Poets&Quants | At Cornell, MBA Jobs Are Fewer & Pay Growth Slows

Offers were down overall. Acceptances were down, too. Average class salary growth slowed, total pay growth slowed, and bonuses were flat. Yet Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management can still be very happy about its Class of 2023 MBA employment report.

That’s because even as job offers by three months after graduation dropped to 94% of the class from 97% and acceptances dropped to 93% from 96% — mirroring just about every other B-school in 2023 — and both salary and total pay grew at less than half the rate of a year ago, Cornell bucked a big trend in its consulting industry outcomes, both in placement rate and salary. And consulting, in 2023, has suddenly become the biggest industry at a school long known for producing financial wizards.

Even as the sector responds to a shifting market with hiring delays and salary freezes, Cornell’s grads set new school records with 42% finding work in consulting, up 12 percentage points in one year, and up 15 points — more than 55% — in two years. Consulting salaries have kept pace, with the class average up 5.9% this year to $177,592, by far the best of any industry in the report. Cornell’s consulting salary average is up nearly 20% in two years.

CORNELL MBA EMPLOYMENT 2021-2023

Stats	2023	2022	2021
Average Base Salary	$162,808	$155,048	$139,121
Average Base Salary – US Work Authorized	$163,896	$154,853	$141,397
Average Base Salary – Non-US Work Authorized	$160,495	$155,427	$133,173
Median Base Salary	$175,000	$165,000	$140,000
Average Signing Bonus	$38,826	$38,310	$37,684
Average Signing Bonus – US Work Authorized	$36,272	$38,892	$35,925
Average Signing Bonus – Non-US Work Authorized	$44,146	$37,121	$43,208
% Of Grads Reporting Bonus	88.8%	90.6%	90.4%
Average Total Pay*	$197,285	$189,756	$173,187
Received Offers at 3 Months Post-Grad	94%	97%	97%
Accepted Offers at 3 Months Post-Grad	93%	96%	95%

* Using the formula Average Salary x 100 + Average Bonus x Percentage of Grads Reporting It/100

CORNELL MBAs’ TOTAL PAY GREW 4% TO JUST UNDER $200K

Consulting also boasts the top median salary in Cornell’s latest graduating class — $190K, up $15K from last year — as well as the second-biggest upper end in range of salaries: $195K. The biggest? Finance, of course, where Cornell’s MBAs reported a salary range of $79K to $200K, with a median of $175K.

Elsewhere in the report are more sobering statistics, very much in line with what is happening across the MBA job market. Most, though, had a silver lining. Average salary growth slowed to 5% after growing 11.4% from 2021 to 2022; still, in two years the average salary of a Cornell MBA has increased 17%. Total pay — which Poets&Quants calculates using average salary, average bonus and the percentage of grads reporting a bonus — was up just 4% to $197,285, a year after growing 9.6%; but looked at another way, total pay has grown nearly 14% since 2021. And median salary is not only up $10K in one year, but up $35K — or 25% — since 2021.

True, average signing bonus was basically flat in 2023, growing about $500 to $38,826. And in industries other than consulting, the rate of salary growth slowed significantly. For those going into finance, the average salary was $165,814, up just 2.6% from 2022; between 2021 and last year, finance grads’ salary growth was 9.6%. And in tech, while the placement rate has cratered to 11% from 17% two years ago, salary growth this year was 1.2% to $138,888.

CORNELL MBA JOBS BY INDUSTRY 2021-2023

Industry	2023	2022	2021
Consulting	$177,592	$167,648	$148,389
%	42%	30%	27%
Financial Services	$165,814	$161,563	$147,396
%	35%	39%	36%
Tech/Telecom	$138,888	$137,274	$132,084
%	11%	15%	17%
CPG	$119,300	$119,682	$116,667
%	4%	5%	6%
Healthcare/Pharma/Med Services	$133,971	NA	$121,639
%	3%	NA	4%
Energy/Utilities	$131,250	NA	$111,667
%	2%	NA	1%
Manufacturing	$120,500	$131,125	$123,600
%	2%	3%	5%
Other*	NA	NA	NA
%	1%	7%	3%

*For 2023 includes Real Estate, Retail, and Hospitality/Tourism

PHOENIX & DALLAS PAY CORNELL GRADS THE MOST

Among the 285 job seekers out of 306 grads in the Cornell MBA Class of 2023, most by far — 95% — found employment in North America, with the majority of those — 55% — going to work in the Northeast U.S. The latter number is 5 percentage points higher than 2022. Cornell’s NYC- and Boston-bound MBAs made an average salary of $166,583 in 2023, up from $159,670, but they weren’t this year’s highest-paid: The 7% who relocated to the Southwest earned slightly more to start, $167,359, up nearly $10K from 2022.

Among the Cornell MBAs who did go (or return) abroad to work, 3% went to Latin America, and 2% went to Asia and the Middle East/North Africa. The latter made an average salary just north of $140K, while the former made under $120K.

Another change this year from last: Grads without U.S. work authorization made slightly less on average than their counterparts with U.S. work authorization: $160,495 compared to $163,896. In 2022, the former made more, but only by under $1K.

CORNELL MBA CLASS OF 2023 EMPLOYMENT BY U.S. REGION

US Region	Average Base Salary	Median Base Salary	Salary Range	Percent Employed
Northeast	$166,583	$175,000	$98,000-$192,000	55%
West	$163,465	$175,000	$82,000-$192,000	16%
Midwest	$156,476	$170,000	$90,000-$200,000	9%
Mid-Atlantic	$169,412	$175,000	$110,000-$192,000	7%
South	$158,153	$175,000	$80,000-$195,000	7%
Southwest	$167,359	$175,000	$111,000-$192,000	7%