The best industries for MBA grads

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The best industries for MBA grads

Most prospective MBAs have at least some idea of what they want to do when they graduate. Of course, many of them will end up pursuing wildly different paths. Luckily, professionals who choose to go to business school — especially one of the top schools — will have plenty of opportunities ahead of them. And among employers, MBAs are only getting more popular. 

According to a GMAC survey, more than half of MBA students had received at least one offer from an employer by the February of their graduating year. Of course, the high MBA employment rate suggests that more job offers are sure to follow. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than half of job-seeking MBAs say that they want to switch industries after graduation. Those who worked in consulting or manufacturing were the most likely to be changing industries, while those in finance and accounting were most likely to want to stay in their current industry.

Finance and accounting is still the most popular option for graduating MBAs, but the numbers have dropped significantly since 2008. Meanwhile, the tech industry has been enjoying a growing popularity with MBAs, and has steadily increased their recruiting. Recruiters from companies like Bain and E&Y are competing with Google and Apple for the most talented MBAs.

In fact, another GMAC survey in May of this year reported that a whooping 80% of business school recruiters had plans to hire at least one MBA, a far cry from the 50% who said the same in 2008. That includes about a third of the fortune 100 companies.

You can also see the median change in salary across industries in the graphic below.

Those who plan to work in health care are seeing their salary more than double. Interestingly, those who pursue finance and accounting will see one of the smallest jump.

But of course, any salary increase is beneficial, and the median starting salary at some of the top business schools is well into the six digits. No matter what happens, it’s clear that MBA grads have an excellent future in front of them.

 

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