How did you report your salary

Honestly, I wouldn't worry AT ALL about this for several reasons.

1. However much you make is however much you make. Unless you're also receiving stocks, options, or other assets for your employment, your salary is pretty much all you can put down. This is something that's factual and there's no reason to worry about it.

2. If you're thinking about "fluffing" your salary (which I know you're not going to), know that the background check will sniff that out instantly. Once a discrepancy is found, you have to explain and explain and explain. Why put yourself through that?

3. Different regions simply have different salaries. A person in NY working in IB is probably going to make somewhat higher of a salary than a person working in the same industry but in Akron, Ohio (not knocking on Ohio or anything, just typing things out as I go). There are differences that will occur due to living standards and etc.

4. Be proud of what you make. Feel fortunate that you actually have the ability to pursue this. Biogen-Idec (a huge pharma) is shutting its R&D facility down in San Diego and laying off 400 people. At least you have a job and have a paycheck.

All in all, I won't worry about it because there's simply not much you can do about it. Just apply and hope for the best!!

if you're a GS analyst earning $30k, yes that might be odd. If you're at a non-profit, are a civil servant, or working at a startup, $30k would not be strange at all. It depends entirely on your profession. I wouldn't worry about it unless you're in some freak situation like my first hypothetical - and even then, there is nothing you can do about it.

I wouldn't stress this out much either. It's just a # for their stats, but if your' CEO/FOUNDER/CFO, etc and making only $20k... it might be a red flag that you're fluffing something in your apps.

Thank you guys for answering this, I really don't understand why B-schools ask such question then they must be into something. As one person said if you are a GS analyst, then it might be odd for only making $30k. But would adcom think why you can't find a job like GS that makes a higher pay, then you must not be competitive because of your inability to find a good job that B-school expected.

Surprisingly, most of the classmates that you'll meet in school are not going to come from GS, BoA, or MBB consulting. What you hear though is that a lot of these people APPLY to get in. But in order to diversify the class, AdComs can only take so many people from banking and consulting in. So no, AdComs will definitely not penalize you because you didn't land a gig at goldman. Just be honest with what your job is, what you make, and you'll be fine. (I do agree that some questions asked are just a tad weird, but all is asked for statistical purposes. Most, if not all, b-schools ask for parents' information...really? Unless it's Bill Gates [or someone famous], why does it matter? --> rhetorical question)

One additional thought on this... a common measure in b-school rankings is how much your salary increased post-MBA vs pre-MBA. From that perspective, it would be advantageous for a b-school to admit people with lower salaries.

As stated though, I don't think this is worth stressing about, and you can't do anything about it anyway. If you lie about it, you'll likely pay for it later.