One of my older posts here is offline, so I am posting an archive link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150214022343/https://board.find-mba.com/general-forum/average-salaries-before-the-mba-39497

I've listed the schools in the FT 2015 ranking, ranked by the average salary of the incoming class. I'd taken the average salary, and the salary increase percentage. What's notable was that the top schools had higher salaries for the student coming in than other schools had for the graduating classes. That shows, among other things, the quality of the intake at the top schools.

What's notable is that there were some schools with low average intake salaries that were in the top half of the FT business school ranking: NUS, CUHK; Purdue; ISB; SDA Bocconi; HKU and Manchester Business School. Those seemed to be good programmes for talented students with lower salaries.

Someone should do the same analysis with the 2020 FT ranking data.

It's at https://find-mba.com/board/general-forum/average-salaries-before-the-mba-39497 

1) Only problem with FT data is that it is converted to PPP right?  I don't necessarily agree with PPP's relevance for MBA salaries as it is based on baskets of goods that do not reflect the cost of living and lifestyle of a professional / MBA grad.  In particular, PPP results in overstated numbers for graduates of developing countries.  

While the average person in a developing country might be spending 1/4 the living costs of someone in the US (which is what PPP will measure), that does not apply to the average MBA graduate lifestyle who might be spending like 1/2 of an MBA grad in the US.  So the PPP in my example significantly overestimates the US equivalent salaries of graduates from Chinese/Indian schools.  It will also overstate or understate the entering salary based on where the student is from.  I remember when I was completing the FT surveys as a grad and was confused why they needed to know where I used to live pre-MBA.  


2) I have always wondered - is it the input / quality of students that makes the output / salaries of top schools high?  Or is it the school's prestige/quality that gets the student the high salary?  Many studies have been done and none are conclusive.  My guess is the truth is somewhere in the middle.  

This matters because long-term MBA salaries show that the top 25% of grads from average (top 100) schools do just as well / get the same salaries as the bottom 25% of grads from elite (top 15) schools.   There's a lot of university-level data on that available from the US Census (google PSEO data).

So if you're the type of candidate who just barely made it into Northwestern or Chicago (and your profile reflects that), then I think your prospects are no different from someone who goes to University of Colorado, but ended up at the top of their class.  

1. Yes. That is the problem but, in practice, I don't think it's the same pool of applicants. Most of the schools in developing countries have very few foreigners.
2. I think candidates perform differently in different settings. People are rarely at the bottom in every subject, and students can be very tightly clustered. But the pool of employers is very different between schools and so outcomes are pretty different. O have worked with a couple of clients who changed schools, and that really changed their direction. 

2) I have always wondered - is it the input / quality of students that makes the output / salaries of top schools high?  Or is it the school's prestige/quality that gets the student the high salary?  Many studies have been done and none are conclusive.  My guess is the truth is somewhere in the middle.  

So if you're the type of candidate who just barely made it into Northwestern or Chicago (and your profile reflects that), then I think your prospects are no different from someone who goes to University of Colorado, but ended up at the top of their class.

According to PayScale's survey of tens of thousands of MBA graduates, the average salary of MBA graduates is estimated much lower at $88,137, with jobs ranging from senior financial analyst to project manager, and even chief financial officer (CFO). Of MBA graduates, approximately 1.5% of participants had less than one year of work experience, whereas about a third were experienced, and 26% reported that they were mid-career graduates. Based on these results, work experience contributes significantly to an MBA’s salary. 

[Edited by Sahil Sharma on Jan 08, 2021]

Indeed: PayScale collects data for all MBAs, including those from schools without accredition. At top schools, average salaries are roughly double.