Dreaming of working on high profile (and high pressure) deals – and the bonus checks that come with them? If money is your main motivation, think Stanford. Here, 2015 graduates pulled down $157,449, over $10,000 more, on average, than HBS graduates. Columbia Business School, long a Wall Street favorite, rounded out the top three in earnings, with graduates starting out around $132,025 (sans bonus). When it comes to breaking into finance, you need to spend money to make money. The nine highest-paying schools all rank in U.S. News’ Top 10. And you won’t find a program ranked any lower than 25th among the Top 20 schools for starting pay in finance. It’s an industry that values cachet, connections, and consistency – three strengths found in the leading MBA programs. Of course, the elite schools aren’t the only ones attracting big paychecks. At SMU (Cox), one graduate won a base salary of $162,000 – a higher wage than any 2015 graduate at Dartmouth (Tuck) or Michigan (Ross) earned And USC (Marshall) grads averaged $106,750, higher starting incomes than several Top 25 programs.