The Last 5 years’ Career Trends of MBA Graduates of Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg & Harvard

• Are you thinking whether an MBA degree is worth having?
• Are you puzzled about which specializations to target in the top US B-schools?
• Do you think about the recent career trends of MBA graduates in these top B-schools?

If your answer is yes, then you have come to the right page!! This article analyses the career trends of MBA graduates from some of the top B-schools in the US, in the last five years. 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

The Graduate School of Business at Stanford University ranks No.1 in the US News Rankings-2021 Best Business Schools (2020). There are various specializations offered at Stanford such as accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, general management, human resources management, technology management, marketing, supply chain management/logistics, etc. 

Ranking by Specialisation: Entrepreneurship and Project Management (2^nd), Marketing (4^th), Business Analytics (6^th) 

Full-time tuition: $73,062 per year

Average base salary: $152,503

Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 67.5%

Salary Statistics According to Function:

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Salary Statistics According to Industry

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Key career trends over the past five years: 

• Highest-paying functional domain: Consulting and Finance at GSB Stanford
• Popular Sectors: 75% hiring in Finance Services, Technology and Consulting sectors (2019)
• A consistent number of 15-16 students started their own companies in the span of five years
• Stanford’s Employment Rate saw a hike of 95 students receiving job offers in a batch size of 423 (2018)
• Ranging from $130,000- $142,000 the Median Base Salary saw a hike of $150,000 in the year 2019, with a consistent Median Signing Bonus of $25,000
• Non-Profit is the lowest median base salary offered 
• Highest median base salary in the past 5 years: $180,000 (Hospitality/Travel Industry, Batch 2019)

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (WHARTON)

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania consistently maintains its position as the no. 1 B-school in the US. The various courses offered at Wharton are: accounting, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics, finance, general management, health care administration, human resources management, insurance, international business, marketing, etc.

Ranking by Specialisation: Finance and Real Estate Management (1^st), Marketing (2^nd) and Accounting (3^rd)

Full-time tuition: $74,500 per year

Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 81%

Additionally, there are 25 research centres on campus and students get the opportunity to get associated with 150 organisations.  

Salary Statistics According to Function:

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Salary Statistics According to Industry:

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Key career trends over the past 5 years: 

• Highest paying functional domain: Consulting and Legal Services are the highest paying and most sought-after choices opted by almost a third of the class in all five years. Industries such as Financial Services and Technology hire significantly more graduate students than other fields
• As a fairly new function, Analytics and Data Science saw a massive hike in the salary- $140,000, crossing Business Development and Operations Management (2019)
• Less than 5% of the class opted to start their own companies
• In the past 5 years, there was a 3.2% increase in graduates accepting jobs in the US accompanied by an equal 3.2% decrease in international job acceptance
• Median Salary: $150,000 with a $130,000-165,000 Yearly Compensation Range (Batch 2019)
• Median signing bonus: $30,000
• There was a significant rise of 11% in the median base salary which is considered one of the highest hikes in the past 5 years 

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (KELLOGG)

The Kellogg School of Management at North-western University ranks 3^rd in the ‘2021 Best Business Schools’- US News Rankings (2020). The popular courses offered at Kellogg are accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, general management, health care administration, not-for-profit management, production/operations management, public administration, public policy, quantitative analysis/statistics and operations research, and technology, etc. 

Ranking by Specialisation: Marketing (1^st), Executive MBA (2^nd) and Management and Part-time MBA (3^rd)

Full-time tuition: $73,404 per year; Part-time tuition: $7,131 per credit; Executive MBA tuition: $106,782 per year

Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 85.60%

Did you know that there are more than 50,000 Kellogg graduates, including Ted Phillips, president and CEO of the Chicago Bears, and Ellen Kullman, chair and CEO of DuPont?

Salary Statistics According to Function:

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Salary Statistics According to Industry:

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Key career trends over the past 5 years: 

• Consulting tops as the highest paying functional domain in the past 5 years even after a 5% decrease in the major industry chosen by graduates report in 2018. Finance and Marketing are the other high paying domains
• Operations & Logistics, Human Resources, and Business Development are the least popular domains at Kellogg
• The percentage of graduates opting for a career in Entrepreneurship remains low
• Healthcare sector saw a fluctuation of 2-3% as the major chosen industry by students
• Technology industry excels in the student desirability rate each year by a range of 2-4%

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

The Business School at Harvard University holds the rank- 6^th in the ‘2021 Best Business Schools’- US News Rankings 2020. The university offers popular programs such as accounting, consulting, e-commerce, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics, finance, general management, human resources management, international business, leadership, manufacturing and technology management, marketing, not-for-profit management, production/operations management, organizational behaviour, etc. 

Ranking by Specialisation: Management (1^st), Non-Profit (2^nd) and Entrepreneurship (5^th)

Full-time tuition: $73,440 per year

Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 77.30%

Salary Statistics According to Function:

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Salary Statistics According to Industry:

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Key career trends over the past 5 years: 

• Finance and Consulting rule as the highest paying domains for HBS graduates
• Highest median base salary– $148,750 in the last 5 years
• The last 5 years’ trend shows that HBS graduates get hired by Consulting or Financial Services more than from other industries 
• Just like other B-schools graduates, having technical skills are increasingly in demand by the Technology industry
• Approximately 30% of all MBA graduates received guaranteed salary component of $132,500 in the Batch 2019

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Some of the honourable mentions with highest paying median salaries for the batch 2019 are:

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Want to know more and how to apply for such programs? Please book a session with our expert!

Author Bio:

Daisan brings on the table, more than 10 years’ experience in the overseas education domain. He has a proven track record of guiding and mentoring students from the beginning of the college application process, to graduation and beyond. He has mentored and guided 800+ students to their dream universities abroad.

Daisen possesses expertise for multiple destinations such as Canada, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc., for different levels of programs (PhD, Master’s, PG Diploma and Bachelor’s).

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