@publisher . . . this is an interesting list.
The top five would probably remain the same as Harvard feeds its own professional grad schools the most along with YLS, etc.; Penn has Wharton; and SYP are among the elite of the elite along with H.
But to remove the yearly spikes of certain schools, you’d have to present, say, a 5-year snapshot instead of a one-year one.
Illinois with its 11 would probably be pretty high year by year, but 2020 might have been an especially good year. Texas probably dominates the consulting/IB field in the state of Texas, so they’d probably be very high on a yearly basis. But if you have 2019 and 2021, that might be good to present to at least corroborate these estimations.
After 10 to 15, there will be yearly risers and fallers within these ranges. Berkeley would probably feed HBS at their ~ 10 pretty consistently, but would send more if HBS weren’t on the other side of the continent, and the same could be for other more regional universities, especially those who attend state colleges; if not necessarily by cost, it could be for, say, family obligations – needing to be anchored closer to home.
In other words, the $172k/year median might be tough to pass up for some, but $140/year at a top grade local MBA program might be good enough. It takes a special mindset to interrupt one’s career 2-5 years in to go across the country and effectively start over, although restarting at a much higher salary.
Obviously, there are numerous factors that are at play; not only that the elite colleges feed the elite grad programs (i.e., Harvard feeds Harvard grad . . . real shocker), but, e.g., that some colleges could send more to HBS, but for good local options.