Tech · figures from each school’s own report
Tech after an MBA: product, strategy and the West Coast question
Washington Foster sends 40.5% of its class to tech and Stanford 35%; at most East Coast schools the share is closer to one in seven.
Best fit for technology, on your salary
Stanford GSB
35% of the class (about 152 graduates) · $185,000 · payback 4.0 years
Fit score: share of the class (40%), salary (30%) and ten-year NPV for you (30%), each as a percentile among the schools shown. Schools under 5% of the class are not ranked. Method.
| # | School | Share | About | Salary | Payback | 10-year NPV | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford GSBStanford · 21 months | 35% | 152 | $185,000 | 4.0 years | $296,469 | 97 |
| 2 | Berkeley HaasBerkeley · 21 months | 38.6% | 105 | $159,000 | 5.0 years | $136,818 | 89 |
| 3 | HarvardBoston · 21 months | 22% | 207 | $178,000 | 4.3 years | $249,569 | 84 |
| 4 | CMU TepperPittsburgh · 21 months | 25.1% | 36 | $160,000* | 4.9 years | $150,025 | 82 |
| 5 | MIT SloanCambridge · 21 months | 23.3% | 101 | $165,000 | 4.7 years | $173,517 | 82 |
| 6 | Washington FosterSeattle · 21 months | 40.5% | 41 | $142,800 | 5.7 years | $58,062 | 78 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech SchellerAtlanta · 21 months | 30.8% | 22 | $142,400 | 4.7 years | $128,692 | 76 |
| 8 | UCLA AndersonLos Angeles · 21 months | 28.3% | 81 | $147,000 | 5.9 years | $43,046 | 74 |
| 9 | KelloggEvanston · 21 months | 18.9% | 101 | $151,500 | 5.6 years | $71,477 | 70 |
| 10 | WhartonPhiladelphia · 21 months | 15.3% | 136 | $163,500 | 4.9 years | $157,104 | 68 |
| 11 | ColumbiaNew York · 20 months | 10.2% | 100 | $175,000* | 4.5 years | $223,915 | 63 |
| 12 | Texas McCombsAustin · 21 months | 22% | 52 | $140,000 | 5.5 years | $67,742 | 60 |
| 13 | Chicago BoothChicago · 21 months | 14.1% | 90 | $151,000 | 5.4 years | $87,274 | 59 |
| 14 | Notre Dame MendozaNotre Dame (South Bend), Indiana · 21 months | 18.8% | n/a | $142,800 | 5.9 years | $46,460 | 59 |
| 15 | IMDLausanne · 12 months | 16% | 14 | $139,163average | 4.6 years | $184,059 | 59 |
Share: % of the graduating class (or of those who accepted a job) the school reports for this goal. About: that share applied to the class size. * no salary published for this goal: school-wide figure. Salaries in US dollars at the ECB rate of the last update; “average” marks a mean where the school publishes no median.
Placing graduates here but not ranked: AGSM UNSW 20% (no salary published) · Alliance MBS 22% (no salary published) · CEIBS 31.9% (no living budget published) · EDHEC 10% (no salary published) · Fudan 19.6% (no salary published) · HKU 18% (no salary published) · IE 21.79% (no salary published) · IESE 9% (no salary published) · IIM Ahmedabad PGPX 41% (no living budget published) · IIM Bangalore EPGP 29% (no living budget published) · IIM Lucknow IPMX 47% (no living budget published) · Rice Jones 16.1% (no living budget published) · SJTU Antai 14% (no salary published) · SMU 19% (no salary published) · WashU Olin 30.8% (no living budget published).
Built by Radif Partners · figures checked · Method · Editorial policy
Technology is the third destination of MBA graduates after consulting and finance, and the one where the school's location matters most. On the West Coast, Washington Foster placed 40.5% of its class of 2025 in tech, Berkeley 38.6%, Stanford 35% and UCLA 28.3%; Wharton placed 15.3% and Booth 14.1%. The jobs are mostly product management, strategy and business operations, and corporate development or finance inside large tech firms. Tech usually pays less base salary than consulting at the same school: at Kellogg, $151,500 median against $190,000 for consulting, and the stock grants that close part of the gap are not in any report. Our tech ranking puts Stanford GSB first, then Berkeley Haas and Harvard, for a person earning $90,000 before the degree. Stanford is the exception on pay, with a $185,000 median in tech.
Three kinds of tech job after an MBA
Tech firms hire MBA graduates for roles that sit between engineering and the business. The best known is product management: deciding what a product should do, in what order, and for which customers, with engineers and designers who do not report to the product manager. The second is strategy and business operations, internal teams that size markets, set targets, run pricing or launch a business in a new country, often staffed by former consultants. The third is corporate development and finance: acquisitions, partnerships and planning inside a large company. Marketing, sales leadership and general management rotation programs complete the list. The product manager page covers the first path in detail.
Employment reports describe these roles in two places. The industry table counts graduates hired by tech companies, whatever their job; the function table counts the job, whoever the employer. A product manager at a bank shows up in product management but not in tech, and a strategy manager at a software company shows up in tech but often under a strategy function. The two tables can disagree by several points, and we rank on the industry for the tech goal and on the function for product management.
| # | School | Share of class | Graduates, about | Salary | Payback | 10-year NPV | Fit score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford GSB | 35% | 152 | $185,000 | 4.0 years | $296,469 | 97 |
| 2 | Berkeley Haas | 38.6% | 105 | $159,000 | 5.0 years | $136,818 | 89 |
| 3 | Harvard | 22% | 207 | $178,000 | 4.3 years | $249,569 | 84 |
| 4 | CMU Tepper | 25.1% | 36 | $160,000* | 4.9 years | $150,025 | 82 |
| 5 | MIT Sloan | 23.3% | 101 | $165,000 | 4.7 years | $173,517 | 82 |
| 6 | Washington Foster | 40.5% | 41 | $142,800 | 5.7 years | $58,062 | 78 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech Scheller | 30.8% | 22 | $142,400 | 4.7 years | $128,692 | 76 |
| 8 | UCLA Anderson | 28.3% | 81 | $147,000 | 5.9 years | $43,046 | 74 |
| 9 | Kellogg | 18.9% | 101 | $151,500 | 5.6 years | $71,477 | 70 |
| 10 | Wharton | 15.3% | 136 | $163,500 | 4.9 years | $157,104 | 68 |
Tech pays less base salary than consulting, at most schools
At the large American schools, the median base for tech hires sits below the consulting median of the same class. Wharton reports $163,500 for tech and $190,000 for consulting, Booth $151,000 and $190,000, Berkeley $159,000 and $190,000, Washington Foster $142,800 and $175,000. Stanford is the exception, with $185,000 in tech, near its consulting figure. The reason for the gap is the structure of tech pay: large firms give restricted stock that vests over several years, and the reports, built on the MBA CSEA standards, count base salary and signing bonus only. A tech offer can therefore be worth more than its base suggests, and also less if the share price falls before the stock vests.
In the payback, the lower base shows directly. For a person earning $90,000 before the degree, the tech goal repays Berkeley in 5.0 years and UCLA in 5.9 years, against 3.6 years and 4.2 years for consulting at the same schools. Use the finder at the top of the page with your own salary: someone already earning well in tech gains less from the degree than someone coming from a lower-paid field.
Berkeley Haas: where the class went
Share of the class
26.8%
| Salary reported | $190,000 |
| Graduates, about | 73 |
| Payback with that salary | 3.6 years |
Reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA.
West Coast schools against the rest
Location changes the size of the tech intake more than any other factor. Stanford GSB 35%, Berkeley Haas 38.6%, UCLA Anderson 28.3% and Washington Foster 40.5%: four West Coast schools where tech is the first or second destination. Across Wharton, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia and Yale SOM, the tech share runs from 8.3% to 18.9%. Some schools far from California still place large shares: MIT 23.3%, CMU 25.1%, Georgia Tech 30.8% and Olin 30.8%, often thanks to engineering-heavy classes and to large employers that recruit nationally. Kellogg lists Amazon with 25 hires, Columbia 21 and Booth 20.
Where the West Coast matters most is outside the large firms. Startups, venture-backed scale-ups and smaller software companies rarely run campus recruiting, so a student in the Bay Area or Seattle can meet them during the program in a way a student in Philadelphia cannot. The reports do not measure that, but Stanford's 6% of graduates in venture capital, a segment that mostly invests in young tech companies, points the same way.
Strategy, operations and corporate development
Former consultants who move to tech often join strategy and business operations teams, and the function tables show how large that path is across industries. Stanford reports 18% of its class in business operations, strategy and planning at $170,000, Kellogg 8.1% in corporate strategy at $160,000. Corporate development is smaller and closer to finance: McCombs counts 3% of its class there at $126,250. These roles are less tied to the West Coast than product management, since every large company has a strategy team, and they are the usual route for someone who wants the tech industry without a technical background.
Computer and information systems managers: where a salary sits in the U.S.
Position
below the median
| 25th percentile | $138,060 |
| Median | $175,140 |
| 75th percentile | $220,730 |
BLS, May 2025, all employers and levels.
Outside the United States
Tech is a large destination at several schools outside the United States, but few of them publish what it pays. Imperial places 35% of its class in tech and gives no salary for the industry; LBS reports 24% at an average of £83,287, below its consulting average of £98,856; INSEAD 18% at €94,600. The Indian Institutes of Management send the largest shares we read, IIM Ahmedabad PGPX 41%, IIM Bangalore EPGP 29%, IIM Calcutta MBAEx 45.5% and IIM Lucknow IPMX 47%, without the living budget our cost model needs. For a career in tech outside the United States, read the school's regional and industry tables together, because a large tech share made mostly of jobs in another country does not help someone who wants to stay put.
What the BLS adds for tech careers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no line for product managers. The nearest occupations are computer and information systems managers, with a median wage of $175,140 in May 2025 and a top quarter above $220,730, and software developers, at $135,980. Those figures, across the whole economy, sit close to the MBA tech medians, which says something about the role: an MBA product manager earns about what the engineering managers around them earn, not a premium on top. The premium, when there is one, comes from stock and from promotion speed, neither of which a report can show.
Using the tech pages of this site
Pick the goal in the finder: tech as an industry, or product management as a job. Check the share of the class, then the salary the school gives for that goal, then the payback for your own salary. The tech ranking explains each school's position, the product manager page covers the job most MBA graduates in tech want, and the comparison tool sets two or three schools side by side, such as Berkeley Haas and UCLA Anderson.
Berkeley Haas or UCLA Anderson: the faster payback for you
Higher 10-year value
Berkeley Haas
| Berkeley Haas payback | 4.5 years |
| UCLA Anderson payback | 5.0 years |
| Berkeley Haas 10-year NPV | $196,335 |
| UCLA Anderson 10-year NPV | $137,522 |