<p>So, I'm setting up the recruiting events for my consulting firm at HBS, and I come across some very interesting data on the website. I'm not sure if they intended to make this public (it's positioned as such, at least), but it should be very illustrative of the opportunities available to a top MBA grad. I decided this forum would find it quite interesting:</p>
<ul>
<li>The average HBS grad makes $100k his first year out of B-school, with a $35k median bonus</li>
<li>The average HBS grad going into Private Equity or a Leveraged buy-out firm makes $170-200k his first year out</li>
<li>~60% of the HBS class of 2005 went into Consulting or Financial Services. 9% to technology, 5% each to manufacturing and biotech, and so on.<br></li>
<li>3% went to government/nonprofit. This was the only category to average under $100k in total 1st-year compensation, due to the small bonuses.</li>
<li>84% remained in the US after graduation</li>
</ul>
<p>Highlights:
- Median Full-time work experience of graduates, the last 4 years, has averaged over 50 months.
- Women representation is increasing the past few years, and currently is at 38%.
- Minority and International representation is holding steady at 22% and 33% respectively.
- 25% accept an offer from their summer employer
- 20% return to their pre-HBS employer</p>
<p>Some sobering statistics here, especially the salary info.</p>
<p>The vast majority of MBA grads from the elite schools go into banking or consulting for their first jobs out, because it's an industry where the older you get the fewer opportunities there are to break in. Of course, then after 2-3 years the turnover rate is enormous (ever wonder why they hire so many every year?), and people move off into areas that they have a real passion for.</p>
<p>This seems to be fueled by a feeling that if you have a Harvard MBA, why not go to McKinsey for 3 years, make a stack of money and get that name on your resume, and then move off to a F500 company with good hours, or start a business, or go work in politics/non-profit. I think it would be hard to close those doors somewhat by moving away from the core jobs for MBAs immediately after graduation, particularly when they provide such good launching pads for a later career.</p>
<p>
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Some sobering statistics here, especially the salary info
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</p>
<p>It should be noted that the salary information for all B-schools, and especially the top ones, is deeply misleading. The salaries are correct as stated and bonuses are correct as stated, but the problem is that the figures do not display your full compensation information, particularly the performance bonuses. Yet the fact is, management jobs derive a large chunk of their total compensation from bonuses. In certain industries, notably financial services, the bonus can comprise the vast majority of your total compensation. Experienced investment bankers, for example, tend to care very little about their 'salary', because the vast bulk of their earnings will come in the form of bonuses. A top investment banker might "only" make 250k in salary, but can make millions from the bonus. </p>
<p>The problem is that the bonus is not 'guaranteed'. Neither is compensation in the form of stock options or equity - none of these forms of payment have any guarantee of fruition. The additional column regarding additional compensation deals only with GUARANTEED bonuses, yet the vast majority of bonuses and other compensation are not guaranteed. Guaranteed compensation might as well just be grouped together with salary, because there is basically no difference between a salary payment and a guaranteed bonus payment. However, nobody really knows what you are going to get in the form of unguaranteed compensation. Hence, this survey (and most other B-school surveys) tend to treat this as a form of 'hidden compensation'.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, if we are talking about investment banking specifically, you will probably get a total compensation package of around 250k in your first year after MBA, when you add up all of the forms of payment you get, including the year-end bonus. Of there is no GUARANTEE that you will make this, but you probably will. Compensation packages then shoot up very quickly from there. In consulting, you are probably looking at 175k in total compensation in your first year, after you factor in the year-end performance bonus. But again, you're not "guaranteed" this bonus, so it doesn't show up in the figures. </p>
<p>I don't know how I missed that "additional compensation" didn't include end-of-year performance bonuses. yeah, that makes a difference, although in consulting the bonuses probably average around 25% rather than > 100%.</p>