EARLY-CAREER ROI AT P&Q RANKED BUSINESS SCHOOLS
This table shows the estimated five-year Return on Investment in both dollars and percent for all 104 business school programs ranked by Poets&Quants in 2025.
ROI ($) is calculated by taking the average first-year salary of 2024 graduates multiplied over five years and subtracting the total cost of the degree over four years. ROI (%) is calculated by subtracting total cost from total salary and dividing by total cost.
ROIs For P&Q Ranked Business Schools |
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2025 Rank |
School |
In-State Total Cost (4-year) |
Total Salary (5-year) |
ROI $ |
ROI % |
| 9 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | $100,254 | $424,726 | $324,472 | 323.6% |
| 11 | University of Michigan (Ross) | $161,750 | $472,090 | $310,340 | 191.9% |
| 31 | Binghamton University | $128,176 | $433,390 | $305,214 | 238.1% |
| 19 | University of Illinois (Gies) | $82,252 | $383,710 | $301,458 | 366.5% |
| 32 | University of Washington (Foster) | $92,524 | $383,440 | $290,916 | 314.4% |
| 4 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | $171,140 | $459,190 | $288,050 | 168.3% |
| 15 | Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) | $126,440 | $401,105 | $274,665 | 217.2% |
| 23 | Indiana University (Kelley) | $125,213 | $394,045 | $268,832 | 214.7% |
| 88 | Florida International University | $54,309 | $314,525 | $260,216 | 479.1% |
| 47 | Brigham Young University (Marriott) | $114,768 | $363,850 | $249,082 | 217.0% |
| 40 | University of Houston (Bauer) | $103,328 | $350,185 | $246,857 | 238.9% |
| 95 | University of Akron | $64,444 | $308,684 | $244,240 | 379.0% |
| 22 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | $131,755 | $369,480 | $237,725 | 180.4% |
| 50 | Texas A&M University (Mays) | $124,112 | $358,200 | $234,088 | 188.6% |
| 33 | University of Georgia (Terry) | $115,448 | $349,525 | $234,077 | 202.8% |
| 41 | University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Isenberg) | $130,203 | $358,265 | $228,062 | 175.2% |
| 44 | Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick | $166,732 | $393,734 | $227,002 | 136.1% |
| 97 | San Jose State University (Lucas) | $139,556 | $364,065 | $224,509 | 160.9% |
| 57 | University of South Carolina (Darla Moore) | $113,941 | $338,125 | $224,184 | 196.8% |
| 36 | Purdue University (Daniels) | $110,432 | $333,815 | $223,383 | 202.3% |
| 20 | William & Mary (Mason) | $181,992 | $404,710 | $222,718 | 122.4% |
| 2 | Cornell University (Dyson SC Johnson) | $259,791 | $481,970 | $222,179 | 85.5% |
| 45 | Miami University (Farmer) | $139,608 | $356,960 | $217,352 | 155.7% |
| 79 | Rutgers Business School – Newark | $157,696 | $372,020 | $214,324 | 135.9% |
| 70 | University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) | $149,904 | $358,500 | $208,596 | 139.2% |
| 23 | University of Minnesota (Carlson) | $149,184 | $353,750 | $204,566 | 137.1% |
| 101 | San Diego State University (Fowler) | $133,756 | $338,150 | $204,394 | 152.8% |
| 52 | University of Delaware (Lerner) | $153,784 | $351,500 | $197,716 | 128.6% |
| 83 | Bowling Green State University (Schmidthorst) | $102,287 | $295,325 | $193,038 | 188.7% |
| 63 | University of Connecticut | $167,240 | $360,175 | $192,935 | 115.4% |
| 53 | The College of New Jersey | $158,559 | $351,225 | $192,666 | 121.5% |
| 75 | Texas State University (McCoy) | $120,344 | $312,275 | $191,931 | 159.5% |
| 94 | University of Kentucky (Gatton) | $143,121 | $334,065 | $190,944 | 133.4% |
| 100 | University of Kansas | $128,557 | $319,055 | $190,498 | 148.2% |
| 98 | Northern Illinois University | $111,208 | $301,245 | $190,037 | 170.9% |
| 71 | University of Missouri-Columbia (Trulaske) | $121,676 | $310,415 | $188,739 | 155.1% |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | $362,050 | $547,395 | $185,345 | 51.2% |
| 89 | Texas Tech University (Rawls) | $128,768 | $313,425 | $184,657 | 143.4% |
| 104 | Kennesaw State University (Coles) | $110,472 | $294,330 | $183,858 | 166.4% |
| 90 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | $118,353 | $301,665 | $183,312 | 154.9% |
| 53 | University of Tennessee (Haslam) | $134,886 | $307,535 | $172,649 | 128.0% |
| 74 | Towson University | $130,920 | $302,500 | $171,580 | 131.1% |
| 87 | University of North Carolina-Wilmington (Cameron) | $100,620 | $270,425 | $169,805 | 168.8% |
| 99 | Iowa State University (Ivy) | $141,928 | $310,695 | $168,767 | 118.9% |
| 4 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | $336,537 | $503,665 | $167,128 | 49.7% |
| 34 | University of Pittsburgh | $172,848 | $335,340 | $162,492 | 94.0% |
| 59 | Hofstra University (Zarb) | $275,910 | $434,135 | $158,225 | 57.3% |
| 79 | Ohio University | $128,816 | $286,032 | $157,216 | 122.0% |
| 103 | University of Texas at Arlington | $167,464 | $322,500 | $155,036 | 92.6% |
| 96 | Oregon State University | $141,696 | $282,675 | $140,979 | 99.5% |
| 58 | University of New Hampshire (Paul) | $165,296 | $302,195 | $136,899 | 82.8% |
| 10 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | $334,388 | $471,000 | $136,612 | 40.9% |
| 42 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | $326,000 | $462,590 | $136,590 | 41.9% |
| 7 | University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | $327,954 | $457,200 | $129,246 | 39.4% |
| 27 | Trinity University (Neidorff) | $283,304 | $406,820 | $123,516 | 43.6% |
| 67 | Michigan State University (Broad) | $219,420 | $342,210 | $122,790 | 56.0% |
| 84 | University of Mary Washington | $131,600 | $253,365 | $121,765 | 92.5% |
| 5 | New York University (Stern) | $379,656 | $495,595 | $115,939 | 30.5% |
| 38 | Elon University (Love) | $242,181 | $354,385 | $112,204 | 46.3% |
| 8 | Emory University (Goizueta) | $326,420 | $438,595 | $112,175 | 34.4% |
| 102 | Adelphi University (Willumstad) | $294,616 | $401,360 | $106,744 | 36.2% |
| 73 | Iona University (LaPenta) | $270,720 | $363,000 | $92,280 | 34.1% |
| 76 | Marian University (Indianapolis) | $227,164 | $309,840 | $82,676 | 36.4% |
| 51 | Bryant University | $287,020 | $365,275 | $78,255 | 27.3% |
| 6 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | $382,092 | $459,260 | $77,168 | 20.2% |
| 18 | Wake Forest University | $365,064 | $441,015 | $75,951 | 20.8% |
| 17 | University of Richmond (Robins) | $318,170 | $392,765 | $74,595 | 23.4% |
| 77 | Seattle University (Albers) | $283,680 | $357,185 | $73,505 | 25.9% |
| 3 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | $380,900 | $450,940 | $70,040 | 18.4% |
| 13 | Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim) | $366,000 | $427,890 | $61,890 | 16.9% |
| 26 | Lehigh University | $338,800 | $395,915 | $57,115 | 16.9% |
| 49 | University of Dayton | $280,340 | $333,445 | $53,105 | 18.9% |
| 12 | Villanova University | $374,147 | $426,970 | $52,823 | 14.1% |
| 92 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally) | $341,164 | $393,665 | $52,501 | 15.4% |
| 61 | Florida Southern College (Barnett) | $243,992 | $295,370 | $51,378 | 21.1% |
| 35 | Tulane University (Freeman) | $333,586 | $384,930 | $51,344 | 15.4% |
| 56 | University of San Diego (Knauss) | $322,532 | $372,760 | $50,228 | 15.6% |
| 65 | Seton Hall University (Stillman) | $299,610 | $349,245 | $49,635 | 16.6% |
| 30 | Southern Methodist University (Cox) | $358,408 | $405,215 | $46,807 | 13.1% |
| 46 | Lipscomb University | $235,246 | $281,365 | $46,119 | 19.6% |
| 48 | Butler University (Lacy) | $276,280 | $321,450 | $45,170 | 16.3% |
| 85 | Sacred Heart University | $269,496 | $313,885 | $44,389 | 16.5% |
| 37 | Fairfield University (Dolan) | $325,696 | $369,610 | $43,914 | 13.5% |
| 29 | Fordham University (Gabelli) | $373,117 | $408,880 | $35,763 | 9.6% |
| 91 | Saint Joseph’s University (Haub) | $288,720 | $314,795 | $26,075 | 9.0% |
| 39 | Syracuse University (Whitman) | $337,275 | $362,625 | $25,350 | 7.5% |
| 78 | Roger Williams University (Gabelli) | $264,156 | $289,180 | $25,024 | 9.5% |
| 64 | St. John’s University (Tobin) | $326,272 | $350,680 | $24,408 | 7.5% |
| 59 | Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) | $313,224 | $336,850 | $23,626 | 7.5% |
| 93 | American University (Kogod) | $318,488 | $341,945 | $23,457 | 7.4% |
| 23 | Bucknell University (Freeman) | $379,589 | $402,325 | $22,736 | 6.0% |
| 62 | University of St. Thomas (Opus) | $291,852 | $313,040 | $21,188 | 7.3% |
| 67 | Saint Louis University (Chaifetz) | $308,440 | $328,290 | $19,850 | 6.4% |
| 67 | Drexel University (LeBow) | $332,832 | $350,502 | $17,670 | 5.3% |
| 28 | Texas Christian University (Neeley) | $354,709 | $371,030 | $16,321 | 4.6% |
| 65 | Duquesne University (Palumbo Donahue) | $299,808 | $312,514 | $12,706 | 4.2% |
| 16 | Boston University (Questrom) | $362,198 | $369,135 | $6,937 | 1.9% |
| 43 | Providence College | $316,320 | $322,780 | $6,460 | 2.0% |
| 21 | University of Miami (Herbert) | $375,568 | $372,420 | -$3,148 | -0.8% |
| 82 | Ithaca College | $287,788 | $284,170 | -$3,618 | -1.3% |
| 81 | University of Denver (Daniels) | $330,536 | $319,303 | -$11,234 | -3.4% |
| 55 | Loyola Marymount University | $357,948 | $343,720 | -$14,228 | -4.0% |
| 86 | University of the Pacific (Eberhardt) | $312,624 | $270,000 | -$42,624 | -13.6% |
| 72 | Hult International Business School | $340,800 | $223,500 | -$117,300 | -34.4% |
