In this in-depth analysis of the Michigan Ross MBA Salary and Placements outcome for the 2025 graduating class by industry, we cover:
2. Financial Services Salary and Placements: Rising Share with Bonus-Driven Incentives
3. Technology Salary and Placements: Suffered in Representation
4. Healthcare Salary and Placements: Sustained Recruitment Even in a Stagnant Market
5. Consumer Packaged Goods Salary and Placements: Bonus-Led Competition under Margin Pressure
7. Energy Salary and Placements: Capital-Intensive Roles Supporting Elevated Compensation
8. Retail Salary and Placements: Constrained Hiring Under Margin and Demand Pressure
1. Consulting: Volume Moderation with Stagnant Salary but $190000 at par with M7
Consulting accounts for 33.5% of hires, making it the single largest industry destination for Ross MBAs in 2025, with a median base salary of $190,000 and a median signing bonus of $30,000, resulting in $220,000 total compensation.
From mid-40% to low 30% - Hiring Fall in Consulting
Relative to Ross’s own recent history, this represents a moderation in hiring share from the peak years when consulting crossed the mid-40% range. Employers have remained cautious in hiring consultants, aligning itself to new AI-led delivery models, a trend visible across global consulting firms during Q3 2024 to Q2 2025.
Shorter Consulting Cycles Prioritized
Industry data shows that consulting demand during this period was not driven by broad strategy refreshes but by AI implementation, operating-model redesign, cost optimisation, and post-merger integration, particularly in North America.
Firms increasingly priced work on outcomes and speed, which limited the number of consultants hired while maintaining salary ceilings for those entering. This explains why Ross consulting salaries held at $190,000, matched the upper band seen in prior years, even as the hiring percentage declined compared to 2024 (36%) and 2023 (44.9%).
The data indicates that Ross consultants in 2025 were absorbed into execution-heavy roles, not expansionary staffing models.
2. Financial Services: Rising Share with Bonus-Driven Incentives
Financial Services represents 19.5% of hires, up from 17.6% in 2024, with a median base salary of $175,000 and a median signing bonus of $50,000, producing $225,000 in total compensation.
Shedding Away from the Consulting School tag to a Strong Finance Cohort
Compared to HSW schools, the median base salary is $25,000 below, but Ross’ had done an incredible job shedding away from its ‘Consulting’ school tag and expanded into Finance, a necessary step to balance the risk of automation omnipresent in Technology.
While the base salary is a weakness, the bonus exceeded the ones offered at HSW and drove the total compensation growth.
IB and Not PE the Reason for the High Finance Hires
Between late 2024 and mid-2025, U.S. capital markets experienced a recovery in deal value but not deal count, with activity concentrated in large, complex transactions and restructuring-adjacent work. This environment favoured banks and financial institutions that needed fewer but more execution-capable associates, which aligns with Ross’s finance outcomes. The consistency of the $175,000 base salary, although is stagnant for multiple prior years, higher bonus, persuaded Ross MBA graduates to pivot fully into Investment Banking.
PE continues to be a niche function, only opened up by the best Business Schools in the world. IB has expanded its hiring from Stern, Columbia, Tuck, and Cornell to now Ross.
The IMPACT on the bargaining power of top IB firm will be fully realized in the next two years as the skills in IB would turn from a niche skillset to a required skillset for Finance candidates.
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3. Technology: Suffered in Representation
Technology hiring stands at 13.1%, with a median base salary of $143,000 and a median signing bonus of $41,000, resulting in $184,000 total compensation. This continues a downward structural shift from the early-2020s peak when technology exceeded 20% of Ross placements. Compared to 2024 (15.1%) and 2023 (15.5%), the 2025 figure reflects a consistent slowdown in the Technology industry where employers prioritized Technology candidates from MIT, Stanford or Berkeley Haas over schools with Technology in their 3rd or 4th target industry.
Specialized Skill set in AI Prioritized
Industry trends show that during Q3 2024–Q2 2025, technology firms resumed MBA hiring selectively, focusing on AI-adjacent product roles, platform economics, infrastructure strategy, and monetisation, while continuing to limit generalist headcount. This explains why base salaries remained stagnant relative to consulting and finance, yet signing bonuses rose, as firms competed for specific skill profiles.
4. Healthcare: Sustained Recruitment Even in a Stagnant Market
Healthcare accounts for 10.2% of hires, with a median base salary of $138,500 and a signing bonus of $30,000, yielding $168,500 in total compensation. This represents a continued upward trajectory for Ross, rising from 9.2% in 2024 and 5.7% in 2023, indicating a structural shift. Unlike technology or consulting, healthcare hiring expanded during a period of macro uncertainty due to non-discretionary demand drivers.
Contrarian Trend at Michigan Ross in Healthcare
Between 2024 and 2025, healthcare organisations faced sustained pressure from cost inflation, workforce shortages, regulatory complexity, and value-based care transitions. These forces increased demand for MBAs in operations, strategy, and financial planning roles across providers, payers, and life sciences firms.
Compensation levels remained below consulting and finance, reflecting tighter margins, but the consistency and growth in hiring share signals the healthcare profiles Ross MBA attracts as the below $140,000 median base salary didn’t deter offers in the industry.
5. Consumer Packaged Goods: Bonus-Led Competition under Margin Pressure
Consumer Packaged Goods represents 8.9% of hires, with a median base salary of $125,000 and a signing bonus of $40,000, producing $165,000 total compensation. This marks an increase from 7.7% in 2024 and 5.4% in 2023, showing renewed traction after several years of stagnation. Notably, compensation growth in this sector is bonus-heavy, not base-led.
CPG Under Margin Pressure
During 2024–25, CPG firms operated under persistent margin pressure from input costs and pricing sensitivity, which constrained base salaries. At the same time, firms intensified hiring in pricing, revenue management, supply-chain analytics, and go-to-market optimisation, areas where short-term impact could be quantified.
The elevated signing bonus ($40,000 compared to $25,000 to $30,000) reflects competition for analytically strong candidates without committing to permanent salary increase.
Ross’s CPG outcomes align with this industry-wide shift toward commercial rigor over brand expansion.
6. Manufacturing: Stable Absorption Driven by Operational and Industrial Transformation
Manufacturing accounts for 3.8% of hires in the Ross School of Business MBA Class of 2025, with a median base salary of $142,500 and a median signing bonus of $25,000, resulting in $167,500 total compensation. While manufacturing remains a smaller destination by volume, its presence in 2025 is directionally stable relative to Ross’s recent history.
Michigan and Manufacturing – Legacy Advantage
Between Q3 2024 and Q2 2025, manufacturing firms in North America continued to prioritize process efficiency, automation, and supply-chain resilience, particularly in response to elevated input costs and geopolitical risk. These investments did not translate into large MBA hiring cohorts, but they did sustain demand for operations-oriented, analytics-literate managers capable of working across production planning, procurement, and cost optimization.
The compensation profile at Ross reflects this reality: salaries sit above consumer-facing roles but below consulting and finance, consistent with capital-intensive businesses that reward impact but operate under margin constraints.
7. Energy: Capital-Intensive Roles Supporting Elevated Compensation
Energy represents 2.6% of hires, with a median base salary of $156,000 and a signing bonus of $26,250, producing $182,250 in total compensation. Despite its limited share, energy stands out as one of the higher-paying industries outside consulting and finance, which reflects the economic structure of the roles in Michigan.
AI took the Thunder Away from Energy Projects
During 2024–25, energy markets were shaped by two parallel forces: sustained investment in traditional energy infrastructure and accelerating capital deployment toward grid modernisation and power generation linked to AI-driven data-center demand. These dynamics increased demand for MBAs in project finance, capital planning, operations strategy, and regulatory-aware leadership roles, particularly in U.S. markets.
Energy although Low in Representation is Highly Valued at Ross
Ross’s energy outcomes mirror this pattern. Firms hired selectively, but paid at a premium for candidates who could operate in high-risk, capital-heavy decision environments, explaining why compensation remains elevated despite small intake. The data suggests that energy at Ross functions as a specialist, high-responsibility pathway, not a volume recruiter.
8. Retail: Constrained Hiring Under Margin and Demand Pressure
Retail accounts for 2.1% of hires, with a median base salary of $130,000 and a signing bonus of $25,000, resulting in $155,000 total compensation, the lowest among Ross’s major industry categories. This outcome reflects not a loss of relevance, but the economic pressure facing the retail sector during 2024–25.
Retail Faced an Uncertain Consumer Market. Tariff Made it Worse
Retail firms continued to navigate uneven consumer demand, inventory normalisation, and pricing sensitivity, which limited both hiring volume and base-salary growth. MBA roles in retail during this period were concentrated in supply-chain optimisation, merchandising analytics, and omnichannel operations. The expansionary leadership tracks prevalent in previous years were absent this year. The compensation structure at Ross aligns with this shift: base pay remains constrained, while bonuses provide limited flexibility to attract analytically capable candidates without committing to long-term salary hiles. Retail outcomes in 2025 therefore reflect defensive hiring focused on efficiency.
Industry | Percent of Hires | Median Base Salary | Median signing bonus | Total Salary |
| Consulting | 33.5% | $190,000 | $30,000 | $220,000 |
| Financial Services | 19.5% | $175,000 | $50,000 | $225,000 |
| Technology | 13.1% | $143,000 | $41,000 | $184,000 |
| Healthcare | 10.2% | $138,500 | $30,000 | $168,500 |
| Consumer Packaged Goods | 8.9% | $125,000 | $40,000 | $165,000 |
| Manufacturing | 3.8% | $142,500 | $25,000 | $167,500 |
| Energy | 2.6% | $156,000 | $26,250 | $182,250 |
| Retail | 2.1% | $130,000 | $25,000 | $155,000 |
Final Verdict
The Good
1. Consulting compensation at par with M7 despite drop in representation
2. Financial Services driven by IB offers slowly growing into a formidable post-MBA industry pathway for Ross MBA graduates
3. Healthcare despite facing slowdown continued to attract offers for Ross MBA
The Bad
1. Technology faced big drop in hiring and compensation
Reference