What Harvard MBAs Made This Year

CONSUMER PRODUCTS ATTRACTS JUST 3% OF HARVARD’S CLASS OF 2017

Besides the shift to the tech industry, there were relatively small changes in the industry choices for the latest crop of Harvard MBAs. Finance fell by two percentage points to 31%. Consulting inched forward to 24% from 23%. The health care industry captured 6% of the class, up from 5% a year earlier. Manufacturing maintained its 5% share of Harvard MBAs. Some 4% of the class went into the non-profit and government sectors, up from 3% last year, while 3% ventured into retailing, up form 2% a year earlier (see chart below).

Consumer products attracted just 3% of the MBAs, down from 5% a year earlier and only half of the 6% that went into the CPG industry two years ago. Media and entertainment gained 2% of this year’s graduating MBAs, compared to 3% last year. Only 2% of the class–half of the 4% only a year earlier–joined the services sector.

There’s no surprise when it comes to the lowest paying jobs. The government and non-profit sectors offered median base salaries of $90,000, with hardly anyone getting a sign-on bonus or any other compensation.

FINANCE STILL PAYS THE BIGGEST BUCKS TO START

Though finance has declined through the years, those jobs still pay the most to starting MBA graduates. After the big total pay packages awarded to MBAs who headed into hedge funds, VC and PE firms, the third biggest payer was investment banking, sales and trading. Those jobs paid median comp packages to start of $172,337, above management consulting which paid $165,659. Then, a significant gap occurred between those jobs and everything else (see below).

The differences aren’t all that apparent when you look at only base salary. What tends to up the ante in the highest paying jobs are sign-on bonuses and other guaranteed comp. Technology industry jobs pay roughly $20K less than consulting, with total median compensation of $146,404.

DON’T MISS: HOW HARVARD MBAS GET THOSE SIX-FIGURE JOBS