Call it a tale of two tiers. If your ranking and brand are strong, your graduates make money. The deeper you go, the more average the numbers get. Let’s start at the top, where 2021 Stanford GSB grads earned more, on average, than other graduates in any other role: $177,854. And Harvard Business School ($163,747) and the Wharton School ($162,678) produced the 3rd- and 4th-highest pay averages for the Class of 2021 (behind Stanford’s consulting pay average, of course). In fact, there were 8 business schools whose graduates averaged $150K or more base salaries – and another 10 between $130K and $150K. From there, the returns level off. That said, Finance provides some pretty impressive starts to individual graduates. There were graduates from four schools – Stanford, Wharton, Harvard, and Columbia – who returned to business making $300K or more (including a Wharton MBA at $375K). Five more students landed deals worth $200K-$300K, with 26 business schools overall boasting a graduate making $160K or more to start.