MBA Class Of 2021 Jobs: Harvard Placement Rebounds, But Pay Slips

Smooth sailing for Harvard grads looking for work in 2021 … but pay was another matter

Unlike many of its peer schools, Harvard does not list the lowest and highest salaries by its graduates, instead preferring to post the median salary at the 25th and 75th percentiles. This year the highest 75th percentile bases listed were $180K in venture capital and $178750 in private equity, and $175,000 in hedge funds/investment management, same as last year. The lowest 25th percentile base salaries of $110,000 were in government and non-profits, up from $100K last year.

On the startup scene, Harvard saw 12% of its 2021 MBA class go entrepreneur, joining a company that is less than a decade old or still private, up from 10% in 2020 and 8% five years ago. Median base salary for those enterprising folks was $150,000, up from $140K last year. By far the top industry for startups was tech, with 48% of HBS entrepreneurs going into software, e-commerce or the like; healthcare was a distance second at 16%. Still, about half — 49% — of Harvard entrepreneurs stayed in the Northeast, and 26% went West.

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