Considering the amount an average MBA student invests in their degree, it’s hardly surprising that post-MBA salary is a big focus for prospective students.
Students need the promise of a post-MBA salary spike to pay off tuition fees alone, which pack a hefty punch. Take the MIT Sloan MBA, which topped our BusinessBecause Cost of MBA Report, where tuition alone comes in at over $154,000, or Wharton, with tuition fees just shy of $160,000.
The story is similar in Europe and Asia, with London Business School MBA tuition fees hitting $113,000, and HKUST Business School charging just over $75,000. But given the eye-watering salaries that some MBA graduates can expect to earn, the cost doesn't feel quite as significant.
Here, we list the business schools with the highest MBA salaries three years after graduation, based on the 2021 Financial Times MBA Ranking.
We've also included MBA salaries for Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, MIT Sloan, and UC Berkeley Haas graduates. These schools offer some of the biggest MBA salaries, but did not participate in this year's FT rankings.
See the FT’s full rankings table
Best Business Schools For MBA Salaries
20. HEC Paris, France
HEC Paris has been one of the FT’s strongest rankings climbers in recent years, from 19th in 2019, to ninth in 2020, to seventh in 2021. HEC MBA graduates can expect to earn $168,436 on average three years after graduation.
Interestingly, the most popular career destination for HEC graduates is Asia, where 35% of graduates end up, while 28% stay on in Europe.
Check out our HEC Paris MBA jobs and salary review
19. Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, USA
On the west coast of America, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has established its reputation for producing graduates with high salaries.
Its sunny Californian campus is not the only appeal, as Haas is also famous for its renowned faculty members, including Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. This world-class education has made Haas graduates highly employable, earning on average $171,330 a year.
18. Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India
Indian Institute of Management firmly establishes itself as one of India’s finest academic institutions, with two of its campuses in the MBA salaries top 20.
The IIM Bangalore is renowned not only for its vast campus in South India, but also for the fact it has recorded 92% employment for its MBA students in the three months following graduation. Grads received an average salary of $171,903, disappointingly a $12k pay cut from 2020’s graduates, who earned $183,703 a year.
17. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, USA
Named after the founder of billion-dollar consumer goods company SC Johnson, Cornell Johnson graduates are destined for high earning jobs. Graduates from this Ivy League business school earned $174,098 on average.
16. Stern School of Business, New York University, USA
NYU Stern is a big climber in this year’s overall rankings, breaking...
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