Stanford GSB: The Undisputed World Champion In MBA Pay

Stanford University Graduate School of Business – Ethan Baron photo

MORE STUDENTS SAY THEY ACCEPTED A ‘SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ROLE’

Stanford also reported that the percentage of graduates answering “yes” to choosing a socially responsible role increased to 18% from 12% a year earlier. This is the fourth year that Stanford has tracked this measure in its employment reports. It was 8% in the first year and 11% in the second. “What we’ve seen is that students care a lot about making an impact in their jobs but they also care a lot about business and society and sustainability,” says Schein. “We partner with the students on integrating business and society throughout the curriculum. Even if students are going to a traditional company, we see them accepting jobs that have a title or focus around social impact. It is part of their DNA.”

Another trend this year is increased interest in a job category called business operations. “Students are looking for roles that have impact and view these roles as an opportunity to work strategically with the C-suite on projects and initiatives that are of key importance to the company,” adds Schein. The job titles are typically director of planning, director of strategy or chief of staff. “Dynamic high growth companies are the most likely to have job opportunities in these areas.”

Stanford also noted that women launching or joining a startup has surged in recent years, now more closely matching their representation in the class which was 40% in the Class of 2019.

MAJORITY OF STANFORD GRADUATES STAY IN CALIFORNIA

In MBA education, geography is often destiny and that is certainly true at Stanford. Across this year’s entire class, 53% remained in California. Overall, 61% of GSB job-seeking graduates selected careers in the West region, a seven percentage point decrease compared to last year. Outside of the West region, the Northeast was the next most popular location drawing 16% of the class, while international jobs attracted 13%.

The report showed that 29% of this year’s class did not seek employment. That’s because 15% started their own businesses right out of school, another 8% were company-sponsored students who returned to their employers, 3% decided to continue their education and 1% selected to postpone their job search for unknown reasons. Stanford said that useable compensation data in the report was obtained from 83% of its graduates who accepted a job. The pay of students who launched a startup or who returned to their employers was not included in the totals.

“Three things in this report thrill me,” said Paul Oyer, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the GSB, in a statement. “First, the share of new graduates taking socially responsible roles keeps rising and now totals nearly a fifth of the class. Second, it’s great to see women increasing their share of entrepreneurial activity. Third, our graduates are having great success in the job market as this is the fifth straight year of record-breaking compensation.”

DON’T MISS: INTERVIEW WITH STANFORD GSB DEAN JON LEVIN or STANFORD’S MBA GATEKEEPER ON A ‘HEARTBREAKING’ GSB MYTH