INSEAD was the top consulting school by percentage of class in 2019, with more than half its MBA graduates going into the industry. In 2020, that proportion declined to 48%. File photo
Let’s look at the top 10 schools. In 2019, the 10 highest-ranked schools in the P&Q ranking had an average consulting placement rate of 29.2%, and an average median base starting salary of $158,250. All of the top 10 schools reported a $30K median signing bonus except Columbia Business School ($25K), and UC-Berkeley Haas, which reported a $30,348 mean. In 2020, the placement rate rose to 30.7%; meanwhile, eight of the 10 schools had median starting salaries of $165,000, with the exceptions Columbia and Berkeley, each at $160K. That makes the average median starting consulting salary for a graduate of a top-10 MBA program $164,000, a 3.6% increase. Meanwhile, in signing bonuses, eight of the 10 schools reported a median of $30K, with MIT Sloan ($25K) and Berkeley ($28,917 mean) the exceptions.
In 2019, six of the top 10 schools were up in consulting placement year-over-year by an average of 12.8 percentage points, and three were down by an average of 6.8 points. One, Stanford, was flat. Six were up and four were down over a three-year window. In 2020, three schools were down by an average 1.3 points; one, Berkeley Haas, was flat; and the other six were up by an average of 3.1 points. Much less fluctuation. And once again, six are up and four down in the three-year window (between 2018 and 2020). See below for details.
The average consulting industry salary total for the 26 schools that report median totals is $153,525, down 4% from the 2019 average of $159,854 across 25 schools.
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