Comments on: MBA Starting Salary

By: MBA Rankings Management | Darden MBA Student Blog

MBA Rankings Management | Darden MBA Student Blog — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:04:58 +0000

[...] differences in industry preferences between schools. (I’ve written more on this topic in my MBA starting salary [...]

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:12:50 +0000

I think WHERE you try to work right after school is a big part of how much you can expect to earn. it also makes sense to plan a career trajectory for yourself, since a low starting salary can be completely justified if you can expect a promotion to a very well paid position after two or three years. try searching "banking salary" on a site where real people report their salaries to sort of judge what companies are paying best for what you want to do (and perhaps research the sort of schools they favor?)

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:25:27 +0000

The after tax difference between 95 and 75 is not a big deal, especially when you break it down per paycheck. The MBA’s value is realized much later in life. Forward thinking people are beginning to turn down the schools in the Northeast, as living in the area and paying disproportional taxes is much less appealing these days.

By: Aubert

Aubert — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:51:03 +0000

Hi Bill, thanks for this results you've shar4s.
I am actually looking for the Post MBA salary scales by country (esp focused on EU, Asia), by industry (lastest data).
Does it happen that you have such data or know websites wheres I can get them for free?

Thank you,
Sokho;

By: Bill Gray

Bill Gray — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:38:57 +0000

I choose Darden over Harvard and so did all of my classmates. Even the ones who were rejected at Harvard still choose Darden over waiting a year to reapply at Harvard.

I haven’t seen any data on which school has the smarter students, better connections, or better location. What I have seen is data that shows HBS and Darden grads get paid pretty much the same when you compare compensation at the industry level.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:14:16 +0000

Interesting point, however incorrect it may be. I chose Darden over Harvard (Wharton, and Kellogg) and could not be any happier with my decision. The Darden program met every one of my criteria whereas I felt that HBS was very impersonal. I don’t feel the need to collect stamps…

By: andrew

andrew — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:03:29 +0000

the point is that NO ONE would choose Darden over harvard. harvard has way smarter people, way better connections, and a way better location for finance and consulting…. there simply is no argument to go to darden over harvard. and if someone did choose that route, there would need to be VERY special reasons.

even if i got a full ride to Darden, i would choose harvard.

an MBA is a stamp, and the best stamp you can get is harvard

By: Sokho

Sokho — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:52:56 +0000

Hi Bill, thanks for this results you’ve shares.
I am actually looking for the Post MBA salary scales by country (esp focused on EU, Asia), by industry (lastest data).
Does it happen that you have such data or know websites wheres I can get them for free?

Thank you,
Sokho

By: Bill Gray

Bill Gray — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:04:26 +0000

The MBA placement data includes signing bonus. I think the more interesting number would be bonus at the end of the first year. Let me know if you have seen this data anywhere.

As for an associate’s first year performance, one starts to wonder how much is a factor of the MBA program vs. the individual. If the goal is to find the program with the hardest working individuals, maybe first year bonus would be a good number to investigate.

By: Shogun @ Financial Samurai

Shogun @ Financial Samurai — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:17:46 +0000

BTW, of course the average salary for Investment Banking jobs is 95K for both Darden and Harvard… 95K associate salary is INDUSTRY STANDARD! What matters is the bonus, which regularly accounts for 50-80% of total compensation. Come on guys, I know y’all can do better than this.

Shogun