Job Data for Stanford GSB Class of 2008

Last month Stanford GSB published its final job placement statistics for the Class of 2008.

Consistent with prior years, consulting was the most popular single industry for Stanford MBAs, with 27% of the class opting for a median starting salary of $1250,000 and a median signing bonus of $20,000. Private equity came next, at 14% of the class, with the median starting salary being $150,000 and the median signing bonus clocking in at $32,500.

Slicing it by function, consulting was still the most popular, at 29% of the class, with private equity (16%) and investment management (8%) coming next.

The most popular careers for the Stanford GSB Class of 2008 were:

Industry	Percentage of Class	Median Base Salary	Median Signing Bonus
Consulting	27	$125,000	$20,000
Private Equity/LBO	14	$150,000	$32,500
Hedge Funds	8	$150,000	$25,000
Internet Services/E-Commerce	6	$115,000	$22,500
Investment Banking/Brokerage	5	$ 95,500	$40,000
Nonprofit	5	$ 80,000	n/a
Venture Capital	5	$155,000	n/a
Investment Management	4	$127,500	$19,125
Real Estate	4	$112,500	$15,000
Consumer Products	3	$100,000	$20,000
Pharma/Biotech/Healthcare	3	$103,750	$20,000

Source: Stanford GSB Blog

Note that the non-profit sector accounted for 5% of Stanford grads' post-MBA careers. While this is consistent with other top business schools' statistics, we wonder if this number will increase this year and next as the rough economy encourages more grads to pursue non-profit and social enterprise careers in place of high-paying consulting and banking jobs, which may not be plentiful in the near term.

If you are applying to Stanford this year or next, take a look at our Stanford admissions essay analysis.

HBS Employment Update

On Friday Dee Leopold posted an update on Harvard Business School students' job prospects for this year. This update is especially interesting for anyone who is preparing to leave a steady job this year to enter a full-time MBA program.

According to Leopold, 77% of the HBS Class of 2009's job seekers (this excludes anyone who will continue academic work or who will return to a previous employer) have found full-time jobs. She writes:

I don't have any more details to offer at this point, but we are proud of both our students and our Career Services team who have helped many of our students discover and pursue their dreams and find new opportunities in the midst of great uncertainty in the market. It is still months from graduation and companies and organizations continue to be a big presence on campus - spring will be lively here at HBS. We will provide updates as the season progresses.

Hopefully for those HBS students -- and for students at all business schools this year -- spring will indeed prove to be a lively recruiting period.

To get a feel for your chances of getting into Harvard Business School, try Veritas Prep's Business School Selector.

Job Recruiting Down for MBA Grads

Not surprisingly, this week the Wall Street Journal ran a story about how business schools have seen a record drop-off in recruitment for internships and for full-time jobs.

According to a survey that the Journal conducted in January, 56% of career services offices said that on-campus recruiting was down more than 10% this winter. While that's not surprising, the trend seems to be accelerating: last fall only 12% estimated that recruiting was down vs. year ago. And activity on the schools' jobs boards is sluggish, with 50% of career offices reporting that activity was down more than 10%, and 20% saying that job-posting activity was down more than 20%.

If you're applying to business school now, or are getting ready to apply soon, the obvious questions are: What does this mean for you? Should you apply to business school now? As we always tell our admissions consulting clients at Veritas Prep, going back to the school (or NOT going back to school) just because of the economy doesn't make sense. And, if you have a good job right now, the thought of leaving it for an uncertain future can be intimidating. However, know that these downturns typically last no more than 2-3 years, meaning that, by the time you would graduate in 2011 or 2012, the odds are pretty good that the job market will once again return to form.

I have personally walked in these shoes. I applied to business school in 2001/2002, right as the coming recession was compounded by the shock of 9/11 to create headlines about worsening job prospects and rescinded job offers for MBAs. By the time I graduated from Kellogg in 2004, the job market was once again pretty robust, and we battle-hardened second-year students regaled jaded first-years with tales about how rough we had it back in the day. Fast-forward three years, and the Kellogg Management Center again had to enforce rules to keep recruiters from not overdoing it on campus.

My point? The job market is always cyclical. While this is a particularly rough cycle, especially for someone who will graduate this spring, the job market will bounce back. It may take a while, but it will bounce back.

GMAC's New MBA Alumni Survey Results

According to the results of a new survey published by the Graduate Management Admission Council, most business school grads agree that an MBA is well worth the investment.

In the 2008 MBA Alumni Perspectives Survey, nine out of 10 grads from the Class of 2008 reports that their graduate business education met or exceeded their expectations. Additionally, 80% of MBA grads in the workforce believe that they couldn't have obtained their first job without their degree.

Even more encouraging are the numbers regarding job satisfaction. According to the survey, two out of three alumni reported that their first job was the one they wanted, which actually represented a rise in job satisfaction vs. previous years.

Another point of interest was the average number of job offers that each Class of 2008 grad received -- 2.7 job offers per person. Unfortunately, this number will likely trend down as the economy suffers, but the survey overall confirms the value of an MBA, regardless of whether a grad receives one, two, or ten job offers.

If you're applying to business school this year, be sure to check out the Veritas Prep MBA admissions resources page.

This Year's Job Prospects for MBAs

A recent article in Time described the worsening job prospects for business school students in light of the economic downturn. At schools that just a year ago were begging their students to honor their job interview commitments, some second-year students are now worried if they'll receive any job offers by the time they graduate next spring.

Heads of career services offices at many top schools all describe the same attitude among employers: "Wait and see." Many companies have instituted headcount freezes, and even at ones that haven't, hiring managers are being given fewer offers to make. Today they're much more afraid of hiring too many MBA grads than hiring too few -- they know that they'll always be able to go back to campus in early 2009 and pick up a few more new hires if they need to.

What can business school students do? Proactive job seekers are looking beyond the on-campus recruiting process to find opportunities on their own. And they're also widening their job search to consider careers outside of banking ans consulting. Joining a smaller firm may come back into fashion as some companies that normally couldn't make much impact at a top school find that many grads now eagerly attend their information sessions.

The worst time to be in school is right when the economy takes a turn for the worse -- there's nothing like having a job offer rescinded. For people who apply to business school this year, though, the question is: What will the economy look like in two or three years? That's anyone's guess, but here's hoping that the worst of the unpleasant surprises are behind us.

MBA Grads Face Wall Street Uncertainty

Even Harvard Business School grads are feeling the pain in Wall Street's current troubles. A recent article in the Boston Globe uncovered what HBS is doing to help its own students and recent graduates who are affected by the turmoil.

According to the article:

In the school's first intervention on behalf of newly minted graduates, seven Harvard career coaches flew to New York to huddle with 18 members of the Class of 2008 who had taken jobs at troubled firms like Lehman Brothers Holding Co. and Merrill Lynch. All were still working, but didn't know what the next day would bring. Harvard's delegation promised to set up interviews with other employers.

Much like with the ethics cases of recent years, many b-school professors see this as an opportunity to teach important lessons in the moment. And students are hungry for those lessons -- a Wharton panel discussion on Wall Street's troubles recently drew more than 1,000 students.

Even the firms that are on good footing, such as Goldman Sachs, have delayed making job offers this year. And students who thought they were headed to Wall Street are now considering alternative career paths, either in corporate finance roles, management consulting, or even in financial regulatory roles. With a new regulatory framework potentially emerging, the federal government could ironically end up being a big source of jobs for these displaced finance-minded MBAs.

Recruiter Demand for MBA Grads Remains Strong

This month the Graduate Management Admission Council released a report showing that demand for business school graduate remains strong even as the economy shows signs of weakness.

The report, produced by GMAC in partnership with the MBA Career Services Council and European Foundation for Management Development, shows 6% growth in the percentage of employers making offers to MBA grads, and an 11% increase in the average number of hires by each hiring company.

The results for compensation growth also looked encouraging. Three-quarters of employers reported that they expect to increase the annual base salary of 2008 grads vs. last year's hiring class. The projected starting base salary for all business school graduates is $89,621, about 4% more than last year. Not surprisingly, consulting (over $111,000) and finance (over $110,000) offer the highest average total compensation.

What does this mean for you? Most of all, it suggests you should stay the course. No radical changes to the hiring outlook suggest that you, if you've been planning to apply for business school, don't stop now. If you haven't been planning on doing so, then these numbers probably won't change your mind.

It will be interesting to see what next year's numbers look like, and what impact the overall economy has to the number of people applying to business school in 2008-2009.