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Columbia Business School Employment Report

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Columbia Business School offers one of the largest and most prestigious MBA programs in the world. It is also one of the most competitive, with an acceptance rate of just 10% in 2020. Its location in New York City places students at the very heart of the business world, giving it an edge versus other leading Ivy league schools. This is one reason many CBS graduates land consulting jobs, start businesses, or land on Wall Street.

Columbia Business School’s comprehensive core curriculum is designed to help students lay a foundation for success, no matter the industry. In addition, the school offers a wide range of elective classes in order for students to specialize in the areas that most interest them.

For more information and an overview, see our directory listing for the school. In this article, we’ll be covering Columbia Business School MBA salary and employment data.

Columbia Business School Employment Report

Columbia Business School Salary & Employment Data

In this article, we’ll give an overview of the Columbia Business School Employment Report. Topics will include:

  1. Popular Industries for Columbia Business School MBAs
  2. Companies Typically Hiring Columbia Business School MBAs
  3. Average Columbia Business School MBA Salary
  4. Columbia Business School MBA Signing Bonus
  5. Columbia Business School Employment Report

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Here are the most popular industries that Columbia Business School MBA students enter into after graduation, according to the school’s employment report. These statistics are based on data collected from the class of 2020. If you’re evaluating MBA programs, you should pay attention to where the school places its students!

Industries:

Columbia-MBA-Employment Report - industries

 

34% Consulting
33.2% Financial Services
19.8% Media Technology
4% Manufacturing
3.8% Healthcare
2.1% Other
1.7% Education
1.4% Real Estate

Roles:

Columbia Employment Report-roles

37.4% Consulting
32% Financial Services
11.1% Marketing
10.7% Management
4.2% Finance (Internal)
3.2% Other
1.4% Real Estate

Companies Typically Hiring Columbia Business School MBAs

What are the chances that you can break into consulting immediately after an MBA at CBS? Certainly higher than average! McKinsey, BCG, and Bain occupy the top three spots on the list of companies that hire the most Columbia graduates. Other world-renowned firms are scattered throughout the list as well.

Here are the top companies hiring Columbia Business School MBAs:

Average Columbia Business School MBA Salary

What is the Columbia Business School average salary? The average Columbia MBA salary is $150,000, and most graduates receive signing bonuses on top of that. This is a good deal higher than the average starting salaries of MBA graduates across the country, which was $115,000 in 2019.

What is the median consulting salary? Management consulting salaries range from $62,000 to $250,000, with a median of $160,000. At the post-MBA level, you can expect to make around $170,000 in base salary in your first year, in addition to a signing bonus and performance bonus. See our full salary report for more.

Average Business School MBA Salary by Region

The school doesn’t disclose data for salaries by region, but we do know which regions the students who leave the U.S. go to. See below for the breakdown:

  • 35.4% Asia
  • 28.1% Europe
  • 17.7% Middle East
  • 11.5% Central & South America
  • 7.3% Other

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Columbia Business School MBA Signing Bonus

What about the Columbia Business School MBA signing bonus? According to the school’s employment report, 67% of graduates received signing bonuses averaging ~$30,000 in 2020. The highest signing bonus in 2020 was $100,000. 15.2% received another type of extra compensation ranging from $3,000 to $250,000.

On average, other types of compensation were ~$25,000. All that to say, you can expect a great return on your investment upon graduating from CBS!

Columbia Business School Employment Report

The Columbia Business School Employment Report gives an overview of employment success and satisfaction of the most recent graduating class. Statistics include academic achievement, diversity, compensation, and the role of Columbia’s extensive network in providing job opportunities.

Overall, Columbia MBA graduates found full-time positions across industries in many regions throughout the globe. The school assisted in some way for 72% of these opportunities.

The report shows that 90% of graduates were offered a job within 3 months of graduating, and 87% accepted. The Columbia Business School average base salary for graduates was $150,000.

Conclusion

The average Columbia Business School salary is significantly higher than the overall average MBA salary. Of course, tuition at CBS is not cheap - ~$77K per year + living expenses/other costs – so keep that in mind as you are calculating the cost-benefit ratio for you.

For those looking to break into consulting, Columbia Business School represents an excellent opportunity to gain employment at many of the top firms. See more information on CBS here, and work with our expert team at Management Consulted to prepare your resume, personal statement, and other essays for MBA applications.

 

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