Wall Street Gains At Harvard B-School

How Harvard’s Class of 2014 Compares

With Other Top Business Schools

School	Median Base	Sign-on Bonus	Other Bonus	Jackpot	Graduation Offers	Offers 3 Months Later
Harvard	$125,000	$25,000	$34,700	$184,700	NA	NA
Stanford	$125,000	$25,000	$31,500	$181,500	80%	94%
Wharton	$125,000	$25,000	$27,000	$177,000	88%	98%
Dartmouth (Tuck)	$116,000	$25,000	$25,000	$166,000	91%	98%
Michigan (Ross)	$115,000	$25,000	$16,750	$156,750	89%	93%
Duke (Fuqua)	$111,000	$25,000	$15,000	$151,000	87%	94%
Cornell (Johnson)	$106,000	$25,000	$12,500	$143,500	87%	92%
UCLA (Anderson)	$110,000	$25,000	$15,000	$150,000	75%	90%
Virginia (Darden)	$110,000	$25,000	$9,500	$144,500	89%	94%
UNC (Kenan-Flagler)	$100,000	$25,000	$16,625	$141,625	81%	92%
Texas-Austin (McCombs)	$105,000	$25,000	$12,600	$142,600	80%	94%
Emory (Goizueta)	$100,000	$25,000	$12,500	$137,000	90.4%	98.0%
Vanderbilt (Owen)	$100,000	$15,000	$12,000	$127,000	83%	94%

Source: Business school employment reports & P&Q reporting

Notes: Jackpot refers to graduates receiving the median of all three forms of compensation: salary, signing bonus, and other year-end guaranteed bonus. Not all graduates are given all three. At Stanford, for example, sign-on bonuses this year were collected by half the class, while 38% of the MBAs received other year-end guaranteed compensation.

Differences in pay often reflect industry choices and geography. Stanford’s higher median base can largely be attributed to the fact that 12% of this year’s class went into private equity, which currently pays the most lucrative comp packages to MBAs. The median PE starting base salary this year was $170,000. At Tuck, for example, only 4% of this year’s class went into private equity and the base for those PE jobs was just $120,000.

For Harvard MBA Grads, Career Choices Over The Years

Career Data	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007
INDUSTRY CHOICE
Finance	33.0%	27.0%	35.0%	39.0%	34.0%	31.0%	45.0%	44.0%
I-Banking/Brokerage	5.0%	5.0%	7.0%	10.0%	10.0%	8.0%	10.0%	12.0%
Private Equity/VC/Buyouts	15.0%	10.0%	16.0%	16.0%	12.0%	13.0%	21.0%	15.0%
Investment Management/Hedge Funds	10.0%	9.0%	8.0%	12.0%	9.0%	8.0%	10.0%	13.0%
Other Financial	3.0%	3.0%	4.0%	2.0%	2.0%	2.0%	4.0%	4.0%
Consulting	23.0%	22.0%	25.0%	24.0%	24.0%	26.0%	20.0%	21.0%
Technology	17.0%	18.0%	12.0%	11.0%	8.0%	7.0%	7.0%	7.0%
Consumer Goods/Retail	5.0%	6.0%	3.0%%	5.0%	6.0%	5.0%	3.0%	5.0%
Health Care	5.0%	5.0%	7.0%	4.0%	6.0%	7.0%	4.0%	5.0%
Services/Real Estate	4.0%	3.0%	2.0%	4.0%	5.0%	2.0%	5.0%	4.0%
Media/Entertainment	3.0%	4.0%	3.0%	2.0%	3.0%	4.0%	5.0%	4.0%
Manufacturing	5.0%	7.0%	7.0%	7.0%	5.0%	6.0%	8.0%	5.0%
Non-Profits/Government	3.0%	5.0%	3.0%	3.0%	6.0%	7.0%	3.0%	3.0%