According to MBAOnline, more students are seeking MBAs currently than any other field, with 300,000 new enrollees every year. Roughly 156,250 new MBAs are awarded annually, three times as many compared to undergraduate engineering degrees. Business Administration is the most popular graduate program for both women and men, at 11.4% and 22.3% respectively, with the average two-year program costing $82,147. Add books, housing, etc. to that number, and students are looking at shelling out $120,000.

One might wonder what the point of getting an MBA might be, after the chart shows that on average, those with an MBA only make $100K more than those with a bachelor’s degree over the course of their entire careers. Also, 1 in 5 graduates eventually default on their loans – paying an average of $1,300 per month over the course of ten years.

Interestingly, the study shows that a high school basketball player has a better chance at being drafted in the NBA than an MBA graduate has at becoming a top executive – 64% of CEOs of the top 100 Fortune 500 companies don’t have an MBA. The only U.S. president to ever achieve an MBA was George W. Bush, and successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet and Richard Branson don’t have the degrees.

The infographic goes on to point out the comparative costs in getting an MBA vs. starting a new business – on average, developing an iPhone app costs around $5K – which is roughly 5% of what an MBA from Harvard would cost a person. It’s not clear if social media game company OMGPOP founder Charles Froman has an MBA – he recently sold his “Draw Something” game to Zynga for reportedly $200 million, after having about $1700 in his checking account the week before.

Created by: MBAOnline.com