Cornell MBA Salary: By Industry (2025) (Analysis)

In this in-depth analysis of the Cornell MBA Salary and Placements for the 2025 graduating class by industry, we cover Financial Services, Investment Banking, Consulting, Technology, Consumer Product Goods, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Energy Industries.

•    Financial Services Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Over 40% Enter the Industry

•    Consulting Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Fall in Representation But Cornell’s Strength

•    Technology Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Cornell’s Curriculum Couldn’t Help

•    Consumer Product Goods Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Value Play 

•    Healthcare Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Big Salary Dip at Cornell MBA

•    Manufacturing Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Cornell MBAs Gain

•    Energy & Utilities Salary and Placements at Cornell MBA: Outlier Strength

Financial Services and Cornell MBA’s Dominance in Investment Banking: Over 40% Enter the Industry

Financial Services remains the primary destination for the 2025 cohort, with 41% of graduates entering the field. This represents a minor 1% decrease from the previous year, but more importantly, it marks the sector's resilience during a period of high interest rates and regulatory scrutiny. The median base salary held firm at $175,000, signaling that while firms are not necessarily expanding their intake, they are maintaining a strict compensation floor for top-tier talent. This "stability" was largely protected by a resurgence in the M&A sector during Q1 and Q2 of 2025. After a prolonged drought in deals, global deal-making saw a double-digit percentage growth in value as corporations sought to consolidate market share before 2026.
The sectoral narrative during the latter half of 2024 was dominated by "deal-making readiness." Investment banks and private equity firms moved away from the "wait-and-see" approach of 2023, shifting instead to active pipeline management.

At Cornell MBA: 70% of All Finance Placements in Investment Banking

For Cornellians, this translated into high demand within Investment Banking, which accounted for nearly 70% of all finance placements. The quarterly data from Q4 2024 shows that firms like Citi and J.P. Morgan began prioritizing candidates who could navigate the complexities of cross-border deals and mid-market consolidations, particularly in the tech-finance and energy-transition verticals. Consequently, the industry functioned as a safe harbor, absorbing the largest share of the class at a compensation level that remains the benchmark for the program.

Consulting Contraction: Fall in Representation But Cornell’s Strength

Consulting witnessed the most significant shift in volume, falling from 31% to 28% of the total hires. This 3-point decline is not an isolated event but a reflection of the global consulting "utilization crisis" that peaked in late 2024. During this period, major strategy firms faced a surplus of staff relative to active billable projects, leading to more aggressive "selectivity" on campus. 

However, the median salary stayed at $175,000. This suggests that the market for elite consulting talent has not "crashed" but has instead become highly concentrated; firms are only hiring for high-margin, specialized roles where the $175k investment is justified by immediate client demand.

Fundamental Shift in Consulting Roles

Throughout Q3 2024 and Q1 2025, the consulting industry underwent a fundamental pivot. The era of broad, multi-year strategy engagements gave way to "Outcome-Based Consulting" and "AI-Transformation" projects. Firms were less interested in generalist MBAs and more focused on those who could demonstrate immediate value in operational efficiency or digital infrastructure.

Pre-MBA Experience Influenced Cornell MBA Consulting Placements

Data from Q2 2025 indicates that hiring was heavily skewed toward firms that won large-scale digital transformation contracts. This shift forced students to compete for a smaller pool of offers, where the premium was placed on pre-MBA experience and specialized industry knowledge rather than just the MBA degree itself.

Technology’s Downward Compensation Spiral: Cornell’s Curriculum Couldn’t Help

The Technology and Telecommunications sector remained steady in terms of hiring volume at 11%, but the compensation data reveals a sobering reality. 

Cornell MBA: Technology Salary Fell Sharply

The median base salary fell from $142,800 to $133,700, a drop of approximately 6.4%. This is a direct consequence of the "Year of Efficiency," which saw Big Tech players like Amazon and Google slashing middle-management layers and recalibrating their entry-level MBA compensation. The stable 11% hire rate indicates that tech firms still value the MBA pipeline, but they are no longer willing to pay the massive "growth premiums" seen in previous years.

Big Tech Moved Away from SaaS and Traditional Cloud Business

The quarterly analysis from Q4 2024 to Q2 2025 highlights a shift from "Big Tech" to "Enterprise Tech." While the household names remained active, a larger portion of the 2025 cohort found roles in SaaS, Cloud Infrastructure, and AI startups. These firms often offer lower base salaries compared to the peak FAANG levels, focusing instead on equity and performance bonuses which are not reflected in the base salary data. 

Hiring Profile Changed: Cornell MBA Candidates Entering Technology Could Not Pivot

Furthermore, the hiring profile changed; tech firms in early 2025 began looking for "Technical Product Managers" (TPMs) over generalist PMs. For students, this meant that the barrier to entry into the highest-paying tech roles became significantly higher, resulting in a broader range of salaries that pulled the median downward.

Consumer Product Goods Emerged: Value Play for Cornell MBA Graduates

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) saw its hiring share grow from 4% to 5%, marking it as one of the few sectors to expand its footprint in the 2025 report. 

While the median salary saw a negligible decrease to $126,000, the sector's appeal grew as a "counter-cyclical" hedge against the volatility seen in Consulting and Tech. 

Between Q3 2024 and Q2 2025, the CPG industry was forced to move away from inflation-driven price increases and focus on volume-driven growth. This required a new type of MBA talent: one capable of mastering complex e-commerce analytics and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) strategies.

End of Brand Loyalty and Rise of Value-Conscious Consumer

By Q1 2025, the CPG market was increasingly defined by the "Value-Conscious Consumer." Giants like PepsiCo and P&G began investing heavily in data-driven supply chain management and sustainable branding to retain market share. The hiring increase at Cornell reflects this industrial need for "Modern Brand Managers", leaders who can merge traditional marketing with advanced data analytics. The reporting period showed that while CPG does not offer the high-ceiling salaries of Finance, it offers a more stable career progression and a faster path to P&L ownership, making it a strategic choice for students prioritizing job security and CXO roles in an uncertain economy.

Healthcare’s Demand for Operational Efficiency: Big Salary Dip at Cornell MBA

The Healthcare sector saw a marginal increase in hiring, rising from 3% in 2024 to 4% in 2025. However, this growth came at the cost of a significant "salary correction," with the median base salary dropping from $142,500 to $137,000. This $5,500 reduction reflects a fundamental change in the hiring mix within the sector. 

Industry Shift: Search for Efficiency Architects

Between Q4 2024 and Q2 2025, the industry shifted its recruitment focus from high-paying, pre-revenue biotech firms and specialized pharmaceuticals toward established healthcare systems and "Health-Tech" service providers.

This trend was driven by the "Fiscal Cliff" faced by many hospital systems and medical providers in late 2024. As post-pandemic government subsidies fully expired, these organizations prioritized hiring MBAs into operational and financial turnaround roles rather than high-concept strategic ones. The quarterly reporting highlights that firms were looking for "Efficiency Architects", leaders who could integrate AI into administrative workflows and optimize supply chains to combat rising labor costs. While these roles at large provider networks (like UnitedHealth or Kaiser Permanente) offer high stability, they typically feature lower base salaries compared to the speculative peaks of the 2023 biotech boom, resulting in a pull-down of the sector’s median compensation.

Manufacturing’s Bet on Resilience: Cornell MBAs Gain

Manufacturing experienced a robust year, with hiring volume increasing from 3% to 4% and the median base salary rising from $132,500 to $135,000. This dual-growth trajectory is a direct byproduct of the "Reshoring" and "Nearshoring" movement that accelerated in Q1 2025. As global trade uncertainty intensified in late 2024, particularly regarding supply chains in East Asia, U.S.-based industrial firms doubled down on domestic production capacity. This necessitated a fresh influx of MBA-level talent to lead "Smart Manufacturing" initiatives.

Capex, Robotics and AI: Driving Manufacturing Boom

The reasoning behind this growth is found in the massive capital expenditure (CapEx) investments made by industrial giants in early 2025. Companies like Honeywell and Caterpillar pivoted toward "Agentic AI" and robotics to offset domestic labor shortages. 

Between Q3 2024 and Q2 2025, the demand for "Operations Leaders" who could manage the transition from legacy manufacturing to automated, data-driven production floors surged. Unlike the Tech sector, where salaries were slashed to improve margins, the Manufacturing sector raised its compensation to attract talent capable of handling the physical and digital complexities of the modern factory, making it one of the most stable "high-growth" sectors in this year's report.

Energy & Utilities Undergoes a Talent War: Cornell MBA’s Outlier Strength

The Energy and Utilities sector presents perhaps the most striking data point in the 2025 report: while the hiring percentage dipped slightly from 3% to 2%, the median base salary skyrocketed from $137,500 to $150,000. This nearly 10% jump in pay suggests that while the sector is hiring fewer graduates, the roles it is filling are of a much higher strategic caliber. 

Clear Energy Transition: Helped Cornell MBA Graduates Entering Energy

The narrative of Q3 2024 through Q2 2025 was defined by the "Clean Energy Transition," where traditional utility firms and renewable energy startups competed fiercely for a limited pool of MBAs with "Green Finance" and regulatory expertise.

The reasoning for this "Salary Spike" is rooted in the legislative and infrastructure booms of early 2025. 

As projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) reached the implementation phase, there was a desperate need for leaders who could navigate the intersection of project finance, government lobbying, and grid modernization. 

Quarterly data from Q4 2024 shows that firms were willing to pay a "specialist premium" to secure MBAs who could manage the transition of aging grid infrastructure to support renewable demands. The result is a sector that has become more exclusive but significantly more lucrative for those with the right technical-business blend.

Reference

• Cornell MBA Employment Reports