | $131,381 | $81,916 | $56,150 | 89.90% |
| Yale University | 1.53 | $149,964 | $98,250 | $69,500 | 89.80% |
| University of Virginia (Darden) | 1.51 | $160,711 | $106,489 | $64,782 | 92.30% |
| University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Ross) | 1.49 | $156,163 | $104,679 | $68,646 | 93.50% |
| University of California–Berkeley (Haas) | 1.49 | $147,921 | $99,328 | $61,442 | 93.40% |
| University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) | 1.40 | $139,627 | $99,855 | $61,038 | 92.10% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) | 1.38 | $159,245 | $115,139 | $74,200 | 93.50% |
| Duke University (Fuqua) | 1.34 | $155,129 | $115,590 | $68,200 | 94% |
Source: U.S. News & World Report
An epic climb
Dean Jim Jiambalvo
Since 2000, the Foster School of Business has advanced 94 places across U.S. News, Businessweek and Financial Times rankings, more than all other business schools in the nation. In the 2020 U.S. News rankings, Foster’s peer reputation score increased to 3.7 from 3.3 in 2012, a key indicator of rising brand prestige among business school deans and MBA program directors.
The momentum that Foster has achieved in career development and employer engagement, experiential learning and research led to Dean Jim Jiambalvo’s selection as Dean of the Year by Poets and Quants. Tapped as one of the 10 Business Schools to Watch, the Foster School now has the 7th most productive faculty in the world, the highest job placement rate of top schools in the U.S., a new building on the horizon, and a slate of new offerings, including specialized master’s degrees in business analytics and entrepreneurship, and an online Hybrid MBA program.
As Jiambalvo reflects on the school’s accomplishments during his 12-year tenure as dean, he remarks, “Our continuing improvement is the result of a lot of innovation and hard work by Foster faculty, staff, students, alumni, business leaders, and supporters. We’re passionate about the school’s public mission to make a positive impact on the region’s economy while providing opportunities of a lifetime to the next generation of business leaders.”
Learn more about Foster’s current rankings.
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Foster Enters Top 10 for Total MBA Earnings
