10 B-Schools That Lead to Jobs

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.

Business school is a solid investment for many students. They learn marketable skills, expand their professional networks, and get face time with successful executives, all in the name of career advancement.

[READ: Learn how to gauge the return on a master's degree.]

That formula is paying off for the majority of newly minted MBAs. On average, nearly 80 percent of full-time students were employed three months after graduating in 2012, according to data reported by 140 ranked business schools in an annual U.S. News survey.

Those employment rates for full-time MBAs jumped almost 7 percentage points between 2010 and 2012, paralleling a rebound in the larger job market. MBA programs are capitalizing on the recovery by partnering with alumni and building relationships within the local business community, and some b-schools have been more successful than others.

An average of 98 percent of 2012 full-time MBAs secured jobs within 90 days of graduation at the 10 b-schools with the highest job-placement rates. Employment data for graduates of part-time business programs were not included. At four schools--Clarkson University, Oklahoma State University's Spears School of Business, the University at Albany--SUNY, and University of Tulsa's Collins College of Business--100 percent of full-time students landed jobs within that three-month time frame.

Emory University's Goizueta Business School is the highest ranked program (No. 18) on the list of schools that lead to jobs. Unlike in previous years, 6 of the 10 schools on this list fell below the top 50 in the U.S. News Best Business Schools rankings.

[READ: See photos of the top 20 business schools.]

Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs because the program did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

Below are the 10 schools with the highest percentages of full-time 2012 MBA graduates employed three months after graduation:

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find data on employment rates, base salaries, and much more.

U.S. News surveyed 448 schools for our 2012 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The employment and enrollment data above are correct as of March 14, 2013.