MBAs Care About A Bigger Paycheck — Especially in America

This article originally published as an installment of the B-Schools Survival Guide, a pop-up newsletter from Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2023 Best B-School Rankings.

One of the biggest selling points for getting an MBA is the promise of higher pay. In a survey of more than 6,500 students from 110 participating schools conducted for Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best B-Schools ranking this year, nearly 71% said the opportunity to “increase my earnings potential” was among their top five reasons for attending business school. Students, alumni and employers were asked to prioritize about a dozen different goals and experiences related to the ranking’s five indexes: Compensation, Learning, Networking, Entrepreneurship and Diversity.