Tech Firms Get Their MBA Talent From These Schools

Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University sent more than a third of its 2016 MBAs into tech — including 45% of its graduating women. Courtesy photo

We know where Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, along with Adobe Systems, Cisco, eBay, Facebook, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn, and a host of early-stage companies are finding their MBAs. But what are they paying? Where should you go if you want to make top dollar in the tech sector?

A raft of schools (five, to be exact) pay a median base salary of $120,000; a few (three) pay a bit more at $125,000; and one leads the pack with a median base salary of $130,000. The leader: Stanford. But there’s a twist. Counting median sign-on bonuses, Stanford, at $15,000, doesn’t come out on top in terms of total compensation. That honor goes to two schools: Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, both of which boast a median base pay of $125,000 and a median bonus of $30,000. Columbia is a close third with a salary mark of $120,000 and a bonus of $33,840.

The other school that can boast of a $125,000 median base salary for tech workers: Haas, which only reports a mean (not median) bonus of $25,555.

ANOTHER TECH OPTION: EUROPEAN SCHOOLS 

The five European schools all have double-digit employment in the tech sector for their 2016 MBAs. Leading the way is London Business School’s 21%, up a tick from 20% last year, followed by INSEAD (19%, down 2 points), HEC Paris (17%, down 2 points), IESE (16%), and IE (10%). An MBA from INSEAD yields the highest base salary, US$99,500, with a median sign-on of US$21,100. Next is LBS, which reported a mean base salary of $93,408; and IESE, at median US$74,500 (and a median bonus of US$22,202).

LBS, meanwhile, may be interested in going the extra mile to attract new students. Anticipating a possible “student brain drain” in the wake of Brexit, the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, experts expect full-time MBA tuition at England’s top B-school to fall somewhat from the current $93,000. They also look at the school’s opening of the new Sammy Ofer Centre, which increases LBS’ classroom space by 70%, and sense a move in the offing to appeal to more U.S. students in the growing fields of tech and entrepreneurship/innovation.

DON’T MISS TECH HIRES SURGE AT KELLOGG THIS YEAR and AT TEPPER, WOMEN FIND TECH MORE APPEALING

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