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Which Business School MBA Alumni Make the Most Money?

Published: Aug 10, 2010

 Education       Grad School       

In this year's Vault Business School Student Survey, 43 percent of students and recent alumni said that employment prospects were a major factor in their decision to attend a particular MBA program. But "employment prospects" doesn't just mean ability to get a job, it means ability to get a prestigious, high paying job.

Harvard Business School graduates wave dollar bills and flags at commencementBloomberg BusinessWeek partnered with PayScale to create a list of the top business schools based on how much their MBA alumni earn in two years, 10 years and 20 years. On average, graduates from the top 45 business schools, alumni earned about $2.6 million over 20 years (about $128,000 per year). But, as BusinessWeek's Louis Lavelle points out, "you get what you pay for", and graduates of the top 10 schools earned more than 30 percent more.

So while law school GPA may be the determining factor for JD graduates' salaries, prestige is still No. 1 for business schools. In other words, an applicant should go to the best school she gets into.

Top 10 Highest Paid Business School Alumni

1. Harvard Business School
Median career total compensation for Harvard graduates: $3,867,903

2. University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Median career total compensation for Wharton graduates: $3,491,372

3. Columbia Business School
Median career total compensation for Columbia graduates: $3,349,669

4. Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Median career total compensation for Stanford graduates: $3,327,145

5. Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business
Median career total compensation for Tuck graduates: $3,146,031

6. Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management
Median career total compensation for Kellogg graduates: $3,085,680

7. MIT Sloan School of Management
Median career total compensation for Sloan graduates: $3,031,132

8. University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
Median career total compensation for Booth graduates: $2,970,437

9. University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Median career total compensation for Haas graduates: $2,960,527

10. New York University, Stern School of Business
Median career total compensation for Stern graduates: $2,918,748

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