Three Straight Years: MSBA Ranked in Top 10 Globally for Value for the Money

By Steven Wilson, Content Editor/Writer

Quacquarelli Symonds, which specializes in the analysis of higher education institutions worldwide, has ranked the UC Davis M.S. in Business Analytics (MSBA) program among the best in the world.

QS ranked the UC Davis MSBA program No. 7 worldwide for “Value for the Money”—the third consecutive year the program has placed in the top 10 globally for return on investment.

QS ranked 120 masters of business analytics programs across 23 countries. Overall, the MSBA program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management ranked 35th in the world and 17th in the United States.

Value for the Money

In QS’s “Value for the Money” category, the ranking calculation includes tuition and cost of living, the average pre-program salary of students, percentage of graduates accepting employment within six months, post-program salary and the time it takes to pay back the cost.

The UC Davis MSBA tallied 96.9 out of 100 points in the “Value for the Money” category, among the top 5.8% globally. Other programs averaged 32.5 points less.

Key results for the UC Davis MSBA in the “Value for the Money” ranking:

• Estimated 10-year ROI level of $879,804—among the highest-ranked by QS.
• Estimated payback period of 18 months, about one-third of the 42 month average for other programs.

“We have been very fortunate to have an exceptionally committed network of industry partners and alumni to help us navigate the challenges of placement during the pandemic,” said UC Davis MSBA Executive Director Amy Russell.

“Many of them wrapped around the class to help them understand how hiring worked at their firms, and navigate the process.”

The QS ranking reflects the UC Davis MSBA program’s proven track record of successful career placement, Russell said. The program’s first three cohorts had placement rates of at least 97%, with an average U.S. salary around $100,000. The class of 2021 has not yet closed on their reporting window, but is trending with pre-pandemic rates and salaries.

Graduates of the 10-month, San Francisco-based UC Davis MSBA program continue to be in high demand. Many recent alumni have secured careers at Amazon, Facebook, BlackRock, American Eagle Outfitters, Zs Associates, unicorn startup Reef, and many other top corporations and startups.

“Instead of venturing into data science or computer science, I picked this program because of the overlap between business and data science.”
—Teddy Wang MSBA 20, data scientist, Amazon

The UC Davis MSBA Edge

Russell said the UC Davis MSBA community at the San Francisco campus—and beyond—is “known for supporting each other, and many alumni are invested in helping future MSBA students.”

"Combined with our distinctive, year-long practicum consulting project that gives students hands-on experience collaborating on solutions for top companies; these factors give our graduates a clear advantage in their career search,” Russell said

Students also have the opportunity to team up to enter national competitions, including the Adobe Analytics, and Humana Mays Challenges. The UC Davis Graduate School of Management also hosted a national hackathon last year, with Google Cloud as a sponsor. Students can also earn Amazon Web Services Cloud Practitioner, Google Cloud and Tableau certifications, and benefit from personal staff support.

Learn More

QS 2002 Business Masters Rankings methodology
QS M.S. in Business Analytics Overall Rankings
QS School Profile - UC Davis