Getting into a top B-school is neither an easy nor an inexpensive feat. And for many prospective MBAs, a high return on investment is a must.

U.S. News recently ranked the top B-schools with the highest ROI. MBA grads from these schools have at least a 210% average return on their investment and many of these grads earn six-figure salaries on average within three months of graduation.

The U.S. News ranking takes into consideration a variety of data points, including a business school’s U.S. News business school rank, average salary, and signing bonus within three months of graduating, average debt, and salary-to-debt ratio.

The Zicklin School of Business at CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College saw the highest return on investment with a salary-to-debt ratio of 7.3-to-1.0. 2022 Zicklin MBA grads had an average starting salary and signing bonus of $129,050 within three months of graduating.

The W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University had the second highest return on investment for MBA grads with a salary-to-debt ratio of 7.2-to-1.0. Carey grads, on average, have a starting salary and signing bonus of $148,110 within three months of graduating.

TOP RANKING DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN HIGHEST ROI

Both Zicklin (which ranks 49th on the U.S. News business school ranking) and Carey School of Business (which ranks 35th) had higher return on investments than highly ranked schools like Harvard University, which had a salary-to-debt ratio of 2.2-to-1 and ranks 5th on the U.S. News business school ranking.

The bottom three schools on the list include the University of Colorado—Denver, Harvard University, and Washington University in St.—all of which had salary-to-debt ratios of 2.2-to-1.0.

Sources: U.S. News, U.S. News

Next Page: What Harvard Business Schools Seeks In Applicants