Kellogg or Booth? Choose Kellogg’s Two-Year MBA if its core-plus-elective structure and career opportunities fit your plans better. Choose Booth’s Full-Time MBA if its course-selection flexibility and pathways into your target role are more compelling. For consulting, both deserve serious consideration. With offers from both, your scholarship-adjusted cost, preferred learning environment and evidence of relevant hiring should carry more weight than their matching headline salary medians.
Data checked on 18 October 2026. Employment figures describe the Class of 2025 unless another class is named; published budgets are for 2026–27. All dollar amounts are US dollars. Historical outcomes are not a forecast or guarantee. Confirm fees, scholarships and programme requirements for your own entry year before paying a deposit.
How do Kellogg and Booth compare on career outcomes?
| Measure | Kellogg Two-Year MBA | Booth Full-Time MBA |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual base salary | $175,000 | $175,000 |
| Consulting industry share | 38% of accepted jobs | 36.7% of new hires |
| Financial services industry share | 21% of accepted jobs | 31.6% of new hires |
| Technology industry share | 19% of accepted jobs | 14.1% of new hires |
The industry figures describe where that class went, not your probability of receiving an offer. Consulting is prominent at both schools; Booth’s reported financial services share is larger. Neither observation establishes which school will be better for a particular employer, office or job function.
Employment rates need an additional caution: Kellogg reports 90% of job-seeking Two-Year MBA graduates accepted an offer within six months, while Booth reports 89.1% of job-seeking graduates received an offer within three months. Different time windows and accepted-versus-received measures make those figures unsuitable for a simple placement-rate ranking.
Kellogg’s $205,000 median total compensation is the median of individual base salary plus signing bonus, not recurring annual salary. Its compensation data reflects three-month outcomes; 83% of job-accepting Two-Year graduates supplied usable salary information. Booth reports a $30,000 median signing bonus separately. Do not add separate salary and bonus medians and label the sum “median total compensation”.
Which is the better fit for consulting or specialised finance?
What should a consulting applicant compare?
Start with the offices you want, the roles offered and your eligibility to recruit for them. Ask each career team how students with your background prepared, which firms hired new candidates rather than returning sponsored employees, and what support was available when the first recruiting plan did not work.
Use our guide to how recruiting works at international business schools to understand why a school’s employer list is a starting point, not an assurance of placement. A small difference in industry share is less useful than evidence about your target office and function.
What should a finance applicant compare?
“Finance” can mean investment banking, investing, corporate finance or another role. In its Class of 2025 job-function breakdown, Booth reports 11.9% investment banking, 5.8% investment management/research and 5.5% private equity. These are not the same categories as its industry figures above. Kellogg’s 21% financial services figure is an industry share, so it cannot be used as a like-for-like comparison with those Booth function percentages.
If you have offers from both, ask for the closest available evidence on people with your prior experience entering your intended role. Compare the courses, clubs and employers you would actually use. Do not rule Kellogg out of finance or assume a Booth offer makes a particular investment role likely.
How do the curriculum and internship experience differ?
Kellogg’s Two-Year MBA begins with core management study and allows specialisation through electives and experiential learning. Booth’s curriculum offers choices within foundation and breadth requirements, alongside electives and LEAD. Booth’s flexibility does not mean there are no academic requirements.
A useful test is to sketch your first year at each school. Which missing skills would you build before recruiting? Which advanced classes could you take without repeating material you already know? Which projects would help you test a career direction? Use the actual course plans rather than the stereotype that one school is collaborative and the other analytical.
Both formats offer a summer internship pathway: see Kellogg’s Two-Year internship recruiting calendar and Booth’s qualified work experience requirement. For summer 2025, Booth reports that 100% of internship-seeking first-year students received an offer, with a $12,000 median monthly internship salary. That is Class of 2026 internship evidence, not a full-time placement statistic or a guarantee for a future student. We do not present an unmatched Kellogg internship rate.
Kellogg’s 37 exchange programmes across 20 countries are a separate learning option. Exchanges and experiential courses should not be compared with internship offer rates.
What will each MBA cost after scholarships?
| Cost measure | Kellogg Two-Year MBA | Booth Full-Time MBA |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition for the academic year | $88,536 | $89,976 |
| Estimated first-year attendance budget | $130,072 | $132,449 |
| Budget scope | Published first-year estimate | Three quarters / nine months |
Kellogg has the lower published first-year figures shown here, but the gap can be outweighed by an individual scholarship or different living arrangements. These estimates use each school’s budget assumptions; neither is a personalised quote.
Build a full-programme budget covering all tuition and fees, living costs through graduation, summer housing, relocation, recruiting travel and financing costs. Subtract confirmed scholarships or sponsorship, then separately estimate income forgone while studying. Loans fund the cost; they do not reduce it. Do not assume an internship will pay for a fixed portion before you have an offer.
Our MBA expense checklist helps identify overlooked costs, while MBA funding guide outlines funding categories. Check the terms and eligibility of your actual award rather than assuming every funding option applies.
How would different offer holders make this choice?
The following scenarios are hypothetical decision examples, not client stories.
- A consulting switcher with comparable funding: Keep both options open. Prefer the school where your target-office evidence, first-year study plan and conversations with recent career switchers are strongest.
- An experienced finance professional seeking a specialised investing role: Examine Booth’s function-level data closely, then test both schools against the particular funds, roles and experience requirements you are targeting. Overall finance percentages cannot settle that question.
- An applicant with a substantially larger scholarship from either school: If the recruiting pathway remains credible at the lower-net-cost school, do not discard the award because of a small difference in a historical employment statistic.
What should you check before accepting an offer?
- Name your target role, industry and location, plus one realistic alternative.
- Verify internship timing and relevant new-hire evidence with each school.
- Compare written scholarship conditions and full-programme net cost.
- Check work-authorisation and employer requirements with the relevant school team.
- Visit or speak with current students, then confirm deposit dates and refund terms.
If Columbia is also in your decision set, our Kellogg vs Columbia comparison explains the August-versus-January entry distinction. For broader school-selection and application guidance, explore Acceptance Consulting’s international MBA admissions support.