P&Q’s Must Reads: Total MBA Pay At The Top 100 U.S. B-Schools

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Total MBA Pay At The Top 100 U.S. B-Schools

You won’t read this very often: Harvard Business School graduates are having a hard time on the job market.

Not individually, where HBS continues to produce stellar career results for its MBAs. But a Poets&Quants analysis of the salary and bonus data released in April by U.S. News as part of its annual ranking of the top U.S. B-schools finds that Harvard was alone in 2023 among top-10 schools in losing ground in total MBA compensation.

In fact, last year average total compensation for MBA graduates — which includes averages of base salary and sign-on bonus adjusted for the percentage of grads reporting a bonus — increased year over year at 22 of the top 25 B-schools. But not at Harvard, which lost 3.3% from its 2022 total comp average.

You can read our full analysis of MBA pay from our homepage.

No. 2: The 100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class Of 2024 

This week, we are proud to present 100 full-time graduates honored in Poets&Quants’ Best & Brightest MBAs from the Class of 2024. Now in its 10th year, the Best & Brightest honors top graduate business students at elite MBA programs worldwide. At an uncertain time in the world, these remarkable young people would give even a cynic hope for the future. For other aspiring applicants, this group provides a close look at the exceptional qualities of future classmates.

To compile the list, P&Q reached out to 78 graduate business programs in January, inviting them to participate. Overall, P&Q received 226 nominations and judged candidates on their extracurricular leadership, personal excellence, and the insightfulness of their responses and recommendations.

You can read about each  one, now in our trending tab.

No. 3:  B-Schools Withdraw MBA Acceptances In A GRE Cheating Scandal 

Business schools have overturned acceptances to dozens of African MBA candidates after they were suspected of cheating on the virtual GRE. The cheating scandal on the at-home GRE test, introduced during the pandemic, has caused some MBA admission officials to lose confidence in the security measures put in place by the Educational Testing Service, the administrator of the GRE.

Read more about the scandal, and which schools pulled their acceptance offers, in our news tab.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: The GMAT Focus Edition | Tricks, Tips, And Insider Intel

Check out our deep-dive interview with a GMAT Focus expert who covers everything you need to know about the new test format, available from our homepage.

Next: Admitted To Harvard & Stanford. In this story, which you can find in our admissions hub, top admission consultants reveal seven success lessons from 21 different HBS and GSB admits. 

Finally: So How Did ChatGPT Fare In MBA Essays?

This article from admission consultant Petia Whitmore explores the use cases for when you should and should not use AI in your applications. Find it on our homepage. 

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.