I, for one, take people at their word.
Who would say they make $200K if they only make $100K?
I do agree on any survey, including initial school data, it’s only as good as the data put in. When you see an average salary but only 60% participation rate, I’m not going to assume that the other 40% are necessarily bad. Some simply don’t care enough to report. But I do agree, they probably do trend lower - and maybe some don’t report out of embarrassment.
I also know - we all live different lives. In my county, the median home price is over $800K - and with one bedroom rentals over $2K, I start to think - well everyone has to make substantial income - it’s required even for young kids today. I know it’s not the truth - but I find it hard to believe, with many cities and home prices well over half a million and even lower end cars $35K and up - I mean, I find it hard to believe that grads of elite institutions ten years down the road aren’t on average making 6 figures. But yes, maybe I do have the mindset of - the business majors or CS majors vs. the Classics majors - although I continue to read on the CC that Classics, literature, religion, philosophy and others are just as good for careers, etc.
As for MBAs, I’m a believer - was when I got mine and I am now. Admittedly, my salary after grad school didn’t go up - it went down. But I was in a tough career (outside sales where you literally door knocked) and no way I could have done it long term. I had a chat on a chair lift at a recognition event and he asked my long term path. I said marketing. He said you need an MBA - and oola here I am - and I’ve been in one industry, with long tenure - so for me it worked.
As for salaries - ASU undergrad in Carey reports a $65,839 average. ASU MBA shows $146,719.
Is it apples to apples - i.e. are bonuses in one but not the other - perhaps. But there seems to show a huge gain.
For IU, undergrad reports $76.7K and MBA $138,750
UGA shows $68K undergrad and $152K MBA.
Harvard doesn’t show a pre salary but shows a median of $175 for the MBA. I highly doubt kids coming in on average making even close to that.
Again, it might not be exactly apples to apples. Perhaps undergrad is salary only and MBA includes otherwise.
Also, you don’t know where that student did undergrad. So the person at ASU might have gone to U of A, Stanford, or Adams State…so there’s that too. And you don’t know where someone is in their career at the time.
Now - someone might be at an income level - if they’re 32 and making $125K, then maybe the MBA doesn’t make sense from a monetary POV - but I had a friend at work who was mid level, did the Michigan EMBA, and while nothing happened at work, he went to a leading EV startup where he was for 6 or 8 years until a recent layoff. He made the contact from his EMBA program.
So there are reasons beyond money to do an MBA - career pivot and other opportunities, etc. to do an MBA.
I, for one, don’t agree with the article. Other’s do and that’s fine too.
