RETURN on investment is a vital consideration for MBA candidates picking a programme, particularly given cost of courses. Students do not want to spend upwards of $100,000 on an MBA, only to find that their paypacket barely increases at the other end of it. An MBA at the best schools can have a multiplier effect on graduates’ salaries. To rank business schools’ ability to boost a student’s income, The Economist takes into consideration two data points: the overall average salary, excluding bonuses, that MBA graduates receive when they re-enter the workforce (which makes up the majority of the weighting) and the percentage increase in post-MBA salary compared with candidates’ pre-MBA income (see methodology).

In our ranking, HEC Paris came top of the pile for boosting graduates’ earnings. Post-MBA salaries were 153% higher than on entering the programme, the second-highest of all schools surveyed. And at $121,080, the average post-MBA salary was also in the top 10. But one school, placed second overall for its improvement in salary, stands out: Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business. Students there earn a smidgen over $100,000 when they enter the workforce after graduation—a pretty standard amount. But because of the demographic from which the school takes its MBA candidates, that is 238% increase on pre-MBA income.

Stalwarts in such rankings, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT, stand firm in the top 15. North America dominates the listings for supercharging salaries: 11 of the top 15 schools outlined below are in the United States. Three (HEC Paris, IESE and IMD) are in Europe, while one school from Asia-Pacific—Macquarie in Australia—rounds out the listings. American exceptionalism still counts for something.