Top-to-bottom, Consulting is where MBAs earn the biggest return on their investment. Here, Stanford GSB grads vaulted over Virginia Darden, Dartmouth Tuck, Duke Fuqua, and Harvard Business School for bragging rights. The school’s $157,497 average base was a $12K boost over the previous year. However, the base is just $160 better than Cornell Johnson, which experienced a $15K surge in compensation over the past year. At the same time, Chicago Booth trailed the GSB by just $399. Overall, a dozen schools reported that first year consulting base exceeded $150K. Compare that to the other sectors, where just two schools could make the same claim (and both in Finance). To put it another way, a Texas McCombs consultant will earn more than a Harvard Business School grad in Marketing, Operations, and General Management! Here’s the kicker: over the past five years, 22 of the 50 highest-ranked programs in U.S. News have seen starting Consulting pay rise by $20K or more. At the same time, U.S. News reports that the highest bases exceeded $170K at 19 schools (with a dozen more ranging from $160K to 168K). Individually, Harvard Business School enjoyed the honors of having the highest-paid consultant at $375K.