Despite a loss of luster – not to mention a decrease in students – over the past 10 years, finance still reigns in terms of pay. Here, Stanford GSB outpaced everyone with the Class of 2017 pulling down $161,449 – nearly $8,000 more than Wharton and $21,000 better than the Wharton School. The biggest pay growth for finance, has been occurring where people might not expect. Notably, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, which carries a “quant” reputation, reported that finance grads from the 2017 Class came away with an $11,505 pay improvement since 2015. The picture was even rosier at the University of Washington Foster, where pay jumped nearly $17K over the past two years.
| U.S. News Rank | School | 2017 Finance Low | 2015 Finance Low | 2017 Finance Average | 2015 Finance Average | 2 Year Difference | 2017 Finance High | 2015 Finance High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Harvard | $64,700 | $4,000 | $152,989 | $146,993 | $5,996 | $300,000 | $250,000 |
| 11 | University of Chicago (Booth) | $75,000 | $82,093 | $125,851 | $125,046 | $805 | $225,000 | $225,000 |
| 33 | Wharton | $81,000 | $54,000 | $141,218 | $131,158 | $10,060 | $325,000 | $300,000 |
| 44 | Stanford | $60,000 | $85,000 | $161,097 | $157,449 | $3,648 | $285,000 | $267,000 |
| 55 | MIT (Sloan) | $73,000 | $90,000 | $123,688 | $129,114 | -$5,426 | $225,000 | $185,000 |
| 66 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | $100,000 | $90,000 | $128,208 | $125,055 | $3,153 | $225,000 | $200,000 |
| 77 | California-Berkeley (Haas) | $60,000 | $52,800 | $120,968 | $121,572 | -$604 | $300,000 | $225,000 |
| 88 | Michigan (Ross) | $100,000 | $51,996 | $118,943 | $112,498 | $6,445 | $150,000 | $160,000 |
| 99 | Columbia | $48,000 | $60,000 | $128,019 | $132,025 | -$4,006 | $250,000 | $250,000 |
| 1010 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | NA | $75,000 | $129,293 | $119,744 | $9,549 | NA | $155,000 |
| 1111 | Duke (Fuqua) | $64,000 | $60,000 | $120,366 | $118,238 | $2,128 | $185,000 | $175,000 |
| 1212 | Yale SOM | $42,500 | $65,000 | $116,581 | $116,687 | -$106 | $225,000 | $210,000 |
| 1313 | Virginia (Darden) | $50,000 | $70,000 | $120,514 | $118,177 | $2,337 | $150,500 | $128,000 |
| 1313 | New York University (Stern) | $50,000 | $50,000 | $119,566 | $115,495 | $4,071 | $168,000 | $150,000 |
| 1515 | Cornell (Johnson) | $70,000 | $65,000 | $122,208 | $118,115 | $4,093 | $180,000 | $200,000 |
| 1616 | UCLA (Anderson) | $60,000 | $80,000 | $117,825 | $115,795 | $2,030 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| 1717 | Texas (McCombs) | $80,000 | $72,000 | $116,638 | $113,464 | $3,174 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| 1717 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | $60,000 | $36,000 | $116,333 | $104,828 | $11,505 | $150,000 | $130,000 |
| 1919 | North Carolina (Kenan Flagler) | $72,000 | $50,000 | $112,757 | $110,600 | $2,157 | $155,000 | $133,000 |
| 2020 | Emory (Goizueta) | $80,000 | $50,000 | $112,273 | $104,028 | $8,245 | $125,000 | $130,000 |
| 2020 | USC (Marshall) | $80,000 | $45,000 | $111,354 | $106,750 | $4,604 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| 2222 | University of Washington (Foster) | $92,500 | $62,000 | $112,971 | $96,140 | $16,831 | $125,000 | $120,000 |
| 2323 | Rice (Jones) | $67,455 | $24,000 | $111,382 | $107,018 | $4,364 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| 2424 | Washington U. (Olin) | $58,000 | $65,000 | $98,316 | $101,833 | -$3,517 | $130,000 | $134,000 |
| 2525 | Georgetown (McDonough) | $36,000 | $60,000 | $111,050 | $110,496 | $554 | $170,000 | $130,000 |
| 2626 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | $60,000 | $70,000 | $109,120 | $106,889 | $2,231 | $125,000 | $135,000 |
| 2727 | Indiana (Kelley) | $75,000 | $70,000 | $101,389 | $105,045 | -$3,656 | $125,000 | $150,000 |
| 2828 | Georgia Tech (Scheller) | $50,000 | $53,000 | $88,000 | $95,500 | -$7,500 | $115,000 | $125,000 |
| 2929 | Minnesota (Carlson) | $75,000 | $85,000 | $101,250 | $103,333 | -$2,083 | $125,000 | $125,000 |
| 2929 | Arizona State (Carey) | $80,000 | $70,000 | $94,601 | $98,000 | -$3,399 | $107,000 | $130,000 |
| 3131 | Notre Dame (Mendoza) | $60,000 | $62,000 | $106,685 | $105,400 | $1,285 | $145,000 | $130,000 |
| 3131 | Penn State (Smeal) | $80,000 | $52,000 | $91,250 | $100,500 | -$9,250 | $105,000 | $125,000 |
| 3131 | Ohio State (Fisher) | $55,000 | $72,000 | $86,629 | $95,300 | -$8,671 | $110,000 | $128,000 |
| 3434 | Florida (Warrington) | $72,500 | $70,000 | $89,962 | $99,000 | -$9,038 | $110,000 | $115,000 |
| 3535 | BYU (Marriott) | $80,000 | $75,000 | $106,613 | $101,292 | $5,321 | $133,000 | $125,000 |
| 3636 | Texas A&M (Mays) | $90,000 | $75,000 | $103,136 | $93,000 | $10,136 | $140,000 | $115,000 |
| 3737 | Wisconsin | $50,000 | $65,000 | $92,956 | $103,000 | -$10,044 | $130,000 | $125,000 |
| 3737 | Michigan State (Broad) | $80,000 | $80,000 | $90,033 | $95,900 | -$5,867 | $110,000 | $105,000 |
| 3838 | California-Davis | $70,000 | $74,000 | $94,988 | $98,750 | -$3,762 | $111,870 | $125,000 |
| 4040 | Georgia (Terry) | $75,000 | NA | $92,429 | NA | NA | $105,000 | NA |
| 4040 | Texas-Dallas (Jindal) | $60,000 | NA | $80,667 | NA | NA | $104,000 | NA |
| 4242 | California-Irvine (Merage) | $68,000 | $70,000 | $96,400 | $88,970 | $7,430 | $114,400 | $120,000 |
| 4242 | Boston U. (Questrom) | $40,000 | $63,000 | $84,571 | $90,600 | -$6,029 | $120,000 | $130,000 |
| 4444 | Rochester (Simon) | $75,000 | $50,000 | $105,027 | $94,743 | $10,284 | $137,000 | $125,000 |
| 4444 | Rutgers | $66,000 | NA | $94,000 | NA | NA | $110,000 | NA |
| 4444 | Tennessee (Haslam | $65,000 | NA | $80,000 | NA | NA | $100,000 | NA |
| 4444 | Utah (Eccles) | $61,880 | NA | $72,293 | NA | NA | $80,000 | NA |
| 4848 | Boston College (Carroll) | $65,000 | $56,000 | $96,633 | $90,579 | $6,054 | $123,000 | $120,000 |
| 4848 | Maryland (Smith) | $72,500 | $65,000 | $95,078 | $86,625 | $8,453 | $110,000 | $110,000 |
| 4848 | Illinois | $70,000 | $85,000 | $95,000 | $94,000 | $1,000 | $125,000 | $104,000 |
| 4848 | SMU (Cox) | $64,000 | $58,000 | $93,828 | $101,321 | -$7,493 | $150,000 | $162,000 |
| 5252 | Pittsburgh (Katz) | $60,000 | NA | $98,833 | NA | NA | $135,000 | NA |
| 5353 | Purdue (Krannert) | $60,000 | $62,000 | $82,286 | $88,400 | -$6,114 | $104,000 | $106,000 |
| 5959 | George Washington | $36,000 | NA | $63,262 | NA | NA | $85,000 | NA |
| 6969 | Arizona (Eller) | $60,000 | NA | $70,000 | NA | NA | $80,000 | NA |
