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The Right Business School Means a Big Salary Difference

The Right Business School Means a Big Salary Difference

(Bloomberg) -- The majority of MBA students are receiving full-time offers that include a base salary of more than $125,000.

About 62% of MBA students who received a full-time offer said it included a base salary of $125,000 or higher, according to Training The Street’s annual MBA Student Survey. The survey respondents included 522 MBA students, the majority of whom attend top 25 business schools, the company said.

The Right Business School Means a Big Salary Difference

What kind of prospects do students not attending top business schools face? Probably, significantly less money, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show. Salaries from business graduates at four flagship universities show vastly different earnings potential too.

The Right Business School Means a Big Salary Difference

2015 graduates from the University of Colorado Boulder with a master’s degree in business earned on average $68,319 one-year post grad. Compare that with the same cohort at the University of Michigan, who earned $119,517.

The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business ranked No. 18 on Bloomberg’s "Best B-Schools" rankings. Colorado ranked No. 67. Peers at the University of Texas at Austin earned $97,000. The McCombs School of Business ranked a few spots below Michigan, in No. 22.

On a debt basis, Department of Education data show that the median amount of debt incurred by MBA graduates can differ sharply as well. Outstanding debt affects the type of job the majority responding to the survey would accept too.

Graduates of several well known programs leave school with a debt level in the six-figure range.

The Right Business School Means a Big Salary Difference

But, large debts do not have to occur because there are more affordable programs. Many students graduate from a top 100 Bloomberg Business Week program such as Ole Miss (No. 71) or University of Florida (No. 55) where the median debt at graduation is significantly less at $20,500 or $35,511, respectively.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shelly Hagan in New York at shagan9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at atanzi@bloomberg.net

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