How Much is the MBA Salary of Graduate

When considering an Online MBA Course or a Certified MBA program, one question that most MBA students would ask is the MBA salary or salaries of graduates. That is also the reason why the Financial Times (FT) used the total weights of 40% assigned to MBA salary of graduate when they calculate top MBA rankings of business schools.

So, how much is the MBA salary that a graduate of an Online MBA Course or certified MBA program get? Or rather, if you are a potential Online MBA Course student (which is likely the case), how much MBA salary do you hope to get?

As the MBA salary of graduates from an Online MBA Course or certified MBA programs also depends on a number of other criteria such as the total years of experience that the MBA graduate has, there are few criteria which you may want to consider to evaluate the MBA salary and the worth of the Online MBA Course that you intend to pursue. Perhaps a fairer way of evaluating the MBA salary is also to look at the percentage increase to the salary of the MBA graduate.

You should also understand that an Online MBA Course from a branded school is also likely to give you a higher potential to earn high MBA salary. However, the investment in the certified MBA or Online MBA Course offered by these business schools is also higher. Hence, MBA graduates from different business school will get a different MBA salary.

The economic outlook at the time of the MBA graduating also is an important factor. Take for example, MBA graduates from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Officials there had reported that the salaries of MBA graduate had soared by a 17.4 percent increase.

The followings are a tabulation of MBA salaries by geography in the year 1997:


Geography Percentage Salary Average SalaryRange
International 7% $71,667 $55,000-85,000
Mid-Atlantic 8% $78,000 $60,000-90,000
Midwest 62% $80,268 $52,000-110,000
Northeast 9% $77,417 $67,500-87,000
South 2% $80,000 $78,000-80,000
West 12% $79,414 $52,500-118,000

Naturally, different industry or MBA specialization, also gets different MBA salary. The followings are a tabulation of MBA salaries by industry and percentage for the year 1997:

Industry Percentage Salary Average Salary Range
Banking 6% $75,000 $55,000-90,000
Consulting 14% $84,583 $67,500-110,000
Consumer Products 19% $78,923 $68,000-87,000
Financial Services 22% $80,500 $52,000-110,000
Manufacturing 15% $78,640 $63,000-100,000
Healthcare 2% $78,000 $71,000-85,000
Technology 5% $86,833 $65,000-118,000
Other 7% $77,750 $52,500-100,000

As we fast-forward to the year 2008, how much has changed for the MBA salaries? The figure looks encouraging and would be a great motivation for those who are currently pursuing their certified MBA program or Online MBA Course.

The following tabulations of MBA salary is extracted from the Financial Times 2008 MBA ranking. These figures are not just limited to Online MBA Course but are a tabulation of all certified MBA programs.

In terms of the weighted MBA salary, the followings are the top 20 MBA schools where their MBA graduates earned the most weighted MBA salaries:

Indian School of Business USD169355
Stanford University GSB USD167225
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton USD165859
Columbia Business School USD165123
Harvard Business School USD162316
MIT: Sloan U.S.A. USD155160
Ceibs China USD154144
Dartmouth College: Tuck U.S.A. USD151673
IMD Switzerland USD150775
University of Chicago GSB U.S.A. USD148978
University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business South Africa USD148975
Insead France / Singapore USD146878
London Business School U.K. USD144918
UCLA: Anderson U.S.A. USD140058
University of Oxford: Saïd U.K. USD139684
New York University: Stern U.S.A. USD137548
Yale School of Management U.S.A. USD136318
Northwestern University: Kellogg USD135646
Cranfield School of Management USD134125
UC Berkeley: Haas U.S.A. USD131830

As what was mentioned in the first part of this article, as the MBA salary of a graduate from Online MBA Course or certified MBA program is affected by many factors, another important indication to the worth of the MBA programs is looking at the percentage increases of the MBA salary.

The followings are the top 20 MBA schools where their MBA graduates had the highest percentage increase of post-MBA salaries:


Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China - 177%
IE Business School Spain - 158%
Ceibs China - 157%
Ipade Mexico - 145%
Columbia Business School U.S.A. - 144%
Iese Business School Spain - 144%
University of Strathclyde Business School U.K. - 143%
Yale School of Management U.S.A. - 140%
MIT: Sloan U.S.A. - 133%
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton U.S.A. - 132%
University of Cambridge: Judge U.K. - 130%
Emory University: Goizueta U.S.A. - 130%
University of Iowa: Tippie U.S.A. - 130%
Indian School of Business India - 129%
University of Chicago GSB U.S.A. - 128%
New York University: Stern U.S.A. - 128%
Lancaster University Management School U.K. - 127%
London Business School U.K. - 126%
HEC Paris France - 126%
Esade Business School Spain - 126%

The tabulation shows that within 3 year of graduating from a certified MBA program or Online MBA Course, an MBA graduate could expect a salary increase of 100 percent compared to their salaries before they pursue the MBA.

Does this give you enough reason to consider pursuing an MBA? Salaries aside, there are many other considerations such as the initial financial investment and the time commitment. Financing your MBA is a heavy commitment. So is the time commitment. However, you now have the option of getting your certified MBA by pursuing an Online MBA Course instead.