An article on the site Poets & Quants publicized some especially impressive salary statistics of MBA alumni in 2012. The highest salary belonged to a Stanford graduate who found work in the area of private equity with a starting salary of $260,000. Following were a Wharton graduate who found a job in finance and an MIT graduate who found work in investments, both with starting salaries of $250,000. Next were Chicago and Columbia graduates with jobs in private equity with starting salaries of $240,000.

These impressive salary numbers are lower than last year’s, when four alumni at top programs- Wharton, Stanford, Chicago, and Columbia reported starting salaries of at least $300,000.

Signing bonuses were also especially generous this year, with a Wharton alumnus receiving a bonus of $200,000, and Stanford and NYU alumni received signing bonuses of $150,000.

These data show that career experience has great effect on post-degree salary, and generally the graduates with higher salaries are also those with more professional experience. For example, an MIT graduate achieved a salary of $250,000 thanks to over five years of work experience.

 

Put Me in Business (applying in less than a year)
Put Me in Business (applying in more than a year)