The East Coast is packed with blue chip business programs like Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan, Dartmouth Tuck, Cornell, Columbia, and NYU Stern. While eastern firms hire MBAs from their backyard in bulk, they pay the most to West Coast grads. Like the Class of 2015, last spring’s Stanford GSB grads cashed the highest paychecks -- $143,195, which is nearly $9,500 more than the previous year. Why does the Cardinal fly so high out east? For one, Stanford GSB grads also collect the biggest bases in finance ($161,097). Here’s the big surprise: the second highest pay belonged to the University of California-Berkeley Haas, where the class’ base pay came in at $140,813 – over $15,000 better than the class’ base overall. USC Marshall MBAs have also grown increasingly popular with east coast firms, with Trojan base rocketing up by $18,473. Despite this, the biggest pay jump belongs to an East Coast stalwart, with 2017 Wharton grads besting their predecessors by $28,304. Wharton grads also tied their Tuck brethren in 2017 for high pay at $325,000 (with a Harvard Business School grad close behind at $300,000). Overall, five East Coast programs – Harvard, Wharton, Dartmouth Tuck, MIT Sloan, and Cornell Johnson – ranked among the Top 8 programs for base pay.