Why Selecting MBA Programs Based on Specialization is Important

Post MBA Salary remains a critical criterion for selecting Business Schools. We have analyzed the data from Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, and found some interesting trends on salary growth for top MBA programs before and after two financial crisis – IT Crash of 2001 and Financial Meltdown of 2008.

The analysis is based on the weighted salary data collected by FT. The Weighted Salary in $ is the average salary earned by MBA Alumnus after three years of graduation, adjusted against variations across different industries. This means that the weighted salary collected in 2013 is the salary earned by a 2009 graduated MBA student.

2001 Crash

We looked at the salary growth rate of top MBA programs before the IT Bust in 2001, and the following three years.


 
Data from 2000 to 2002 shows the salary growth of top MBA programs reaching a peak in 2000 with annual growth rate touching 26.6% for Stanford Graduate School of Business and 25.84% for MIT Sloan – two schools known to attract highly qualified Engineers and consultants.

The impact of 2001 IT crash was felt from 2001 to 2003. Since FT calculated three-year weighted average salary, we looked into the salary growth from 2003 to 2005 to understand the impact over the 3-year time period.

Impact – Post 2001 Crash
 

Stanford MBA program’s salary declined by 10.41% in 2004, closely followed by Harvard Business School at 7.99% and 7.11% at MIT Sloan.

2008 – Financial Meltdown

To understand the recovery after 2001, we looked at the salary growth from 2006 to 2009 to understand how top MBA programs have recovered.

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For Complete Analysis, Download F1GMAT's MBA Research Guide (Find out which school has the potential to withstand even the 2008 Financial Crisis, one of the worst in History)