Michigan Ross: Class of 2015 Employment Report

Interestingly enough, however, the number of students opting for MBA jobs in investment banking has more than doubled this year, from 3 to 7.5% of the class total. The median base salary across both areas of finance stipulated by Michigan Ross is US$125,000 – a substantial rise of 25% on the US$100,000 figures reported in 2014 and one which a Wall Street Journal report suggests might have something to do with a feeling, in particular, among investment banking firms that they need to up their game to secure top talent in light of competition from tech employers.

However, among Michigan’s class of 2015, there’s actually a fractional drop in the number of graduates taking MBA jobs on Wall Street, together with New York City as a whole this year, from 15 to 14%. One in five will work in Chicago, with roughly one in 10 taking positions in each of Seattle and San Francisco. Those journeying overseas for the start of their post-MBA career represent just 6% of this year’s class, down from 7% in 2014. Asia is the most popular destination here, taking 5% of the class – unsurprising given the region supplies Michigan Ross with by far its largest proportion of international students, with 22% of 2015’s graduating class hailing from the region (including 11% from India), and 25% of last year’s (including 9% from India).

This year’s report also reveals that more than a third of graduates from Ross’ class of 2015 (38%) are taking MBA jobs at the companies who took them on as interns during their course of study. So, it may well be interesting to note that the top employer of interns from next year’s graduating class is also Amazon, with 16 hires. In this the tech giant stands ahead of McKinsey, who took 10 Ross interns, as well as JPMorgan Chase and the Boston Consulting Group, who took eight apiece. Returning to the list of top full-time recruiters, the Boston Consulting Group is notable for doubling the number of its hires from the school this year, while Accenture and Microsoft took on noticeably fewer graduates.

Michigan Ross’ employment report relates to a class size of 455, of which 97% of those seeking employment secured an offer within three months of graduating and 92% had accepted an offer by this point. As few as 1% of this year’s class reported starting or buying their own company directly after graduating and 4% are returning to their pre-MBA employers.