14 MBA Programs That Lead to Jobs

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Landing that first job is a major concern for MBA students, and some programs are more likely to lead to success than others.

Among the 129 business schools that submitted job placement data to U.S. News in an annual survey, two of them – the University of South Florida and Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina – saw 100 percent of MBA graduates who sought jobs employed three months after completing their degrees in 2015.

Both of these schools, however, were ranked by U.S. News in the bottom one-fourth of the 2017 Best Business Schools rankings.

In comparison, Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School, the highest-ranked school among the 14 MBA programs with the highest employment rates, had a job placement rate of 97.1 percent.

None of the 14 schools with the highest job placement rates ranked above No. 21 in the graduate business school rankings. Overall, top-ranked schools had higher enrollments and, therefore, many more graduates looking for jobs after graduation. For instance, Harvard University, ranked No. 1, had 672 full-time grads seeking employment and a job placement rate of 91.1 percent by three months after graduation.

Of all the schools that submitted these data, Florida International University came out on the bottom of the list with a job placement rate of 27.3 percent – significantly lower than both the overall average of 83.9 percent and the average for the top 14 of 97.1 percent.

Below is a list of the 14 full-time MBA programs where the highest percentages of job-seeking graduates were employed three months after graduating in 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

School (name) (state) | Full-time MBA graduates seeking employment (2015) | Full-time MBA graduates employed 3 months after graduating (2015) | U.S. News rank
Coastal Carolina University (SC) 38 100% RNP*
University of South Florida 24 100% RNP
Rutgers 59 98.3% 53 (tie)
University of Iowa (Tippie) 48 97.9% 45 (tie)
Louisiana State University—Baton Rouge (Ourso) 42 97.6% 62
Temple University (Fox) (PA) 39 97.4% 41 (tie)
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) 103 97.1% 21
Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) 56 96.4% 34
Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) (NY) 55 96.4% 85 (tie)
Baylor University (Hankamer) (TX) 23 95.7% 57 (tie)
Howard University (DC) 23 95.7% 91
Ohio State University (Fisher) 94 95.7% 27 (tie)
University of Florida (Hough) 47 95.7% 37 (tie)
University of Rochester (Simon) (NY) 94 95.7% 39 (tie)