Industry placement
Also called industry mix · compensation by industries · industry breakdown
Edition VII's major industries (schools may expand subsets, and must keep a year-to-year rule):
Industry placement is the CSEA Table 4.C mix of where full-time MBA seekers who accepted by three months actually went to work. Percents use acceptors as the base, not the class. Each industry row can also carry mean, median, low, and high base when the cell clears the three-or-1% floor.
What are the required headings?
Edition VII’s major industries (schools may expand subsets, and must keep a year-to-year rule):
Accounting Services; Consulting; Consumer Packaged Goods; Energy; Financial Services; Government; Healthcare (including products and services); Hospitality; Manufacturing; Media/Entertainment; Non-Profit; Real Estate; Retail; Technology; Transportation & Logistics Services; Other; Industry Not Reported.
The 2025 revisions moved “Computers” under Technology, dropped “Clean tech” as a named heading, and added Hardware and Software as technology subsets. Product Management and Business Analytics were added as functions on Table 4.B, not as industries.
Percents in Table 4.C are of total graduates accepting new full-time employment by three months, whether or not they reported salary. Salary n is a second column. Never print salary n without the acceptance n.
Multi-business employers (Siemens is the Standards’ example) may be coded at the business-unit level: Healthineers in Healthcare, Mobility in Transportation. Dun & Bradstreet is named as a help file. Pick a rule and keep it.
How to read the mix without fooling yourself
| Trap | Fix |
|---|---|
| “45% consulting” on the homepage | Confirm the base is acceptors, not the class |
| PE median with two people | Expect I/D; do not invent a number |
| Tech share vs last year | Check whether Hardware/Software recodes moved people |
| Intern industry mix vs full-time | Different class year, different clock |
| Function “consulting” vs industry “consulting” | Internal strategy at a bank is function consulting, industry financial services |
Example: 180 acceptors. Consulting 72 (40%), Financial Services 45 (25%), Technology 27 (15%), Healthcare 12 (7%), Other 24 (13%). Placement among 200 seekers is 90%. “40% of the class went into consulting” is false; 72/200 seekers = 36%, 72/240 diplomas = 30% if 40 people were not-seeking. Quote 72/180.
A function table (4.B) can disagree with 4.C for the same person. That is allowed. Industry is the employer. Function is the work.
Common errors
Using the class as the percent base. Comparing 2024 “Computers” with 2026 “Technology / Hardware” as a trend. Printing a two-person PE median. Treating intern industry mix as the graduating mix. Coding Google as Function: Marketing and then comparing to Industry: Technology as if they were rivals.
FAQ
Is industry placement a placement rate?
No. Placement rate is acceptances ÷ seekers (Table 2.B). Industry placement is the mix of those acceptances. A school can have 88% placement and 10% technology, or 92% placement and 40% technology. Different questions.
Why do two reports split finance differently?
Major headings are required; subsets are school-chosen. One PDF will print PE/VC under Financial Services. Another will print a standalone PE line and still roll it into the Financial Services parent for CSEA. Add the subsets before you declare a “PE collapse.”
What if the employer is 100% remote?
Geography (Tables 4.D–4.J) uses the home office, or where the student actually works if the firm is fully virtual. Industry still follows the employer’s business, not the student’s apartment.
Can a school add “Start-ups” as an industry?
As a footnote or extra exhibit, yes. Edition VII says the Standards do not, by themselves, identify start-up share inside each industry. Schools that care should footnote, not invent a 16th required heading.
Related terms
Sources
- CSEA Standards for Reporting Full-time MBA Employment Statistics, Edition VII Required Table 4.C; percent of three-month acceptors; 2025 list adds Hardware/Software, moves Computers to Technology
- Clear Admit note on MBA employment-report industry categories School-facing list of CSEA industry headings and financial-services / healthcare / tech subsets
