MBA Starting Salary

[Spanky]

This year's typical M.B.A. grad expected a base salary of $98,670 and received $95,781 for full-time positions. Signing bonuses weren't too far off, either. The average expecation was $18,214; the average bonus received was $17,511.

http://biz.yahoo.com/special/school06_article5.html

Is it for real? I know many people with MBA from well-known schools and more than 10+ years of experience are making that kind of salary. It's amasing that companies are offering similar amount to new graduates.

 

[Lagniappe]

Oh it is definitely for real. For top 10 schools, candidates expect at least this salary, and most of them have multiple job offers. The higher paying jobs tend to be concentrated in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, which are higher cost and skew the numbers more than a little bit. I was just interviewing at HBS and Stanford, and couldn't even get the stronger candidates to talk to my firm - they're looking for the big paycheck. Can't really blame them fro an ER perspective, they are maximizing income while they can. The consulting firms and I-banks had salary increases over the last year - big increases in demand for services (see all the articles about the number of deals and the kind of bonuses to be paid on Wall Street this year), but the talent pool stays about the same size.

 

[saluki9]

Yeah, that is for real. My sister graduated from a top 2 program about 4 years ago with literally ZERO real business experience before starting her program.

She got a couple big offers when she graduated and the one she took paid her a $25K signing bonus, $110K starting salary with cash bonus and stock options (large bank) plus this was in a lower cost city on the east coast.

I have another relative that graduated from the same program and earned several times that amount by returning to his job in investment banking at the same firm he had worked at before.

 

[brewer12345]

Heh, yeah, but tell them about the hours they usually work for these big comp packages...

 

[Spanky]

What I am hearing is that only top graduates from top business schools receive that kind of offers.

 

[brewer12345]

What I am hearing is that only top graduates from top business schools receive that kind of offers.

More accurate is probably the vast majority of grads from the top 10 programs.

 

[Spanky]

More accurate is probably the vast majority of grads from the top 10 programs.

Thanks. This sounds similar to law schools.

 

[laurence]

What's the average age of these graduates? They all walk away with 50-100k in student loans, and are probably in their late 20's and early 30's. I anticipate being close to those numbers next year (sans signing bonus) and I'll be 32.

 

[brewer12345]

What's the average age of these graduates?  They all walk away with 50-100k in student loans, and are probably in their late 20's and early 30's.  I anticipate being close to those numbers next year (sans signing bonus) and I'll be 32. 

That's probably about right. But be aware that the average full time MBA student I saw was soemone who had very little actual business experience. That's why they were willing to kill a couple of years and $100k going to school.

Now most of my fellow part time students were very sharp and much more experienced. They ran rings around the average full timer without trying.

 

[laurence]

Yeah, I guess all I was saying is considering the cost and sacrifice, the salary makes sense. I don't begrudge a Doctor his/her 200k a year! But your point is well taken, a lot of people see the average salary of people who obtain certain technical certifications that are popular in my circles, then wonder why they don't get a big raise once they get it. What those numbers don't tell you is the people went into the test with most of that salary, and it was their experience in the real world that got them most of it. Now Doctors have the opposite, Degree = $$$, very direct correlation. Would you say an MBA is somewhere in between? Do companies differ between top ten graduate and top ten graduate + experience?

 

[brewer12345]

For a full time MBA, it is very much like the Doctor thing. You come out with a newly minted degree and you are homogenized product (more or less). Instant increase, assuming you were earning a lot less before.

For a full-timer, it really depends. Some are there to get the letters after their name because they can't advance any more without it. Some are there because they can't afford to go without wages and pony up at a full time program. Some are there because they are getting good experience and want to speed up the pace with what they learn at school.

The forst usually get a modest bump. The secomd group usually ends up with a big bump. The third group probably varies widely.

I was an example of the third group. I didn't really get a raise right away, but once I earned my CFA charter post degree, I jumped ship for a huge raise.

 

[laurence]

I start my M.S. in CIS in three weeks, but I won't have it completed when I go for (and hopefully get) the management position next year. So on paper, it will look like a very small bump when I complete, most likely, but I know the fact I will be enrolled will be a factor in the hiring decision.

 

[saluki9]

What's the average age of these graduates? They all walk away with 50-100k in student loans, and are probably in their late 20's and early 30's. I anticipate being close to those numbers next year (sans signing bonus) and I'll be 32.

That's why what Brewer said is so true. It's not that much considering what you are giving up to get your full time MBA. I seriously thought about it, but I was already making what these people were getting so there was little incentive for me to jump ship and go to school.

Now, for somebody who doesn't already have a decent job, or wants to change careers entirely an MBA program can be a good way to do that,.

That being said, if you really want to work for Goldman Sachs or in I Banking for Merrill and the like there really isn't another way into that field other than a top 10 program.

 

[Matuski]

What's the average age of these graduates?  They all walk away with 50-100k in student loans, and are probably in their late 20's and early 30's.  I anticipate being close to those numbers next year (sans signing bonus) and I'll be 32. 

My best friend and I are both 30 - he went to law school and then again for a second masters degree, I entered my career at 25.

He is now 3 years in making $5k/yr more than what I make now, only he has 6 figures of loan debt.

Future earnings may be another story (I would expect him to be making more than me in 10 years).

 

[Nords]

I start my M.S. in CIS in three weeks, but I won't have it completed when I go for (and hopefully get) the management position next year. So on paper, it will look like a very small bump when I complete, most likely, but I know the fact I will be enrolled will be a factor in the hiring decision.

You would hope that with your hands-on experience that you'd validate a large chunk of the curriculum.

Or do they still expect you to program assembly language?

 

[cube_rat]

As an IT person making a pretty good salary, working for mega corp, I can tell you that a master's degrees are a dime a dozen. Virtually every person I work with or for have graduate degrees or Phd's. Maybe it's a bay area thing.

I looked at UC Berkeley and Stanford graduate schools last year and weighed the cost against my age and experience level. Net/net would mean not much in a salary boost and the acquistion of fat student loan even after company reimbursement. This is not what I want to insert into my ER plan. However, if you're starting out in your 20's or 30's, then by all means go for it as you still have time to recoup tuition costs and save for ER.

Stanford, BTW runs about 70K when I last looked and UC Berkeley around 50-55K

 

[laurence]

You would hope that with your hands-on experience that you'd validate a large chunk of the curriculum.

Or do they still expect you to program assembly language?

My first class is information structures, but at least it will be Java based.

As an IT person making a pretty good salary, working for mega corp, I can tell you that a master's degrees are a dime a dozen. Virtually every person I work with or for have graduate degrees or Phd's. Maybe it's a bay area thing.

I looked at UC Berkeley and Stanford graduate schools last year and weighed the cost against my age and experience level. Net/net would mean not much in a salary boost and the acquistion of fat student loan even after company reimbursement. This is not what I want to insert into my ER plan. However, if you're starting out in your 20's or 30's, then by all means go for it as you still have time to recoup tuition costs and save for ER.

Stanford, BTW runs about 70K when I last looked and UC Berkeley around 50-55K

Well, that's because you live in Mecca! Down here in the provinces it's still a big deal to have letters after your name.

Seriously, this M.S. has a specific purpose for me. My B.S. isn't in IT, this program is an NSA center of excellence, so it carries street cred when interfacing with my government customers, it's a CIS, not a C.S. (more for management), and is a concentration in security, and I'm trying to climb the IT security management ladder. To get to Director level in my company, HR pretty much requires a degree in the relevant field (one guy was able to get Director by signing an action plan document with a date for when he would graduate). I have been told it's something about meeting specific contract requirements to have some high % of our employees have specific degrees, yadda yadda. Plus, the company is going to pay for all but about 5k of the 25k that the program will cost.

Having said that, I think I'll still be earning less than you! And I just want to go back to school, I miss it.

 

[brewer12345]

And I just want to go back to school, I miss it.

Don't worry: that will be beaten out of you shortly.

 

[laurence]

No doubt!

 

[saluki9]

! And I just want to go back to school, I miss it.

Yeah me too, but I don't think being a grad student is the same thing When I think about going back to school I'm thinking back to when

1. I had no responsibility
2. No wife, no mortgage, no money
3. I could ingest limitless amounts of just about any substance and my body would still like me

Sadly, business school doesn't fill those requirements

 

[Spanky]

As an IT person making a pretty good salary, working for mega corp, I can tell you that a master's degrees are a dime a dozen. Virtually every person I work with or for have graduate degrees or Phd's. Maybe it's a bay area thing.

The company for which I work in the Midwest hires mostly MS and PHDs for research and development positions.

I looked at UC Berkeley and Stanford graduate schools last year and weighed the cost against my age and experience level. Net/net would mean not much in a salary boost and the acquistion of fat student loan even after company reimbursement. This is not what I want to insert into my ER plan. However, if you're starting out in your 20's or 30's, then by all means go for it as you still have time to recoup tuition costs and save for ER.

When you are already making a 'good' salary, an advanced degree will not give you a bump in salary. When I recieved an M.B.A (evening program) from a well-known university in my late 30's, I did not get any raise at all. Part of the reason was that I did not get into management.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

What's the likelihood of getting a big banking firm to foot your tuition for one year assuming you sign an agreement to return to the same firm for 2-3 years after the degree? I'm thinking that with my engineering background, I may end up going to a one-year MSCF program after my MBA.

On a somewhat unrelated note, in a previous thread regarding MBA, someone mentioned that CFAs grow on trees in Canada. Now that I'm here, I can confirm that I haven't been hit by falling CFAs as I walk to and fro from school. There are only 30-35,000 of them vs. the 60-70,000 in the U.S., but because Canada's work force is only about 1/10th of that of the U.S., it seems that CFAs grow on trees.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

As an IT person making a pretty good salary, working for mega corp, I can tell you that a master's degrees are a dime a dozen. Virtually every person I work with or for have graduate degrees or Phd's. Maybe it's a bay area thing.

I looked at UC Berkeley and Stanford graduate schools last year and weighed the cost against my age and experience level. Net/net would mean not much in a salary boost and the acquistion of fat student loan even after company reimbursement. This is not what I want to insert into my ER plan. However, if you're starting out in your 20's or 30's, then by all means go for it as you still have time to recoup tuition costs and save for ER.

Stanford, BTW runs about 70K when I last looked and UC Berkeley around 50-55K

Cube, it's not just a Bay Area thing. It's the same everywhere. An M.S. from a top school will not make you any more competitive. It will make your resume stand out a bit when you're going after a new job, but that's about it.

In retrospect, I should have just stopped with a B.S. and then gone full time to a top U.S. business school. Well, hindsight is 20-20.

 

[Meadbh]

I'm a physician who did an MBA. Opportunity cost was ~$100K. Impact on total earnings was neutral because I was starting from a high point. Medical leadership roles don't pay well unless you are the CEO. However, MBA enabled me to develop a new, unique career theme and greatly increased work satisfaction.

 

[Spanky]

However, MBA enabled me to develop a new, unique career theme and greatly increased work satisfaction.

That's a heathy way of looking at it.