Where Columbia MBAs Work & What They Do

Where do Columbia Business School MBAs work and in what industries?

With its wealth of membership data, LinkedIn is now providing a glimpse into this answer. Of course, not all Columbia MBAs are registered with the professional networking site so it’s an obviously incomplete list. Even so, the data provides an interesting window into the most likely employers of Columbia MBAs as well as the most likely industries that attract its graduates.

Source: LinkedIn membership data

Of all the elite MBA schools, Columbia stands alone in one regard when it comes to employment. More of its alumni are employed by Citicorp than any other school and, more importantly perhaps, Columbia is the only top school whose No. 1 employer is not McKinsey & Co., the powerhouse consulting firm.

McKinsey does come in second, behind Citicorp, and just ahead of Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, American Express, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch.

You can’t help but notice the predominance of financial service firms which employ vast numbers of CBS alums who are members of LinkedIn. Indeed, no other top school–not Wharton or Chicago–have as many of their top employers on the finance side. After McKinsey, the next consulting firm that appears as a major employer is the Boston Consulting Group which is 13th on the list with 130 Columbia Business School grads.

Because the data is apparently drawn from a search-like function by LinkedIn, there are a few oddities about how it is reported. LinkedIn, for example, lists J.P. Morgan and J.P. Morgan Chase, the current name of the investment bank after its acquisition of Chase Manhattan Bank, as two separate organizations.

Of course, finance is the number one industry, with an overwhelming 3,610 CBS alums. Consulting is next with less than half the number of Columbia MBAs as finance at 1,575. Business development follows, while entrepreneurship is next with 1,452 LinkedIn members who claim they have a Columbia MBA.

Columbia Business School MBAs: Where They Work & What They Do

 

Company LinkedIn Members Industry LinkedIn Members
Citicorp 308 Finance 3,610
McKinsey 265 Consulting 1,575
Goldman Sachs 263 Business Development 1,532
J.P. Morgan 228 Entrepreneur 1,452
American Express 198 Marketing 1,289
Morgan Stanley 184 Administrative 915
Credit Suisse 173 Sales 914
Deutsche Bank 172 Operations 765
Merrill Lynch 161 Information Technology 509
Deloitte 157 Product 482
IBM 152 Creative 440
JPMorgan Chase 138 Human Resources 369
Boston Consulting Group 130 Public Relations 351
Ernst & Young 128 Engineering 333
Barclays Capital 111 Accounting 220
Columbia Univ. 109 Support 190
Pwc 97 Medical 184
Pfizer 81 Legal 179
UBS 81 Real Estate 115
Bain & Co. 79 Buyer 72
Google 76
Facebook 25
Booz & Co. 75
Microsoft 70

Source: December 2012 LinkedIn membership data

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