Student performance on the Major Field Achievement Test in Business is an important benchmark for college of business programs. The authors' results indicate that such benchmarking can only be meaningful if certain student characteristics are taken into account. The differences in achievement between cohorts are explored in detail by separating the effect of high-achieving students choosing certain majors (characteristics effect) from the effect of the returns on these characteristics that students realize during their college educational experience (return effect). (Contains 10 tables and 1 figure.)