U.S. Schools With The Most International MBAs

A multi ethnic group of graduates in graduation gowns

A multi ethnic group of graduates in graduation gowns

Which leading MBA programs at U.S. business schools have the most international students? And how are international graduates from the U.S. school paid compared to their domestic classmates?

The answer to these two questions can be surprising. First off, because many of the top 100 schools enrolling high percentage of students born outside the U.S. run very small full-time MBA programs. Secondly, many international students are very highly paid compared to their domestic counterparts because they bring highly valuable cultural and country-specific business experience to the game for multinational corporations.

Consider the #1 school, by percentage: the University of Kentucky, which has a program comprised of just 12 students.

Obviously, it’s the larger schools at the more highly selective MBA programs that have significantly larger international populations. Harvard Business School has some 651 internationals in its MBA program, while the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has 566, tops among all the business schools in the U.S. Chicago Booth (428), Columbia Business School (420), and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management (413) come up next, all with more than 400 internationals in their full-time MBA programs.

The next group: Duke University’s Fuqua School (346), Michigan’s Ross School (336), and MIT Sloan (329).

The vast majority of international students in domestic MBA programs hail from India and China, followed by Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and Canada. Some smaller countries make the top three at certain universities, with Israel comprising approximately five to ten percent of MIT (Sloan), Temple University (Fox), and CUNY Bernard M Baruch College (Zicklin). Chapman University has a unique international population, with Saudi Arabia representing some 44% of its entire international population.

And when it comes to pay, international students make more than their domestic counterparts in certain programs, while simultaneously making less at others. International students receive the highest base salary, $149,000, at UCLA (Anderson). The domestic base salary at Anderson is a much lower $111,416.

Unlike at UCLA (Anderson), international students at several other MBA programs around the country receive lower base salaries than domestic students. At the University of Connecticut, international students receive a base salary that is approximately $17,000 less than their domestic counterparts. The gap closes somewhat at MBA programs at such schools as Wake Forest University, George Washington University, and Babson College (Olin)

At most of the top 10 schools, namely Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton, international students also have an average base salary that is slightly lower than the domestic average.

Foreign Students In The Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs

 

School Int’l % Int’l # Origin Nations Mean U.S. Salary Mean Int’l Salary
Kentucky (Gatton) 72.0% 9 China 50% $75,206 N/A
Syracuse (Whitman) 69.9% 51 India 80%

China 12%

Canada 2%

$73,300 $57,144
Thunderbird 67.1% 190 India 23% $78,177 $78,064
Babson (Olin) 65.1% 246 India 34.9%

Thailand 9.3%

Mexico 8%

$89,151 $77,344
UC San Diego (Rady) 54.9% 56 N/A $79,656 $59,910
Connecticut 54.7% 41 India 30%

China 2%

Serbia 1%

$109,875 $93,250
Rochester Institute of Tech. (Saunders) 51.9% 69 N/A $45,979 $66,650
Rochester (Simon) 50.7% 107 India 46% $86,698 $94,235
Purdue (Krannert) 49.4% 88 India 20% $91,689 $99,085
Case Western (Weatherhead) 47.2% 51 India 50% $82,349 $66,400
UC Irvine (Merage) 47.1% 88 India 31%

China 21% S. Korea 14%

$82,721 $85,969
George Washington 46.5% 86 China 25%

India 22%

Canada 5%

$89,260 $67,800
Iowa State 45.7% 32 India 63%

China 9%

Nepal 6%

$63,161 $52,750
William and Mary (Mason) 42.3% 80 India 12%

China 6%

Japan 5%

$81,670 $68,523
Illinois – Urbana-Champaign 42% 70 India 42%

China 15%

Taiwan 6%

$88,074 $91,796
Arizona (Eller) 42% 34 India 65%

Canada 5%

Mexico 5%

$79,681 $81,059
MIT (Sloan) 40.6% 329 India 10.3%

Israel 8.5%

Brazil 7%

N/A N/A
Texas – Dallas 40.6% 52 N/A $78,278 $82,578
Northwestern (Kellogg) 39.5% 413 N/A N/A N/A
Duke (Fuqua) 39.5% 346 India 16%

China 16%

S. Korea 7%

$113,897 $114,514
Michigan State (Broad) 39.3% 59 India 65.8%

China 21%

Mexico 6%

$94,856 $86,105
Emory (Goizueta) 38.5% 148 India 26%

Korea 22%

China 10%

$107,419 $106,625
Washington (Olin) 38.4% 108 India 13%

China 9%

S. Korea 4%

$98,687 $97,225
Yale 38.1% 225 China 22%

India 18%

Canada 9%

$109,381 $111,511
UC Berkeley (Haas) 38.0% 191 India 11%

China 2%

S. Korea 1%

$122,211 $121,121

Source: Business schools reporting to U.S. News

Part of a series on the U.S. job market for international MBAs

Part of a series on the U.S. job market for international MBAs

MBA Students & The H-1B

H-1B Visa Cap Making It More Difficult For International MBAs To Land U.S. Jobs

Why U.S. Business Schools Want More H-1B Visas

How MBA Students Can Navigate The H-1B Visa Maze

The H-1B Visa Abuses That Make It Harder For MBAs To Work In The U.S.

Tuck MBA Offers Work Visa Advice After Landing Microsoft Job