Mba Programs Offer A Path Toward Riches Improved Job Market Has Employers In Competition For Top Graduates

Unhappy with your salary?

Looking for more earning power?

You might want to think about adding a master’s of business to your resume.

Graduates from MBA programs at local colleges and universities this spring are earning from $30,000 up to $72,000 and are finding better and higher paying jobs than in years past.

But if you really want to cash in, head to the city of big shoulders.

Specifically, go to the University of Chicago, where the median income for 1998 business school graduates is a staggering $120,000, including bonuses.

That sum is a result of a strong economy and powerful companies looking for the hottest talent from the best schools, said University of Chicago spokesman Allan Friedman.

“If you look at who’s hiring our students, they’re investment banks and management consulting firms,” Friedman said. “The competition for new employees from top-tier schools is very intense. They’re competing with each other.”

Other A-list business schools report similar figures.

At Harvard, ranked first among business schools by U.S. News and World Report last year, the median base salary is $82,670, according to spokeswoman Maura Byrne. The total package, including signing bonuses and tuition reimbursements, averages $115,000, Byrne said.

Even at the University of Washington, ranked 46th by U.S. News and World Report, new MBA graduates last year averaged $53,840, not including bonuses.

By comparison, the average 1997 Gonzaga MBA started jobs between $35,000 and $55,000, depending on their work experience.

At WSU, 1997 MBAs averaged $38,000 their first year out of school.

Eastern Washington does not collect salary data for its MBA graduates, because the vast majority are part-time students who are already employed, said John Schleede, dean of the college of business. The University of Idaho does not have an MBA program.

There are several reasons local graduates aren’t faring as well as their counterparts in Chicago, Cambridge or Seattle.

A student’s work experience entering grad school has a lot to do with what they earn when they leave, said Val Miskin, director of graduate programs in business at WSU.

“For a student with one or two years of experience, they won’t go out of any program with (an income in) six figures,” said Miskin.

MBA students in Pullman on average are 27 and have one or two years of work experience, Miskin said. At Chicago, they have five years of experience and are 30 years old, said Friedman. Students who remain in the Northwest also take a loss, because local and regional firms are unwilling to pay Wall Street-level salaries.

“It all depends on where you go,” said Prof. Larry Lewis, Gonzaga’s associate dean of its business program. “Those of us who love this place pay the price for being here.”

Still, despite the disadvantages, local MBA graduates are enjoying some of the same benefits of the economic boom as their big-city colleagues.

A 1998 WSU graduate went to work for IBM for $57,000. A Gonzaga grad is starting at Phillip Morris at $72,000.

“With the job market being a lot better, I see the MBAs getting employed a lot quicker,” said Mary Heitkemper, associate director of Gonzaga’s Career Center. “It’s been a great year to be a career counselor.”