Stanford GSB Employment Report Reveals Record Salaries & Employers
For the fourth year in a row, Stanford GSB MBA graduates earned record high salaries with the mean base salary reaching $145,559. According to the 2018 Employment Report, this broke last year’s record compensation. On top of that, this year Stanford GSB grads also received jobs from a record 421 organizations for both summer internships and full-time positions. This demonstrated the broad appeal and diversity of Stanford MBAs.
Tech and Private Equity Interest Jump
Other highlights from this year’s employment report included an increase in interest in the technology industry. In fact, in 2018 it was the most popular industry, garnering 33 percent of alumni—an 8 percent jump from last year. Other top industries included finance, which garnered 31 percent of graduates with private equity being the most sought after area with 13 percent of graduates.
Since three years ago, the percentage of women going into private equity and venture capital has doubled. As for tech, this year a record 40 percent of women chose to work in the tech industry. This shift has many explanations, not the least of which is the coursework taught at Stanford. For Ashley Brasier (MBA ’18), all it took was the class “Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital from the Perspective of Women” to change her course from consumer tech to VC.
“This class showed me that there are several different paths into VC, and empowered me to pursue VC opportunities,” Brasier says.
This year, the number of non-U.S. work-authorized students who accepted jobs in the U.S. stayed flat at 74 percent. More likely than not, this is a result of global trends that are causing extra challenges for students seeking to move locations. This was also reflected in the $12,000 median salary gap between U.S. work-authorized and non-U.S. work-authorized graduates. However, “when controlled for industry and job location, for example in emerging markets, the salary gap diminishes and in some cases disappears,” says Yossi Feinberg, the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Higher Salaries and Steady Job Offers
This year, MBA graduates received the highest salaries ever. The median and average base compensation ranged from $142,000 to $145,559 respectively—$2,000 and $1,000 over last year’s record. Signing bonuses also increased this year by $1,600 to a record $31,146, with an unchanged median at $25,000.
Salaries also increased when it came to cash performance bonuses. This year, 72 percent of the class said they expected a bonus over last year’s 66 percent with average expected bonuses of $64,527. As for stock compensation, 39 percent of the class—nearly two out of every five students—reported stock compensation of some kind.
“This year, 72 percent of the class said they expected a bonus over last year’s 66 percent with average expected bonuses of $64,527.”
And when it came to job offers, numbers remained unchanged. For the Class of 2018, 88 percent of the class accepted offers 90 days after graduates with 95 percent receiving offers. As for where students received these offers, a record 421 organizations hired Stanford graduates this year.
“Our leading employers span a wide variety of industries—consulting, finance, technology, consumer products, healthcare, and nonprofits—but what they have in common are work environments that offer the ability to make an impact, optimize on career development, and provide diverse challenges and responsibilities,” says Carly Janson, the Action Assistant Dean and Director of the Career Management Center.
“In turn, our graduates chose opportunities they felt passionate about, and opportunities to make the world a better place.”
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from its original source, Clear Admit.
After Extensive Search, Stanford GSB Names New Assistant Dean of Admissions
The void created last August when long-time Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) MBA admissions czar Derrick Bolton left has been filled. The school announced today that Kirsten Moss has been named the new assistant dean and director of MBA admissions and financial aid.
Moss is no stranger to Stanford’s admissions office, having served as part of the team from 2004 to 2010, first as a consultant, then as associate director of evaluation and finally as director of MBA admissions. During her time with the Palo Alto school, she managed the evaluation, marketing and operations teams while also developing a new approach to assessing leadership capability. Prior to joining Stanford, she led admissions and financial aid at her alma mater, Harvard Business School (HBS), from 1995 to 2001. She immediately preceded Deirdre Leopold, who would go on to hold HBS’s key admissions director role for the next decade and a half.
Moss left Stanford in 2010 to work as a consultant for global executive search firm Egon Zehnder before launching her own consulting firm in 2012, which she has run for the past five years. Over the same span of time she also obtained her doctorate in psychology—with a focus in organizational behavior—from William James College, which boasts the largest graduate psychology program in New England.
“Kirsten has a strong understanding of our school’s vision and immediately impressed us with her ideas for connecting with the next generation of students making a positive, measurable difference in the world,” Stanford GSB Dean Jonathan Levin said in a statement announcing her appointment. “Kirsten brings a wealth of knowledge and experience—from top-tier MBA admissions programs to business consulting—and will provide fresh insight as we achieve new levels of excellence.”
Moss’s appointment concludes an extensive search chaired by Stanford Senior Academic Dean Yossi Feinberg that included interviews with faculty, staff, students and alumni. She will assume the new role on June 1 and will report to Feinberg. “Kirsten has deep experience in admissions and leadership talent evaluation both inside and outside Stanford GSB,” Feinberg said in a statement.
Moss, who holds both MBA and bachelor’s degrees from Harvard, is excited to return to Stanford, where she will manage the admissions and financial team and have responsibility for shaping the school’s vision for how to continue to reach and recruit the world’s most highly qualified MBA candidates. Stanford has long held the claim as the most selective business school in the world. Last year, it admitted just 6.1 percent of the more than 8,000 hopefuls who applied.
“Stanford GSB has a rich legacy of equipping students with the tools necessary to create change—individually, within organizations and throughout the world,” Moss said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to join the team in this new capacity as we work together to cultivate the next generation of leaders poised to make an impact.”
Learn more about Stanford GSB’s new assistant dean and director of MBA admissions here.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
