Stanford Graduate School of Business MBAs at graduation have plenty to be happy about
One of the breakout movies hits of 2018 has been the laugh-out-loud romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians about the lifestyles of the super wealthy in Singapore. Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business today (Dec. 12) published a reality show version of the movie with the long-awaited release of its 2018 employment report.
Yet again, it not only shows that Stanford MBAs land the highest starting pay packages of any business school graduates in the world. It also shows that from the start, they qualify as crazy rich. A conservative estimate of a Stanford MBA’s first-year average compensation this year comes to a whopping $209,150.
That sum includes base salary of $145,559, a signing bonus of $31,146, received by 55% of the graduates, and an expected first-year performance bonus of an eye-popping $64,529, expected by 72% of the Class of 2018. The total of $201,150 is adjusted to reflect the percentage of MBAs reporting sign-on and performance bonuses.
THE $209,150 TO START DOES NOT INCLUDE OTHER GOODIES
Even more surprising, perhaps, is that the total does not include the value of stock grants or options, reported by 39% of this year’s graduating class, or reimbursement for tuition or relocation expenses, or a portfolio of benefits and perks that range from auto allowances to 401K match plans. In fact, it also doesn’t include another element of starting pay, ‘other guaranteed compensation, that for the first time Stanford decided not to report. Last year, the business school noted that other guaranteed comp average out to a fairly consequential $83,065, received by one in four students.
It just goes to show that you don’t have to be Asian in Singapore to be crazy rich. You just have to be a Stanford MBA. The Class of 2018 at the GSB broke records for salaries for the fourth consecutive year, edging past last year’s all-time high average salaries by $1,000 and average sign-on bonuses by $1,600. On a median basis, the numbers were lower, with median base at $142,000, up $2K, and median sign-on unchanged at $25,000.
In comparison, the median base at Harvard Business School was $2,000 lower this year at $140,000 and that was after a $5K jump from $135,000 in 2017.
BIGGEST PAY WENT TO GRADS IN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, HEDGE FUNDS & PE
Yossi Feinberg oversees the MBA program at Stanford
The school almost seemed embarrassed by the largess, trying to spin a more altruistic story from the big numbers put up by its MBAs. “Our graduates pursued roles where they can make a difference in the world and have positive impact on the greater economy, regardless of salary,” said Yossi Feinberg, senior associate dean for academic affairs, in a statement. “That said, we’ve had another year of a strong employment market for our MBAs. Not only did our graduates break previous years’ records for compensation, but also we had a record 421 organizations hire our students for summer internships and full-time positions, a signal of the broad diversity of career paths our students followed.”
In every class, of course, the actual numbers can vary greatly by student. The highest salaries went to grads who landed jobs in investment management, where the starting average was $186,364, hedge funds ($185,000), and private equity ($164,516). There’s little wonder why nearly just as many Stanford MBAs go into finance, a field that again swallowed 31% of this year’s grads, as technology at 33%, even though the school is at the epicenter of the world’s most dynamic tech economy.
In fact, 13% of this year’ Stanford class went into private equity, more than graduates of Wharton, Columbia, or NYU Stern, the business schools known for their finance expertise. At Columbia Business School, for example, just 4.95 of the MBAs went into PE this year.
HIGHEST REPORTED SALARY: $300,000 FOR A HEDGE FUND JOB
The lowest salaries went to MBAs who accepted jobs in the non-profit sector, which still paid Stanford grads in six-figures to start with average salaries of $111,214, real estate ($118,333), and media and entertainment ($124,500). Not surprisingly, those fields attracted just 4%, 1% and 3% of the graduating class, respectively.
Then, there are the crazy, crazy rich few. The highest reported salary–$300,000–went to a Stanford MBA who took a job with a hedge fund. The highest reported sign-on bonus–$145,000–was pocketed by a graduate who signed up to work for a private equity firm. And the highest expected performance bonus–$400,000–was reported by a graduate who was hired in PE as well, though MBAs who accepted offers in hedge funds and investment management expected first-year bonuses of $300,000 and $250,000, respectively.
As anti-immigration rhetoric and worry over work visas have diminished applications from international applicants, the school brought attention to a $12,000 median salary gap between U.S. work-authorized graduates and non-U.S. work-authorized MBAs who are on student visas and annual work permits. “However, when controlled for industry and job location, the salary gap diminishes and in some cases disappears,” added Feinberg in his statement. “We saw the percentage of non-U.S. work-authorized students in the job-seeking pool who accepted jobs in the U.S. stay flat at 74% compared to last year. Behind that number, we recognize that global trends presented extra challenges to students seeking to change locations.”
Stanford University Graduate School of Business – Ethan Baron photo
95% OF GRADS HAD JOB OFFERS WITHIN THREE MONTHS OF GRADUATION
As is often the case with Stanford MBAs, job offers and acceptances often trail other business schools. That’s because Stanford grads tend to be more choosing about landing the perfect offer. But it’s also due to the fact that many Stanford MBAs prefer to spend their summer internships at Silicon Valley startups and early stage firms and then seek full-time offers with more established companies during recruiting season. At most other schools, internships are converted into early full-time job offers that lead to better-looking placement stats at graduation and three months later.
This year, the school reported that 81% of the Class of 2018 seeking employment had received at least one job offer by graduation, up from 73% last year, and 95% of the MBAs had offers three months after commencement, up from 92% in 2017. Stanford also reported that just 69% of its graduates accepted their offers by graduation, better than last year’s 64%, while 88% said ‘yes’ at the three-month mark, exactly the same percentage as last year.
In 2018, Stanford MBAs fell back in love with technology. After tech hires dropped to their lowest level since 2014 last year at 25% of the class, some 33% of this year’s graduates accepted offers in the technology industry. That’s one major difference between Stanford and its East Coast rival in Boston where only 19% of the graduating MBAs at Harvard went into tech. Stanford also reported that participation by women landing job with tech firms continued to exceed that of men for the second consecutive year.
40% OF ALL WOMEN REPORTING SALARIES WENT INTO TECH THIS YEAR
“For the second year in a row, the proportion of women going to tech was higher than for men, and this year reached a record 40% of all women who reported salaries,” said Carly Janson, acting assistant dean and director of the GSB’s Career Management Center. “Also, the number of women going to private equity and venture capital has doubled since 2014. This number is still small, but heartening.” The school, however, did not disclose exact figures on that latter trend.
At Stanford, the tech haul was slightly more than the 31% who ventured into finance. The school even added to its list of tech industry jobs, tacking on new categories in artificial intelligence, which hired just a sliver of grads at 1% of the class, as well as fintech (2%) and edtech (1%). The bulk of the tech-bound MBAs, roughly 11% of the entire class, joined firms in the software and mobile app fields. Another 7% went into internet services, while 5% headed into e-commerce.
Consulting, which tends to have a harder time enticing MBAs at Stanford than most other peer schools, slipped two percentage points this year to 18% of this year’s hires, even though the median base salary in consulting was a record high $151,400, slightly higher than the $150,000 median for consulting at Harvard Business School this year.
16% OF THE CLASS OR 68 MBAS DID THEIR OWN STARTUPS THIS YEAR
After the big three industries–finance, tech and consulting–Stanford MBAs really spread their wings. Some 5% of the class went into healthcare and biotech, with another 2% taking jobs in consumer package goods (see table on following page for industry choices over the years). A mere 1% of the class accepted offers to work in real estate, while the non-profit sector drew 4% of the class. Some 3% joined media and entertainment companies, while 1% took jobs in the energy and clean tech field.
The school reported that out of 423 graduates, 292 sought employment this year. About 16% of the class–68 graduates–started a new business this year, roughly the same percentage as last year. The top four industry choices for these entrepreneurial graduates were software (18%), consumer products (10%), healthcare (8%), and private equity (7%). The energy, nonprofit, e-commerce and e-media and entertainment industries each attracted 5% of the MBA entrepreneurs.
Twenty-eight students were sponsored and returned to their employers, while another 18 students decided to continue their education.
Only 14% of this year’s class said they landed their jobs through on-campus recruiting. nSome 9% were connected to their job opportunities due to an alumni referral, while 7% said they got their jobs by virtue of the school’s job board. Just 5% won positions through a school-assisted summer internship. All told, the school facilitated 42% of the jobs, leaving the remaining 58% of the positions gained through student efforts. In fact, 29% of the MBAs said they were able to get jobs through their own networking efforts.
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business
The post This Year’s ‘Crazy Rich’ Stanford MBAs appeared first on Poets&Quants.
from Poets&Quants
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment