Yesterday was a big day for the Tepper community! Businessweek’s 2017 MBA rankings came out with good news for us. As the Marketing Officer for the Full-Time program, I actually heard the news a couple of hours before it was released to everyone else so I could help push the news when Dean Dammon made the announcement to the Tepper community. When I saw the news, I was so excited I could hardly keep it to myself. Good thing I only had to wait an hour for the news to be made public because I’m not sure I could have held out any longer.

Let’s be honest. When it comes to deciding on an MBA program, rankings matter. I know I looked at rankings when deciding which schools to apply to. If you took the GMAT 3 times, like I did, to get a score worthy of a top 20 school, you would look at rankings too. I remember when I applied to Tepper, it was ranked #18. After I joined,  Tepper was ranked #15. And today, as I am 2 minis away from graduating, we are ranked #14!

This news comes within 2 weeks of TopMBA’s rankings based on ROI (return on investment) where Tepper ranked #6 globally, #3 in North America, and #1 on the East Coast! All of these rankings make me super excited to be a Tepper student.

While the decision to ultimately attend Tepper was not based on rankings, this upward trend makes the financial and sometimes mental struggle of the MBA program worth it. Getting your MBA is not cheap especially if you get no scholarship money. I had the option of going to what was a Top 50 program at the time, with a full-tuition scholarship or coming to Tepper, a Top 20 program, with no scholarship. It was a struggle because I was debating graduating debt-free or graduating in over $160K of debt (including my undergrad loans). Ultimately, friends and family made me see that the experiences, growth, and network I would gain at Tepper would outweigh the cost of the loans I would take out to pay for this education.

As I continue to recruit for a full-time job and wonder where I will end up post-Tepper, these rankings help me see that not only will I pay off my debt but also my MBA will be worth more after I graduate as Tepper continues to move up the ranks. I couldn’t have asked for a better program to attend; I have learned more about my strengths and how to overcome my weaknesses, I think I am becoming a better leader, I have had opportunities to make real change, and beyond that I have made life-long friends who I’ve shared the good and the bad with. So this news just makes the whole experience even sweeter. I am confident that there are bigger and better things in store for Tepper and I am excited to see how far up Tepper goes!