Ranked in the top 25 globally by the likes of QS and the Financial Times Global MBA rankings, New York University’s Stern School of Management has a justified reputation as one of the leading business schools in the world. It does so in part because of the excellent track record of success for its graduates.
For the class of 2024, the school’s employment report shows that 84.6% of graduates accepted a job offer within three months of graduation. However, this was a drop from the 2023 rate of 94% landing roles in the same time period.
So what caused that dip? Which industries are NYU Stern MBA grads moving into? And how much do they typically earn? We interrogate the report to find out.
Popular Industries for NYU Stern MBA graduates
Thanks perhaps to its proximity to New York’s financial district, NYU Stern is well-known as one of the best business schools for finance.
As has been the case for a number of years, the top two industries for Stern's 2024 MBA graduates were finance and consulting. Notably, 37% of graduates from the class of 2024 moved into consulting, while 35.7% went into financial services. More than one-fifth of the class (27.4%) are now working in investment banking.
The third most popular industry for 2024 grads was tech, with 9.1% of graduates working in this sector. However, this was a drop from 2021, when almost 20% of Stern MBA graduates moved into tech. This is an industry trend felt across many b-schools since Covid.
Although consulting, finance and tech accounted for more than 80% of Stern MBA graduates' roles, students also moved into areas such as consumer packaged goods (5.7%), entertainment/media/sports (3.9%), and law (2.2%).
Popular industries for NYU Stern MBA graduates
The top industries for NYU MBA grads in 2023 remained consistent with previous years.
The third most popular industry was tech, claiming 14% of graduates.
Finance was the second most popular industry, with 29% of grads taking up roles in financial services. The most popular career track was investment banking (23%), while asset management and venture capital each attracted just under 2% of the graduating class.
Consulting claimed the top spot, with 41% of grads opting for roles in this industry. As well as being a popular industry for NYU Stern alumni, consulting was also the most popular function for the class of 2023, with 48% of the graduating class going into consulting jobs, mainly in management. Interestingly, both of these were 10% increases on previous years.
Outside these 'big three' industries, consumer packaged goods and entertainment, media, and sports were also popular, each accounting for roughly 3% of the class.
Law accounted for 2% of NYU Stern grads, perhaps thanks to the school’s strong JD MBA program.
Companies Hiring NYU Stern MBAs
NYU Stern’s 2024 employment report saw a notable decrease in actual hiring by the major consulting firms.
While 2023 saw the Big Three (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company) hire a total of 49 Stern MBA grads, that figure fell to just 21 in 2024. The figure partly explains why total consulting hires fell from 41.9% in 2023 to 37% this year. It’s also reflective of the wider picture in the consulting industry, where starting salaries have been frozen and waves of job cuts announced over the past 12 months.
Although JP Morgan and Citi hired marginally more Stern MBA grads this year, the lack of big name employers in the report does go some way to explaining the drop in job offers in 2024.
Average NYU Stern MBA Salary ($)
Despite the overall drop in hiring, the numbers around salary were much more promising for NYU Stern grads this year.
In 2023, Stern MBA graduates received a median base salary of $175,000: the highest ever for the school. This was matched in 2024, and when added to the average signing bonus brought total compensation to almost $200,000.
Median salaries fell from $188,000 to $175,000 in consulting, remained at $175,000 in financial services, and dropped from $152,000 to $143,500 in tech.
It’s also worth pointing out that median weekly internship salaries are down from $3,288 last year to $2,813 for the class of 2025. Whether that fall is reflected in next year’s average salaries remains to be seen.
So how does all of this affect the return on investment of the NYU Stern MBA?
The Stern MBA has a total estimated cost of around $132k per year, including tuition and living expenses. That means the total cost of the program is an estimated at around double that figure.
Based on the median starting salary from the 2024 employment report, this year's grads can expect an annual ROI of 10%, and a total return of $714,501 over 10 years. According to the Bloomberg MBA ROI calculator, that’s slightly under the median 13.3% ROI at top US schools.
Who is the NYU Stern MBA for?
There’s no doubt about it: if you study at Stern, there’s a very good chance you’ll move into a career in consulting or finance afterwards. More than 70% of the class of 2024 are now working in those two industries, with one in five MBA graduates working in investment banking alone.
Since opening its doors in 1900, the school has welcomed many students who went on to make names for themselves in the financial sector. These include Fortune 500 CEOs and CFOs from companies including American Express and Chase Manhattan Bank.
Yet as interest in consulting and finance has risen sharply in recent years, the number of Stern graduates moving into tech has plummeted. The 10% fall from the class of 2021 to 2024 is reflective of the wider MBA industry, where tech hiring has fallen across the board.
The vast majority of NYU Stern graduates pursue careers in the city. In fact, more than 80% of the class of 2024 are now based in the northeast of the US, so if you're looking to launch a career in the city that never sleeps you might want to consider Stern.
