salary

($) “I’m just gonna say ‘consulting’ as my MBA goals.”

November 8, 2019 by EssaySnark - Discusses Darden

And heck, we wouldn’t blame ya! Darden recently reported an all-time high starting salary coming from its 2019 graduating class , to the tune of $152k plus bonus. That’s likely skewed by one person’s $173k base — always be sure to question headlines like that. The numbers from Darden with that outlier salary excluded are…

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($) Are you proposing too big of a change?

October 16, 2019 by EssaySnark

Most applicants to business school want to change careers. Bschool is an ideal vehicle for that. Most bschools want to hear about your plans to change careers in your essays. Crafting a solid set of goals is one of the most important steps you can take in building a strong application. There are many ways…

($) Which bschool you go to matters FOR YOUR FIRST JOB ONLY

October 9, 2019 by EssaySnark

OK, well maybe not “only” – but primarily. Don’t believe us? Check out this passage from someone who recruits senior execs: Things I rarely pay attention to [when scanning a resume] Education: In the last month alone, having viewed hundreds of resumes, I honestly don’t remember looking at this section once. When I used…

($) “Is 30 too old…?”

June 4, 2019 by EssaySnark

We came across this awhile back: “Is 30 too old to work in a startup?” Hmmmm. If there’s a bias against “older” in startup recruiting, and “older” is defined as over 30, and there’s already a bias against MBAs in Silicon Valley… Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have all been on the…

($) The BSer’s Dilemma: Deciding between two top MBA programs (international student)

January 8, 2019 by EssaySnark

Choosing between 2 MBA programs means you need to look at ROI, cost, location, tuition, financial aid – getting accepted is only half the battle, it seems! Let’s talk through some example cases.

What salary can you expect if you want to go work at a startup?

February 7, 2017 by EssaySnark - Discusses Chicago Booth Leave a Comment

Short answer: Much less than what your peers graduating with MBAs into consulting and finance are making.

Scary answer: Maybe not any more than you’re making today???

Here’s some information captured in a tiny-ass footnote towards the end of the Chicago Booth Class of 2016 Employment Report :

Accepted offers in these functions include graduates working at start-ups: Analytics/Data Science (1), Business Development (4), Finance, Other (1), General Management (3), Sales (1), and Operations: Production/Supply Chain Management/Logistics (3). In total, 2.6% of accepted offers for the class of 2016 were with start-ups. For base salary, the minimum was $85,000, the maximum was $144,383, and the median was $119,000.

That comes at the end of the table that reports a whopping $215k salary for a 2016 grad who went into investment management. We don’t think that the Booth Career Services peeps were trying to bury that info; in fact, they’re probably quite proud of the fact that so many of their grads went to startups, given how, you know, startups are a thing these days. It’s definitely how Booth is trying to position itself. (That and McKinsey. They also sent 26 grads to McKinsey last year. Yeah, that.)

This footnote is really just trying to help you understand why salaries were so low in some of those categories. It’s not making excuses; it’s actually a bragworthy bit o’ detail.

It’s also notable to catch the footnote on the following page, which lists the internships that the Class of 2017 landed:

Accepted offers in these functions include students doing summer internships at start-ups: Business Development (12), Consulting (4), Corporate Strategy/Strategic Planning (1), Company Finance (Analysis/Treasury) (1), Venture Capital (3), Finance, Other (1), General Management (1), Brand/Product Management (3), Marketing, Other (1), Operations: Production/Supply Chain Management/Logistics (1), and Product Management (Tech) (3). In total, 5.4% of accepted offers for the class of 2017 were with start-ups. For monthly base salary, the minimum was $1,000, the maximum was $8,333, and the median was $4,000.

The trend appears to be, “Do a startup during the summer, but then get a real job when I graduate.” We’ll have to see what happens to those 31 kids next year. It’s certainly a low-risk way to find out if the startup life is for you.

If you’re planning on joining a startup post-MBA, we do hope that you’ve been doing your research.

Take a look at the numbers.

What salary can you actually expect?

(Note: Facebook is not a startup.)

Be sure you’re doing your research, o nobly born. Know what you’re walking your brave heart into.

The median is still nothing to sneeze at for that startup cohort – but it may not be what your starry-eyed self had in mind.

Update June 2017: Here’s some research that says graduating MBAs take $15,000 less in first salary than those taking more traditional post-MBA jobs.

($) Miscellaneous thoughts on the economy, MBA salaries and jobs.

January 11, 2016 by EssaySnark

Apologies up front: This post is kinda like some of the essays we see from you people. It’s a little rambling, very unstructured, and not actually saying much. It’s also way too long. But we’re still gonna post it. 😉 A recent comment from a former BSer about tuition inflation at Harvard made us realize…

The downside of going straight to an MBA

April 11, 2012 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

If you’re interested in going straight from college to bschool, one thing you should know is that you’re not likely to make the big bucks that your peers will when you graduate.

GMAC (the GMAT people) recently reported on starting salaries for graduates coming out of bschool, broken down by years of work experience they had under their belt before they entered the program.

Their findings?

It’s easier to find a job when you graduate if you already have work experience. It even appears that the experience need not be in the same field; they didn’t break it down (data is probably not available for this) however EssaySnark’s guess is simply having ANY experience makes you more attractive to recruiters coming out of an MBA program
You’ll make more money if you have more experience (same reason) — like, $30,000 to $40,000 more per year. That’s, uh, like a lot.

Given these facts, you might want to take a careful look at your reasons behind wanting to go get your MBA right now. If you’re doing it because you think you’ll make more money, then you may be in for a surprise. If you’re doing it because you’re having trouble getting a job now, well, the same problem might be lurking in waiting you after you graduate with the MBA, too.

A more in-depth report from the GMAC survey of 2011 grad job placement is available here, with some interesting charts and graphs. This covers all types of graduates, not just pre-experience ones, and is worth perusing.