Salaries at Top 20 Business Schools - Class of 2018

Question

Hi Everyone, I am presenting here placement stats of class of 2018 MBA students at top 20 US Bschools and salaries offered to domestic and international students. Salary figures shown here have been taken from latest US News MBA ranking.

NYU Stern reported the highest increase - 7% - in the salaries offered to their graduates. 
 We can also see decent increase in the salaries offered to the graduates of MIT, Yale, Duke, and UNC. 
 There is a large difference in the salaries offered to domestic students of Stanford in comparison with the salaries offered to their international students.

Do you see any other remarkable observations? Let us know by replying to this post.

US News Rank    School    Overall Salary    Increase / (Decrease) from Last Year     Salary to Domestic Applicants      Salary to International Applicants    
  2   Stanford    146K    1%    150K    132K   
  1   Wharton    140K    3%    142K    133K   
  3   Harvard    139K    1%    141K    136K   
  3   MIT Sloan    135K    5%    135K    N/A   
  3   Chicago Booth    132K    2%    134K    127K   
  6   Columbia    131K    2%    131K    130K   
  12   Tuck    130K    2%    132K    126K   
  12   NYU Stern    129K    7%    130K    126K   
  6   Kellogg    128K    0%    132K    120K   
  6   Berkeley Haas    128K    2%    130K    123K   
  10   Duke Fuqua    128K    4%    130K    125K   
  12   UVA Darden    128K    2%    N/A    N/A   
  10   Michigan Ross    127K    2%    128K    123K   
  9   Yale SOM    126K    6%    127K    124K   
  15   Cornell Johnson    126K    0%    129K    120K   
  17   USC Marshall    123K    4%    124K    104K   
  16   UCLA Anderson    122K    2%    124K    118K   
  21   Emory Goizueta    121K    1%    122K    117K   
  17   CMU Tepper    120K    1%    121K    119K   
  19   McCombs    119K    3%    120K    114K   
  19   Kenan-Flagler    117K    5%    117K    115K

US News Rank   School   Salary Figures by Industries  
        Consulting      Consumer Products      Financial Services      Healthcare      Manufacturing      Real Estate      Technology

1   Wharton    143K    117K    146K    131K    134K    128K    132K   
  2   Stanford    146K    133K    167K    129K      118K    136K   
  3   Harvard    145K    119K    152K    135K    133K    124K    130K   
  3   MIT Sloan    143K    121K    134K    133K    135K    183K    134K   
  3   Chicago Booth    140K    116K    133K    128K    118K    106K    128K   
  6   Columbia    143K    115K    135K    125K    98K    123K    122K   
  6   Kellogg    141K    110K    132K    120K    115K    122K    126K   
  6   Berkeley Haas    132K    121K    126K    115K    121K    99K    133K   
  9   Yale SOM    136K    115K    127K    110K    112K    102K    126K   
  10   Duke Fuqua    140K    107K    125K    120K    116K      127K   
  10   Michigan Ross    137K    110K    126K    118K    119K      125K

bb · Answer

Interesting to see that both Anderson and Marshall are that low on the Salary list. LA is not particularly cheap place to live, and neither is California with additional income Tax. Anyone has any ideas?

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

bb  I would imagine its related to industry: both are big on entertainment and entrepreneurship, lesser paying post-MBA jobs. Lower percent of jobs in consulting. Thoughts?

bb · Answer

Very likely. I was somewhat under the impression that Anderson was touting tech has a big recruiting segment but I don’t see those salaries really reflected...?

Posted from my mobile device

NandishSS · Answer

Narenn Good One

Cc bb One request - Can you put the same with top 20 Non-US Business Schools

hhyller · Answer

Interesting...

And for what reason do you think that international applicants have this "negative net" in comparison with the Domestic Applicants?

ENGRTOMBA2018 · Answer

What are some of the biggest differences in the demographics of intnl applicants (not including Intnl students in US either working/-ed or studying/-ied) vs domestic applicants?

1. Type of educational credentials: more often than not, a decently high % of folks from non-US countries tend to be engineering focussed while there is a seeming move to include people with more liberal arts backgrounds. 
2. Relevance of intnl WE: you command a higher salary when you can show a great fit with a certain role. This is much easier if you are a domestic candidate. Better fit usually translates into a better negotiating leverage for you as a candidate.
3. Visa limitations: uncertainty around H1b, usually leads to intnl candidates accepting lower-ish packages in lieu of getting the opportunity to work with top companies (FAANG or MBB etc). 
4. Personal situations: sometimes intnl students dont have leverage wrt locations of choice (due to personal reasons) and hence, negotiated packages are usually lower.
5. This list does not mention whether these salaries are for off-campus or OCR. This is a crucial distinction as companies participating in OCR are usually mandated wrt base salaries by the respective schools while no such considerations exist for off-campus.

Again, this is by no means an exhaustive list but these have been some of the reasons why intnl students command lower salaries.

such8 · Answer

Interesting information.

Just a quick question - Does this vary with your Pre-MBA work experience?

bb · Answer

Well... the average salary after you graduate from an MBA program is determined by taking the salaries of everyone and dividing them by the number of students reporting.

So someone doing consulting will have a higher salary vs someone who will go into non profit.

As to your past experience impacting your future salary, it does but not directly so to speak. Pay at graduation is much more correlated with the industry you are targeting and the position you are hired into. You won’t get paid more in the same job/position just because you have more experience but you can qualify for a better position with one’s experience and skills. You can also potentially get hired sooner or get better company even if the pay is the same.

Your future employer won’t hire just because you went to Tepper/Ross/Etc. They will look at your experience and what they can use you for. If you have good brands on your resume, job search will be easy. If you have some unknown companies, it will be longer and more painful as the spots will first go to others.

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rohansethi94 · Answer

Hey Guys ,

Would anyone be able to give such comparison for other US Schools. I am looking for a comparison between SMU Cox and Katz School of Management. I have an admit from both places and I want to know more about the placement from these colleges in the consulting domain as that is my target industry post MBA and it is my current domain as well. Any help with respect to this would be really appreciated.

Thanks,
Rohan

bb · Answer

Hi. Did they not release their employment reports? That's where schools will publish information like that. You just have to google for it.... or those schools don't release employment reports or is Google down today?

PS. Cox is $102,000 and Katz is $88,000

rohansethi94 · Answer

Hi bb,

I was looking for industry based breakdown which was mentioned in the above post for those schools. I could not find that on google niether is it mentioned on their website. The average one is available ofcourse. Sorry if it wasn’t clear from my above comment.

Thanks,
Rohan

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

Well... it may be a red flag if they are not providing the details but the figures/numbers only include people who have gotten jobs, so if you want to do consulting and you don't get hired, your numbers are not reported, and that's really not helpful or reflective of reality. What I can say is that the salary does not depend on which school you went to. E.g. BCG or McKinsey is not going to pay you less just because you went to Cox vs. HBS but the likelihood of getting a good consulting position increases with the school rank and does getting noticed.

PeeKaBoo11 · Answer

Hi bb,
Great insights on B-Schools in the USA.

Can you also publish such insights for top 10 Canadian B-Schools?

bb · Answer

Good question about Canadian MBA programs. Are there even 10 in Canada?

I looked up Rotman and it says $99,574 for the 2018 Year graduating Class. My understanding is that is Canadian dollars And one converted to the US dollars, it is about $75,000 a year which includes salary and bonus. The base salary without bonus was 92,000 CAD. https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/-/media/ ... t-2019.pdf This is a meaningful difference with the US counterparts. The biggest surprise is how small the bonus is. It’s less than 10%. Most US employers would offer double that for a bonus in % But that could be the reality of Canadian offer structures. It also probably doesn’t take into consideration differences in cost of living, health insurance and other benefits that are often not measured or reported. Posted from my mobile device

classof2021mba · Answer

Seems these numbers could be updated a bit...especially those for Columbia where the median salary is now: $177,970 https://poetsandquants.com/2019/11/14/c ... y=mba-jobs

bb · Answer

Any idea where the numbers came from? I looked at the school report and they said the median salary was $150,000 and median bonus was $30,000. Where did 177,970 come from? https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/recruiter ... _FINAL.pdf Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

I figured it out.... They averaged everything - including the $50k bonus that 15% of graduates received. I am not sure that’s the most accurate way but I guess it works for averages.... However, keep it in mind that these figures include signing bonuses that have to be paid back if Juan quits during the first two years typically and some of the bonuses don’t mature for a number of years. At the same time if one stays, these numbers are accurate as averages.

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

classof2021mba · Answer

From the article, that total reflects median base salaries of $150,000, signing bonuses of $30,000, and other guaranteed compensation of $50,000. The total pay number is adjusted to account for the percentage of students receiving a sign-on bonus and/or other guaranteed compensation. Ie: 150K+20,370 (30K*67.9%)+7600 (50K*15.2%) = $177,970 And fair, even if we don't include the bonuses - the median of 150K is significantly higher than the 131K above

Narenn · Answer

Salary figures mentioned in the table are from US News rankings. Perhaps it's time to post a new edition of this thread, reflecting latest salary figures published by schools. I will get this done by Thursday evening.

Salaries at Top 20 Business Schools - Class of 2018

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US News Rank	School	Overall Salary	Increase / (Decrease) from Last Year	Salary to Domestic Applicants	Salary to International Applicants
2	Stanford	146K	1%	150K	132K
1	Wharton	140K	3%	142K	133K
3	Harvard	139K	1%	141K	136K
3	MIT Sloan	135K	5%	135K	N/A
3	Chicago Booth	132K	2%	134K	127K
6	Columbia	131K	2%	131K	130K
12	Tuck	130K	2%	132K	126K
12	NYU Stern	129K	7%	130K	126K
6	Kellogg	128K	0%	132K	120K
6	Berkeley Haas	128K	2%	130K	123K
10	Duke Fuqua	128K	4%	130K	125K
12	UVA Darden	128K	2%	N/A	N/A
10	Michigan Ross	127K	2%	128K	123K
9	Yale SOM	126K	6%	127K	124K
15	Cornell Johnson	126K	0%	129K	120K
17	USC Marshall	123K	4%	124K	104K
16	UCLA Anderson	122K	2%	124K	118K
21	Emory Goizueta	121K	1%	122K	117K
17	CMU Tepper	120K	1%	121K	119K
19	McCombs	119K	3%	120K	114K
19	Kenan-Flagler	117K	5%	117K	115K

US News Rank	School	Salary Figures by Industries
		Consulting	Consumer Products	Financial Services	Healthcare	Manufacturing	Real Estate	Technology
1	Wharton	143K	117K	146K	131K	134K	128K	132K
2	Stanford	146K	133K	167K	129K		118K	136K
3	Harvard	145K	119K	152K	135K	133K	124K	130K
3	MIT Sloan	143K	121K	134K	133K	135K	183K	134K
3	Chicago Booth	140K	116K	133K	128K	118K	106K	128K
6	Columbia	143K	115K	135K	125K	98K	123K	122K
6	Kellogg	141K	110K	132K	120K	115K	122K	126K
6	Berkeley Haas	132K	121K	126K	115K	121K	99K	133K
9	Yale SOM	136K	115K	127K	110K	112K	102K	126K
10	Duke Fuqua	140K	107K	125K	120K	116K		127K
10	Michigan Ross	137K	110K	126K	118K	119K		125K