Employment reports solidly show that MBA graduates’ salaries are on the rise. Among the top business schools that have published 2022 full-time MBA employment reports so far this year, all of them have shown a healthy jump in median starting salaries for recent grads—with some schools seeing an increase of as much as 13%. Higher market competition for MBAs has driven salary gains, and business school officials agree.
Firms “were competing for talent—and our students benefited from a really competitive employment environment,” Emily Anderson, senior director of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management’s Career Management Center, previously told Fortune. At Vanderbilt, starting pay packages for 2022 MBA grads hit an all-time high of more than $173,000. Fortune ranks Vanderbilt No. 21 on its list of full-time MBA programs.
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Other top business schools like New York University’s Stern School of Business and the University of California—Berkeley Haas School of Business reported salary increases of 10% and 6%, respectively. Fortune ranks both of these programs within the top 20 on its full-time MBA ranking, but neither are in the highly coveted list of “M7” institutions that many business school hopefuls strive to attend.
Of the M7 schools, or the “Magnificent 7,” that have released their 2022 salary data, all have shown an increase in median pay packages. Plus, all of their median base salaries are at least $150,000—and many land generous bonus packages of $30,000 and more. The M7 schools are: Harvard Business School, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Columbia Business School, Northwestern University (Kellogg), University of Chicago (Booth), and MIT (Sloan).
At Kellogg alone, median base salaries jumped $15,000 to $165,000, and median signing bonuses came in at $30,000, according to the school’s recently released 2022 salary data.
“The marketplace really wanted talent, and we had the talent,” Liza Kirkpatrick, assistant dean of the Career Management Center at Kellogg, previously told Fortune. “Our students really had to overcome COVID, and showed resilience in the process. The market was responsive to that. Our students got the jobs that they were seeking.”
Fortune compiled all of the most-recent salary, tuition, and admission statistics for the M7 schools. Note that some M7 schools have not yet released their 2022 salary figures.
Harvard Business School
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 1
Median base salary: $175,000 (2022 figures)
Median signing bonus: $30,000
Tuition: $73,440 per year
Average GMAT score: 730
Average undergrad GPA: 3.7
Acceptance rate: 13%
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 6
Median base salary: $156,000 (2021 figures)
Median signing bonus: $26,500
Tuition: $76,950 per year
Average GMAT score: 738
Average undergrad GPA: 3.78
Acceptance rate: 6.2%
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 4
Median base salary: $155,000 (2021 figures)
Tuition: $84,874 (first year)
Average GMAT score: 733
Average undergrad GPA: 3.6
Acceptance rate: 18%
Columbia Business School
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 5
Median base salary: $150,000 (2021 figures)
Median signing bonus: $30,000
Tuition: $80,472 per year
Average GMAT score: 729
Average undergrad GPA: 3.5
Acceptance rate: 19%
Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 3
Median base salary: $165,000 (2022 figures)
Median signing bonus: $30,000
Tuition: $78,276 per year
Average GMAT score: 727
Average undergrad GPA: 3.7
Acceptance rate: 26%
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 2
Median base salary: $175,000 (2022 figures)
Median signing bonus: $30,000
Tuition: $77,841 per year
Average GMAT score: 732
Average undergrad GPA: 3.54
Acceptance rate: 22.63%
MIT Sloan School of Management
Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 9
Median base salary: $150,000 (2021 figures)
Median signing bonus: $30,000
Tuition: $80,400
Average GMAT score: 728
Average undergrad GPA: 3.5
Acceptance rate: 12%
Check out all of Fortune’s rankings of degree programs, and learn more about specific career paths.
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