The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School may have ranked 3rd overall, but it excelled where it mattered: First year pay. It also tied with Tuck for the highest overall base pay: $325,000. Alas, Stanford GSB finished just a median $325 behind Wharton, with its base pay leading all comers at $144,455. HBS rounded out the trio at $158,049. Looking for surprises? Virginia Darden and Cornell Johnson ranked among the Top 6 programs for pay, despite ranking 13th and 15th overall respectively. At the opposite end, Northwestern Kellogg ($146,259) and Berkeley Haas ($146,752) lagged behind higher-ranked peer programs, despite base pay that’s comparable to them.
| U.S. News Rank | School | Overall Pay | Base Low | Base Average | Base High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Harvard | $158,049 | $52,000 | $137,293 | $300,000 |
| 11 | University of Chicago (Booth) | $151,085 | $65,000 | $129,442 | $225,000 |
| 33 | Wharton | $159,815 | $50,000 | $135,716 | $325,000 |
| 44 | Stanford | $159,440 | $30,000 | $144,455 | $285,000 |
| 55 | MIT (Sloan) | $148,451 | $48,250 | $128,301 | $225,000 |
| 66 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | $146,259 | $45,000 | $128,192 | $225,000 |
| 77 | California-Berkeley (Haas) | $146,752 | $36,000 | $125,572 | $300,000 |
| 88 | Michigan (Ross) | $150,052 | $75,500 | $124,702 | $180,000 |
| 99 | Columbia | $151,849 | $40,000 | $128,343 | $250,000 |
| 1010 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | $152,805 | $45,551 | $127,986 | $325,000 |
| 1111 | Duke (Fuqua) | $147,857 | $52,000 | $122,989 | $200,000 |
| 1212 | Yale SOM | $137,155 | $18,654 | $121,937 | $225,000 |
| 1313 | Virginia (Darden) | $153,576 | $50,000 | $124,684 | $170,000 |
| 1313 | New York University (Stern) | $146,024 | $50,000 | $121,146 | $190,000 |
| 1515 | Cornell (Johnson) | $152,207 | $60,000 | $125,578 | $190,000 |
| 1616 | UCLA (Anderson) | $141,197 | $48,000 | $119,964 | $180,000 |
| 1717 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | $145,463 | $50,000 | $120,942 | $152,500 |
| 1717 | Texas (McCombs) | $139,406 | $50,000 | $116,403 | $150,000 |
| 1919 | North Carolina (Kenan Flagler) | $131,469 | $50,000 | $111,082 | $155,000 |
| 2020 | Emory (Goizueta) | $143,410 | $72,500 | $119,665 | $152,500 |
| 2020 | USC (Marshall) | $135,812 | $80,000 | $118,110 | $160,000 |
| 2222 | University of Washington (Foster) | $143,674 | $82,500 | $119,904 | $156,000 |
| 2323 | Rice (Jones) | $131,821 | $67,455 | $113,349 | $152,500 |
| 2424 | Washington U. (Olin) | $125,420 | $41,000 | $106,812 | $152,500 |
| 2525 | Georgetown (McDonough) | $130,588 | $36,000 | $112,501 | $170,000 |
| 2626 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | $134,066 | $60,000 | $113,205 | $208,000 |
| 2727 | Indiana (Kelley) | $120,649 | $50,000 | $100,874 | $180,000 |
| 2828 | Georgia Tech (Scheller) | $124,895 | $50,000 | $106,115 | $147,000 |
| 2929 | Minnesota (Carlson) | $122,791 | $42,000 | $106,129 | $152,000 |
| 2929 | Arizona State (Carey) | $111,484 | $78,000 | $98,633 | $135,000 |
| 3131 | Penn State (Smeal) | $124,858 | $55,000 | $105,462 | $152,500 |
| 3131 | Notre Dame (Mendoza) | $123,549 | $57,200 | $107,230 | $160,000 |
| 3131 | Ohio State (Fisher) | $107,806 | $55,000 | $96,034 | $160,000 |
| 3434 | Florida (Warrington) | $115,510 | $66,000 | $100,863 | $147,500 |
| 3535 | BYU (Marriott) | $119,434 | $52,000 | $102,534 | $150,000 |
| 3636 | Texas A&M (Mays) | $116,972 | $79,000 | $105,910 | $147,000 |
| 3737 | Michigan State (Broad) | $116,637 | $40,000 | $101,836 | $152,000 |
| 3737 | Wisconsin | $108,754 | $42,500 | $97,237 | $140,000 |
| 3838 | California-Davis | $97,325 | $60,300 | $95,603 | $141,000 |
| 4040 | Georgia (Terry) | $100,200 | $60,000 | $90,250 | $126,500 |
| 4040 | Texas-Dallas (Jindal) | $91,270 | $60,000 | $87,522 | $124,000 |
| 4242 | Boston U. (Questrom) | $104,636 | $23,500 | $95,471 | $150,000 |
| 4242 | California-Irvine (Merage) | $104,413 | $48,000 | $97,808 | $145,000 |
| 4444 | Rochester (Simon) | $116,294 | $65,000 | $102,046 | $147,000 |
| 4444 | Rutgers | $108,939 | $61,900 | $97,546 | $125,000 |
| 4444 | Tennessee (Haslam | $96,995 | $40,000 | $84,176 | $140,000 |
| 4444 | Utah (Eccles) | $93,869 | $51,300 | $88,143 | $125,000 |
| 4848 | Maryland (Smith) | $112,991 | $62,000 | $100,934 | $135,000 |
| 4848 | Boston College (Carroll) | $108,865 | $50,000 | $100,698 | $180,000 |
| 4848 | SMU (Cox) | $105,644 | $64,000 | $96,140 | $150,000 |
| 4848 | Illinois | $103,435 | $55,000 | $95,295 | $180,000 |
| 5252 | Pittsburgh (Katz) | $95,722 | $37,440 | $88,358 | $135,000 |
| 5353 | Purdue (Krannert) | $101,344 | $60,000 | $91,491 | $135,000 |
| 5959 | George Washington | $95,990 | $36,000 | $87,458 | $125,000 |
| 6969 | Arizona (Eller) | $88,979 | $60,000 | $82,315 | $147,500 |
