Getting Paid: The Highest MBA Salaries in Philadelphia
Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Love—or shove, depending on which out-of-town sports jersey you might be wearing out in public.
Jokes aside, Philly’s rep as the “City That Bombed Itself” or a town Vice once described as “an entire population of high school dropouts unite[d] in their worship of a fictional character from a boxing movie that came out 40 years ago,” is rapidly transforming into something unprecedented—a desirable place for the young and upwardly mobile to hang their hats.
Philly’s mix of unpretentious grit and colonial sophistication has become increasingly enviable to its neighbors both north and south sick of the New York and Washington DC rat races. The food scene, typified by upscale-yet-affordable cuisine from masters Garces, Vetri and Starr, is a national treasure while the rent remains humane—for now. While it’s no secret the city is teeming with American landmarks at every turn, never has Philly been more of a tourist hotspot than now. In a surprising move, the New York Times placed Philly as the third best travel destination on the 2015 edition of its annual “52 places to go” list.
With this backdrop in mind, b-schoolers might do themselves a service to earn an MBA in the city. While the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania sells itself, Philadelphia has a number of excellent programs that cater to a variety of industrial pursuits. Let’s take a closer look at the top four highest paid Philadelphia MBA salaries for recent graduates.
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business
According to 2016 MBA class statistics, the average starting salary for Wharton School graduates is roughly $125,000 with over 98 percent of graduates receiving offers within thee months of graduation. The top three industries that employ Wharton graduates are within consulting (26.6 percent), financial services (35.1 percent) and tech (12.6 percent). Wharton graduates who pursue careers in consulting can expect starting salaries around $145,000, while those in financial services can expect around $125,000. Graduates with positions in the tech industry are paid around $120,000 annually. Top employers of Wharton’s 2016 class include Amazon, Apple, Bain & Company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Comcast, Deloitte, Google, JP Morgan, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Pepsico and Uber, among others.
Villanova School of Business
According to Percept Research, a Charlotte-based market research organization that works with the Villanova School of Business, part-time Flex MBA graduates earn an mean starting salary of $100,597, while part-time Fast MBA grads can expect a mean salary of $109,344.
Drexel’s LeBow College of Business
On average, Drexel LeBow College of Business graduates can expect to start their careers in the $84,000 range. According to statistics supplied by the school, the most popular industries are technology, financial services and pharmaceuticals. LeBow graduates work for a broad range of companies, but top employers include Vanguard, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, Comcast and SEI.
Temple’s Fox School of Business
Temple Fox graduates from the class of 2016 earned an average starting salary of around $85,000, according to statistics from Forbes and U.S. News. The top employers of Fox graduates include Aramark, Cigna, Comcast, Deloitte, JPMorgan, Lincoln Financial Group, Prudential Financial, PwC, QVC, Target, Temple University and Walmart, among other companies. Accounting (12 percent), finance and banking (19 percent) and insurance (17 percent) are the top three industries to employ Fox graduates. Approximately 91 percent of the 2016 class found employment within six months of graduation.
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
