Alumni of McCombs’ Texas MBA Program enjoy the highest salaries in the state compared to alumni of other MBA programs, according to the latest release of the annual Financial Times Full-Time Global MBA rankings.

McCombs tied for 24th among U.S. programs in the ranking, and seventh among American public schools.

The average salary reported by alumni shows McCombs is the leader among Texas schools with a three-years-post-MBA salary of $121,170. Other Texan contenders include Rice ($118,617), Texas A&M ($108,606) and SMU ($101,286).
  
Salary accounts for 20 percent of the total ranking and McCombs has steadily risen in rank on this criterion for the past four years.

Stanford, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania took the top three spots, respectively, in the overall global ranking.

In the specialty rankings, alumni recognized McCombs as no. 2 in the world (behind Brigham Young University) in teaching accounting. McCombs has been in the top-three for accounting in four of the past five years.

McCombs also stands out as a research powerhouse. The school’s faculty research is currently ranked 17th in the world, and with one exception, it has placed in the top-25 for the past 10 years. It also outranks all other Texas programs: Rice (20), Texas A&M (46) and SMU (59). The research rank examines a school’s faculty publications in 45 top business journals and adjusts for faculty size.

McCombs’ doctoral rank, reflecting the number and quality of Ph.D. students the school produces, comes in at 21, tied for a six-year high. Only one other Texas school is ranked for doctoral output: Texas A&M at rank 70.

The 14th edition of the Financial Times survey queried more than 9,000 alumni of the Class of 2008 from around the world on career progress and salary data, which makes up almost 60 percent of the ranking’s weight.

Schools supply data on a variety of demographics and faculty research. International diversity issues, favorable to non-U.S. schools, have challenged domestic programs over the past decade.
  
For a brief summary of the methodology, as well as pros and cons, see our ranking methodology pages, or get complete details at Financial Times.