Which Dallas MBA Programs Offer the Best Starting Salary?
It’s naive to think that folks who earn their MBA degree don’t expect to earn a decent salary. After years of balancing work, studying, and life, an MBAs starting salary is the cherry on top of the grad school sundae. For those looking to work in or are attending school in the Dallas metro, here are the programs that can help you find that well-deserved pay day the fastest.
High Rollers
McCombs School of Business – University of Texas at Austin
According to statistics provided by the McCombs School of Business school, the average full-time MBA student goes on to earn a starting salary of $113,481 following graduation. The average full-time MBA grad also receives a signing bonus of $27,564. A full breakdown of McCombs full-time MBA salary statistics can be found here.
The McCombs School of Business is usually ranked among business schools in the U.S. for the number of MBA graduates who earn job offers. In fact, career planning is also built into the curriculum of the full-time MBA. During the first year students take a class called Strategic Career Planning—a course that was created to best prepare students to make career choices and help them achieve their career goals. The class teaches students skills like interview training and marketing and networking techniques.
Cox School of Business – Southern Methodist University
According to SMU’s MBA Placement Data, graduating MBAs at the Cox School of Business earn an average salary of $96,587. Recent Cox MBAs have been offered jobs at companies such as Amazon, At&T, Capital One, Deloitte, and more.
Students have the option of customizing their education by completing up to two concentrations in addition to the MBA program. While all full-time students are enrolled in the General Business concentration, additional majors include: accounting, business analytics, finance, general business, information technology and operations management, management, marketing, real estate, and strategy and entrepreneurship. MBAs majoring in strategy, general management, leadership, and consulting earn a bit more, averaging $108,333 to start, while accounting, finance, and real estate majors earn a bit less, averaging $94,173 annually.
Next Tier
Neeley School of Business – Texas Christian University
The TCU Neeley School of Business full-time MBA program is designed for professionals who may not necessarily have a background in business, but are interested in changing careers or transitioning into a new field where business and management knowledge would be necessary. According to StartClass, TCU MBAs earn an average salary of $89,579 post-graduation.
To help secure a job with a well-paying salary, MBA students have access to The Neeley Professional Development Center and the Graduate Career Services Center. The Professional Development Center provides Neeley students with personal and professional training and coaching for presentations, business writing, and career preparation. Meanwhile, the Graduate Career Services Center provides students with resume help, job search, networking events, career coaching, interview prep, and skill building programs.
CHECK THIS OUT: “The Most Affordable MBA Programs in Dallas“
Commerce College of Business – Texas A&M University
Different from the Mays School of Business on A&M’s main campus, the Commerce College of Business is located about one hour northeast of the Dallas metro. PayScale data reveals that Texas A&M Commerce MBAs earn a starting salary of $89,393.
Commerce students have access to the office of Career Development, which offers students special events such as networking nights, job shadow programs, business etiquette dinners, career fairs, and job search workshops. The CD can also help students with resume and cover letter consultation, LinkedIn consultation, mock interviews, career assessment, and counseling and employment application
Naveen Jindal School of Management – University of Texas at Dallas
Students who graduate with an MBA degree from the Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas earn an average starting salary of $86,644.
According to U.S. News, MBA graduates from the Naveen Jindal School of Management have the best salary-to-debt ratio of any ranked school. As stated above, Jindal MBAs earn an average starting salary of $86,644 and have an average student loan debt of $7,132—an earnings-to-debt ratio of 12.148. The average ratio for ranked business schools that reported the data is 1.986.
Up-And-Coming
Hankamer School of Business – Baylor University
Baylor Hankamer School of Business MBA graduates earn a reported average starting salary of nearly $65,000. Recent Baylor full-time MBA graduating class had a 64 percent job placement rate at the time of graduation and 86 percent placement rate 90 days after graduation.
University of North Texas College of Business
PayScale reports that the average starting salary for North Texas College of Business MBA grads is also $65,000. North Texas features the Career Center at the Business Leadership Building where students receive one-on-one advising, career planning, and career exploration help from graduate advisors. These advisors help students with résumé and cover letter writing as well as mock interviews.
Getting Paid: Highest MBA Salaries in Los Angeles
The transmissions Los Angeles sends back out into the ether are those culled from the desires of its inhabitants but also from the people who romanticize it from the outside. As Joan Didion once wrote, “The city burning is Los Angeles’s deepest image of itself.”
Los Angeles is, admittedly, polarizing. While some may find the not-so-authentic atmosphere of Hollywood to be a downtrodden, morose landscape, the city’s expansive diversity and subtle natural wonder is enthralling in its own right. In a way, it feels alien and utterly familiar all at once.
It’s this kind of uncertainty that makes Los Angeles an ideal place to pursue a business degree for a prospective MBA open to a bit of ambiguity. While Silicon Valley up north has traditionally been romanticized as a place where we can re-write the rules, LA has been catching up recently—and fast. Los Angeles has embraced the tech boom in a big way, with many Valley bigwigs and new startups alike moving their operations to Silicon Beach on the West Side. With that in mind, the new era of LA innovation is creating some lofty starting salaries, particularly for MBA graduates.
The Highest Los Angeles MBA Salaries
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Recent UCLA Anderson graduates earned an average starting salary of $121,250 with a $25,000 signing bonus, according to statistics released by the school. Over 92 percent of Anderson MBAs received job offers within three months of graduation. The top five industries to employ Anderson MBAs are in tech (30.6 percent); financial services (21.6 percent); consumer products (13.4 percent); and consulting services (13.4 percent). Top employers for Anderson graduates include: Amazon, Deloitte, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Amgen, BCG, EY, Mattel, McKinsey & Company, Nike, PwC, Apple, AT&T, Autodesk, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Epson, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Disney, among others
UC Irvine Merage School of Business
MBA graduates from the UC Irivine Paul Merage School of Business posted record employment numbers for the school. Over 90 percent of recent MBAs received job offers within three months of graduation. The most popular industries to attract Merage graduates were in technology (33 percent), finance (31 percent), consulting (24 percent), and marketing/sales (27 percent). Merage graduates with tech industry positions earned starting salaries of $105,000; consulting, $100,000; consumer products, $85,000; and financial services, $100,000. Top employers included: Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, Cisco, Dell, Deloitte, Gap, Hulu, Hyundai, IBM, Mattel, NBC Universal, Taco Bell, Twitter, and Volcom.
USC Marshall School of Business
According to employment statistics surveying the most recent USC Marshall School of Business MBA class, the average starting salary for Marshall graduates is $115,309 with a $23,431 signing bonus. The top three industries that employ Marshall graduates are within consulting (34 percent), where MBAs start at $132,000; marketing/sales (27 percent), where MBAs start at $99,497; and financial services (18 percent), where MBAs start at $112,087. Top employers of Marshall’s 2016 class include: Adobe, AT&T, Apple, Citigroup, Deloitte, Disney, Facebook, Film Roman, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, Taco Bell, Warner Bros, Starbucks, PwC, Sony Pictures, Nestle, and PepsiCo, among others.
USC Marshall grad salaries, broken down by industry.
Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business and Management
Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business and Management graduates earned an average starting salary of $120,000, according to school statistics. Around 82 percent of Graziadio MBAs accepted job offers within three months of graduation.
Financial services, entertainment, technology, and consulting were the top industries to employ Graziadio MBAs.
For more information on the best Los Angeles MBA programs, check out our guide to the city. As well, learn more about which LA schools do not require GMAT or GRE scores here.
Getting Paid: Highest MBA Salaries in Chicago
Like most parts of the country, the U.S. heartland is undergoing a massive shift on all fronts, becoming more urbane, diverse, and open to outsiders than seemingly ever before.
Many communities are becoming increasingly diverse, attracting international residents at an unprecedented rate. Young, urban professional-types who once flocked to the coasts are now moving in droves to Midwestern cities, which were once dismissively filed under “fly-over territory.” Nowhere is this change more apparent than in the Windy City.
Chicago’s long been home to major players in media, education, finance, and food and beverage (shout-out to Giordano’s Deep Dish Pizza), but doing business in the city now also means something new. Like most major metropolitan areas, Chicago’s slowly dipping its toes into the tech game; the city’s home to Groupon, Grubhub, Orbitz, and Reverb.
So, take your pick, aspiring MBAs! When it comes to Chi-City, you’ll be a veritable kid in a candy store.
The 5 Highest Chicago MBA Salaries
Northwestern Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern Kellogg School of Management graduates earned average starting salaries between $106,000-$138,000, depending on their chosen industry. According to recent statistics, the four most popular industries to attract Kellogg MBAs were consulting (32.6 percent), where the starting salary hovers around $138,204 with a $29,375 signing bonus. MBAs in tech (22 percent) earned a starting salary of $119,713 with a $23,749 signing bonus. MBAs that specialize in consumer products (13.8 percent) earned an average starting salary of $106,052 with a $26,634 signing bonus. MBAs in financial services (12.8 percent) earned an average starting salary of $128,090 with a $32,100 signing bonus. Top employers of Kellogg graduates include: Adobe Systems, Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Bain & Co, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boston Consulting Group, Cisco Systems, DaVita Healthcare Partners, Dell, Deloitte, Facebook, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Linkedin, Mars, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Nike, PepsiCo, among others
DePaul Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
Recent graduates from the DePaul Kellstadt Graduate School of Business posted record employment numbers for the school. According to an overview the school published, 92 percent of 2016 MBAs landed positions within 120 days of graduation. The average starting salaries for Kellstadt’s available MBA concentrations are as follows: Accountancy at $83,000; economics at $90,000; finance at $89,000; management at $83,000; marketing at $75,500; and real estate at $75,000. The most popular industries to attract Kellstadt graduates were accounting, financial services, manufacturing, health care, and consulting. Top employers include: Allstate, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, GE Capital, General Mills, Google, Groupon, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, PwC, United Airlines, and Wilson Sporting Goods, among others.
Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business
According to statistics surveying the most recent MBA class, the average starting salary for Mendoza College of Business graduates is $105,000 with a $20,000 signing bonus. About 91 percent of MBAs received job offers within three months of graduation. The most popular industries to attract Mendoza MBAs are within tech (27.1 percent), financial services (18.8 percent), consumer products (14.6 percent), and consulting (11.5 percent). MBAs working in tech earned average starting salaries of around $110,000; financial services, $110,000; consumer products, $100,000; and consulting, $105,000. Top employers of Mendoza MBAs include: Deloitte, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Deutsche Bank, IBM, Discover, Allstate, IBM, Samsung, Amazon, American Airlines, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Kraft, Hershey, Heinz, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Major League Soccer, United Airlines, General Mills, General Motors, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, and Citibank, among others.
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Chicago Booth School of Business graduates earned an average starting salary of $125,000, according to recent statistics. The top industries to attract Booth MBAs are financial services (36 percent), consulting (27.5 percent), and technology (16.7 percent). Booth MBAs working in financial services earn average starting salaries of $125,000 with a $40,000 signing bonus; consulting, $145,000 with a $25,000 signing bonus; technology, $125,000 with a $30,000 signing bonus. Top employers of Booth graduates include McKInsey & Company (7.1 percent), Boston Consulting Group (4.7 percent), Amazon (3.9 percent), Bain & Company (3.1 percent), Accenture (2.6 percent), Google (2.4 percent), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (2.2 percent), and PwC Strategy (2 percent).
University of Illinois at Chicago Gies College of Business
On average, Gies College of Business graduates can expect to start their careers in the $90,000 range with a $10,000 signing bonus. According to statistics supplied by the school, MBA grads have a 94 percent employment rate. The most popular industries are technology (20.3 percent), financial services (18.8 percent), consulting (15.6 percent), and consumer products (12.5 percent). Liautaud MBAs who took positions in tech started at $94,000; financial services, $87,857; consulting, $89,125; and consumer products, $95,800. Liautaud graduates work for a broad range of companies, but top employers include AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Walt Disney, Amazon, Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard, Sears, Google, State Farm, City of Champaign, Bank of America, and Whirlpool Corporation.
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