<p>That study or whatever was published by BW is complete garbage. Payscale.com is in itself complete garbage. From a logical standpoint, it's all self reported. All it means is that a bunch of former MBA grads who had nothing better to do decided to post their 5, 10, and 20 year salaries. Statistically, I'm sure we could rip apart the study from about 10 angles. I would say that the majority of H/W/S graduated from 20 years ago are pulling in well over 500k in ottal compensation.</p>
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I would say that the majority of H/W/S graduated from 20 years ago are pulling in well over 500k in ottal compensation.
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I doubt that the majority of H/W/S are making well in excess of $500k/year. I think the study is correct on the avg but we never hear about the avg. We always hear about the superstars and think they actually represent the majority.
I believe the spread is HUGE meaning that there's definitely potential to make well in excess of $500k/year but a lot of people do get burned out/cannot separate themselves from the rest of the pack.</p>
<p>Does anyone think this survey is a little hazy? I have a feeling the farther out in time this survey goes, the worse the data gets. I mean how many people 20 and 25 years out are going to report their total compensation to payscale.com. It would be really interesting how many people composed each age group. I bet 10% or less of the sample size composed the last 3 groups.</p>
<p>Also according to BW, the survey was composed from 80,000 data points but was conducted using about 250-1000 per school. Assuming the average school had 625 students, this survey would have been out of 28,125 data points. What then happened to the other 50,000 graduates. Anyone else confused by this?</p>
<p>Until recently, no data has been available to answer that question. However...</p>
<p>"New research commissioned by BusinessWeek suggests that when it comes to the post-MBA earnings accrued by graduates of top business schools over the span of their careers, not all schools are created equal. Some schools that start out strong with six-figure salaries sometimes sputter and stall, leaving grads with less-than-impressive salaries after 20 years in the workforce. And some schools where grads earn modest salaries out of the gate end up with the strongest of finishes, in some cases doubling their cash compensation after 20 years and overtaking better-ranked rivals."</p>
<p>"After 20 years, graduates of three schools have cash compensation that is double, or more than double, what today's students make at graduation, and none of them are high-profile schools: Georgia Tech, University of Connecticut, and George Washington University. The graduates of 10 schools -- including No. 15 Indiana University's Kelley School of Business -- had median cash compensation at the 20-year mark that is no better than what Harvard Business School grads make shortly after graduation. And at the No. 5 University of Michigan Ross School of Business, where median cash compensation for new graduates was a respectable $109,000, the pay for graduates with 20 years' experience was just 28% more, or $140,000 -- the worst showing among the top 10 schools."</p>
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Until recently, no data has been available to answer that question. However...</p>
<p>"New research commissioned by BusinessWeek suggests that when it comes to the post-MBA earnings accrued by graduates of top business schools over the span of their careers, not all schools are created equal. Some schools that start out strong with six-figure salaries sometimes sputter and stall, leaving grads with less-than-impressive salaries after 20 years in the workforce. And some schools where grads earn modest salaries out of the gate end up with the strongest of finishes, in some cases doubling their cash compensation after 20 years and overtaking better-ranked rivals."</p>
<p>"After 20 years, graduates of three schools have cash compensation that is double, or more than double, what today's students make at graduation, and none of them are high-profile schools: Georgia Tech, University of Connecticut, and George Washington University. The graduates of 10 schools -- including No. 15 Indiana University's Kelley School of Business -- had median cash compensation at the 20-year mark that is no better than what Harvard Business School grads make shortly after graduation. And at the No. 5 University of Michigan Ross School of Business, where median cash compensation for new graduates was a respectable $109,000, the pay for graduates with 20 years' experience was just 28% more, or $140,000 -- the worst showing among the top 10 schools."</p>
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</p>
<p>That would make sense.</p>
<p>An MBA from a top 10 school gets your foot in the door (if you're not getting an MBA for promotional purposes from your current employer). But after 5 years, it's your own talent, luck, effort, and life decisions that determine your future compensation and lifestyle.</p>
<p>^Why would that make sense? Unless you are saying that grads of UMichigan have less talent, luck, effort, aspirations than those from the other top 10 schools.</p>
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^Why would that make sense? Unless you are saying that grads of UMichigan have less talent, luck, effort, aspirations than those from the other top 10 schools.
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I was referring to this section of the article.
[quote]
New research commissioned by BusinessWeek suggests that when it comes to the post-MBA earnings accrued by graduates of top business schools over the span of their careers, not all schools are created equal. Some schools that start out strong with six-figure salaries sometimes sputter and stall, leaving grads with less-than-impressive salaries after 20 years in the workforce. And some schools where grads earn modest salaries out of the gate end up with the strongest of finishes, in some cases doubling their cash compensation after 20 years and overtaking better-ranked rivals.
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Meaning that over time, it is very possible for a grad from UMich to do better financially than someone from HBS.</p>
<p>Except they're trying to find common trends across schools, as opposed to one-off cases.</p>
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Except they're trying to find common trends across schools, as opposed to one-off cases.
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Here's a common trend for life.</p>
<p>The common man goes nowhere. If you want to be better, you have to be uncommon.</p>
<p>Personally, when I look into things I basically break it down into this:
(what do I have now) + (what can I gain from doing this) = (what can I do in the future that combines all this and can separate me from the pack + is there a reasonable chance of success?)</p>