The International Student Blog

Record numbers of students are studying at business colleges in the United States and a recent survey recently released by TopMBA.com reveals that Global MBAs are more like Willie Sutton, the infamous 20th century bank robber, than you might think. After all, when Sutton was asked “why do you rob banks?” he had an elegant but obvious answer: “because that’s where the money is.” The very same answer is true for Global MBAs, when asked another important, question “why study business in the US?” While money is perhaps an obvious motivator, the TopMBA.com survey has the numbers to back up its claim. After extensive research which considered the cost-benefit ratio of the programs, living expenses, and even repayment periods, the survey demonstrated that the average salary of a U.S. MBA graduate was over $90,000 USD. By contrast, MBA graduates with degree from Europe had a average the salary of $87,000 USD.

That having been said, the survey results provide compelling results that extend well beyond the realm of direct compensation. Other key reasons why students are studying at US business colleges include location, location, and location. The survey results indicate that a large number of respondents chose the US because they “would like to work there afterward” and “it’s near the country they currently work in.” Likewise, the US offers intangible factors such as language acquisition and cultural exposure and the fact that so many international companies are located in the United States means that US MBAs have the advantage of proximity.

In that sense, the motivations for pursuing an MBA are still echo the general desires for career advancement and the opportunity to learn new skills. As a result, if the survey’s results are any indication of future trends (and there is strong reason to believe exactly that), US business schools will continue to be the institutions of choice for aspiring MBAs for some time to come.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at 3:43 pm and is filed under International Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Written by Jenny Frankel

Jennifer is the Director of Financial Services at Envisage International. Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Florida where she holds a Masters in International Business and a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. She has lived and worked abroad in Chile, Costa Rica and London, and traveled extensively in South America, Europe and Asia.

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