2024 MBA Pay: Marketing

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School may rank as the top business school for marketing programming, but its graduates’ starting pay lags behind several peer schools. Earning $149,922 in base pay to start, Kellogg marketers rank behind five programs: Stanford GSB, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School (though Kellogg pay rose by over $6,200 between 2023 and 2024). Stanford GSB topped its peers with a $172,100 average, with 30 graduates from the Class of 2024 ultimately entering the field. That said, Stanford GSB marketing grads saw their starting pay drop by over $6,600 over the past year. Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and the University of Washington’s Foster School also punched above their ranking weight, trailing Kellogg and boasting graduates who averaged $145,873 and $142,536. This year’s highest marketing base was claimed by an MIT Sloan grad, who grossed $396,840. A Harvard Business School grad also snagged a $310,000 starting base.