Do firms alter post MBA salary based on B-School Ranking?

I haven't worked in advisory at the Big 4 but my understanding from discussions is that the salary levels are a pretty small band at each level. Any salaries notably above the standard "level" are usually the result of previous experience and offered to meet experienced candidates expectations. Given that, I doubt alma mater significantly plays into comp in a direct fashion when you start. Over time a more prestigious school could help you get prime assignments, promote quicker, and leverage your network to bring in business - thus increasing comp over time compared with someone from a less rigorous school.

Salaries aren't based on school, they are based on what was paid for that position previously, what the candidate's experience is, and what the candidate has received in prior positions.

The reason for the discrepancy for similar jobs at different schools is that some of the better schools might have candidates who were paid higher or had better work experience prior to entering b-school, and therefore merit a higher salary.

The poster above me is partly right. Outside of IB and Consulting, pay varies by all of the things mentioned above. Generally, there's probably a ball park each person (company and graduate) needs to be in to get the deal done, but experience and prior pay will, or could, be a factor.

Outside of that, geography probably plays the largest role. We don't see that as often because most of the people on this forum tend to look at IB, PE and consulting post MBA and those industries tend to pay the same amount in equivalent positions regardless of location. This doesn't seem to be the case in other industries.

Also consider that schools tend to send their kids to certain locations after graduation. Schools in the top 10 generally send a bunch of kids to NYC or maybe a few other major cities. Top 20 programs tend to send a bunch of kids to top cities and to the larger cities in their given region. Outside of that the programs because even more 'local' or 'regional'. The point there is, someplace like Owen (Vanderbilt) sends kids to the NE and west coast, but they have a ton of grads that stay and look for jobs in Nashville. You may be an Owen graduate looking for a CorpDev type roll but decide you are going to take it at a $200mm a year widget manufacturer in Nashville instead of the F500 company, because you want to stay in Nashville (supposedly this is a 'problem' the career services office experiences at Owen).

That local manufacturer isn't directly competing with that F500 for talent, so they aren't necessarily going to pay as much given the lower cost of living in that city. Also, that local manufacturer only has to worry about his one Nashville location, whereas a F500 is going to need to consider all of their locations. At the F500 post MBA level, you can bet that their pay is more standardized because they NEED to place kids everywhere, not just in the larger cities, where graduates might more naturally want to be or want to go because they pay more there. Also, a number of post MBA career roles could involve living in multiple locations doing a rotation program and it's highly unlikely the firm is going to constantly adjust your pay because one city is more expensive or cheaper than another.

At any rate, it's not likely you are going to see two people get hired for a job and see one make more strictly because they went to a higher ranked school...at least, I've never heard of it.

Regards

'bout three fiddy

From what I've seen and heard, your analysis is correct. If a company were to offer two candidates the same type of position, the school that they went to would barely be a factor. The recruiter/manager will try to get you for as little as possible. What that number is will depend on how prepared and impactful you are in the interview and how well you negotiate. The person from the lower-ranked school may very well end up with the better pay package.

As you noted, an issue is that the person from the lesser-known school may have to work harder to get the interview (or the person from the well-known school may simply not have to work AS hard to get an interview).

"The poster above me is partly right. Outside of IB and Consulting, pay varies by all of the things mentioned above. " What are the variables for IB and Consulting?