This School’s Grads Now Make The Most Of Any Elite MBAs

2019 Columbia Business School grads collectively made the most money of any previous MBA class. CBS photo

BY AND LARGE, COLUMBIA MBAs ARE HAPPY IN THEIR WORK

Columbia is unique in reporting a happiness quotient in its annual employment report. Beyond asking grads the standard questions on pay and placement, the school also seeks perspectives on why MBAs accept a job offer and their satisfaction with the job they’ve taken. Last year, 93% of CBS MBAs rated their employment experience as either a 4 or 5 on a 1-5 scale; this year the mark was exactly the same. However, departing considerably from last year’s responses, the top three reasons the Class of 2019 gave for accepting an offer were firm culture (18.8%), job content (14.4%), and growth potential (14%); last year job content was the clear winner (38.4%), followed by a firm’s culture (28.5%), and the potential for professional and personal growth (21.3%).

Besides the top three of finance, consulting, and tech, 6.8% of the class went into a category that Columbia calls “manufacturing,” which includes consumer products and beverages, the exact same level as last year. Another 4.1% went into real estate, up slightly from last year, while 3.9% went into healthcare, a big jump from the 1.8% in 2018.

However, fewer than 1% went into retail, down from 1.8% last year, while approximately the same number went into nonprofit/government: 1.4% this year compared to 1.6% last year.

HOW THEY GOT THE JOB, AND WHAT NEXT YEAR LOOKS LIKE

Columbia says 71% of job opportunities for the Class of 2019 were sourced by the school; most, about 30%, came as a result of school-facilitated internships, while another 25% arose out of on-campus interviews. Nine percent came from job postings, 6% were the result of networking, and 1% were sparked by “other.” For the 29% of jobs that were graduate-facilitated, 13% came from networking, 10% from grad-facilitated internships, 2% from previous employers, and 4% from “other.”

Looking ahead to next year, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that finance is about to leave all other industries in the dust at Columbia. An overwhelming majority of interns (42.3%) in the summer of 2019 worked in finance, with consulting (19.3%) and tech (19%) lagging far behind. Another 8.8% worked in manufacturing, while 10.6% worked in “other,” notably healthcare and real estate. The highest-paid interns were in strategic/management consulting and investment banking/brokerage, both of which had median monthly salaries of $12,500, along with hedge funds ($10,208), other investment management ($10,355), and consumer products-beverage/food ($10,000).

The high pay for a Columbia intern last summer? $15,000 per month for a hard-working person in private equity. So maybe it really is better on the buy-side.

DON’T MISS: MEDIAN PAY FOR HARVARD MBAs THIS YEAR: A RECORD $172,090 TO START or AT COLUMBIA, CONSULTING OVERTAKES FINANCE AS THE NO. 1 CAREER CHOICE