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Ranking Return On Investment

An MBA is a big investment, and the payback for that investment becomes more important each year. Here's a look at the schools in our 2010 ranking of full-time MBA programs, and a calculation on how long it will take--on average--to recoup that investment. Remember, these numbers will change based on personal circumstance, specifically pre-MBA pay and the post-MBA salary arc of a career.

1. Includes tuition & required fees, living expenses, and median forgone salary for entire program. Where applicable, nonresident tuition figures used. Forgone salary data supplied by schools. If schools did not supply the data, forgone salary was based on Bloomberg Businessweek survey of recent MBA graduates and may not be representative of entire class. Individual costs may vary widely depending on financial aid, actual pre-MBA salary, and other factors.

2. Calculated by dividing total B-school costs by post-mba pay increase. Does not take into account annual salary increases, bonuses, or stock-based compensation.

Note: HEC Montreal, Cambridge (Judge), Boston College (Carroll), and Rutgers are not included in the table due to insufficient data.